By Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D.
If you’ve experienced an extremely stressful or disturbing event that’s left you feeling helpless and emotionally out of control, you may have been traumatized. Psychological trauma can leave you struggling with upsetting emotions, memories, and anxiety that won’t go away. It can also leave you feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people. When bad things happen, it can take a while to get over the pain and feel safe again. But with these self-help strategies and support, you can speed up your recovery. Whether the trauma happened years ago or yesterday, you can make healing changes and move on with your life.
What is emotional and psychological trauma? Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous world. Traumatic experiences often involve a threat to life or safety, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can result in trauma, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective circumstances that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized.
Share This Post!
From Supporter to Steward
Your Content Goes Here Source: Raymond James Financial, Inc. Estate & Giving Why board leadership is one of the most impactful ways to give back Philanthropy is often measured in dollars, [...]
How do trauma and adverse childhood experiences affect children?
CHOC Your Content Goes Here Source: CHOC Childhood should be a time of safety, growth, and discovery—but for many children, it’s marked by trauma, instability, or neglect. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), [...]
Arrests of immigrant parents create mental health crisis for children
Damian Zermeño talks to his father over video chat. Saúl Zermeño, a single parent, was deported to Mexico in October after living 36 years in the United States. Karla Gachet for KFF Health News [...]
Risk and Protective Factors
Your Content Goes Here Source: CDC Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are not often caused by a single factor. Instead, a combination of factors at the individual, relationship, community, and societal levels can [...]
We’re therapists. Here’s why it’s too soon for kids to return to Camp Mystic.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News CSF written article Your Content Goes Here Source: Houston Chronicle Less than a year after the deadly July 4 flood, Camp Mystic plans to reopen its Cypress Lake location, not [...]
Women who experience trauma are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD. Here’s why
Your Content Goes Here Source: American Psychological Association More than half of all women will be exposed to at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, according to the National Center [...]