According to the Great Medical Encyclopedia , the definition of trauma is that it is a “collective term for all kinds of physical and mental injuries and strains caused by external influences”.
There is thus both psychological and physical trauma . Actually, you can say that there is damage either to the psyche or to the body, or to both. There are several different symptoms and the individual can experience completely individual ailments as a consequence of what they have been exposed to.
When someone has trauma, it basically means that they have bad memories that they are trying to avoid. They do this by avoiding situations that can bring out the same bad feelings they have experienced and which led them to develop the trauma in the first place.
Over time, trauma can develop into post-traumatic stress disorder, called PTSD. It is important to get treatment for the trauma before it goes that far. As you can read more about below, the symptoms of trauma can be a great strain on the person in everyday life and prevent the person from functioning normally and being able to live a normal life.
Why does someone develop a trauma?
There can be many different reasons why someone gets traumatised. Studies have shown that people who are genetically susceptible , in relation to the fact that they have a fragile psyche, are more susceptible to developing a trauma. Everyone will in one way or another react psychologically to a very big stress in life. But those who develop trauma are usually those with a hereditary psychological strain.
For some, it may be due to psychological or physical violence in childhood . Psychological trauma from childhood often revolves around being violated, humiliated, banned or made fun of. He will carry these feelings with him throughout his life.
The nature of the violence will determine how the trauma results. A person may, for example, be anxious about physical contact or opening up to someone because of what they experienced in childhood.
Emotional neglect from parents during childhood can also be a cause of trauma. Some concrete examples of this are if someone who is close to them has often told them that they are not good for anything or are really unwanted. The person can then experience emptiness and the feeling of being abandoned for the rest of their life.
But extreme events can also happen in adulthood that lead to trauma in a person. People who have been subjected to torture or captivity for a long time can be left with burdensome trauma afterwards which is a major obstacle in everyday life.
Trauma can also be caused by other causes such as natural disasters, displacement and flight, war, abuse, or extreme and sudden events in life. This could be, for example, that you have lost someone close to you in an accident or something else. It can therefore be caused by many different things, and can affect anyone at any time.
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What symptoms does trauma cause?
As mentioned several times, different stresses over a longer period of time result in different types of trauma. There are both psychological and physical traumas. The symptoms will vary and be individually conditioned, at the same time they are often compound.
What you have to think about when you read about the symptoms below is that these symptoms can be caused by many different things, and are not necessarily trauma. But if they get worse over time and affect normal functioning in everyday life, it can be trauma.
A person may, for example, have avoidant behaviour . As a rule, there will be a pattern that you can notice. There may be certain situations that the person avoids at all costs, because they bring up unwanted feelings associated with the trauma.
The person may appear anxious and/or scared, tense, nervous, irritable or even agitated. It can have different emotional effects on the individual. For some, it also leads to isolation from the outside world. In addition, self-esteem and self-confidence will often be greatly weakened.
Concentration difficulties and sleep problems can also be common symptoms. Little sleep is known to affect concentration and normal functioning. The trauma itself can cause concentration difficulties, but it can also be a direct cause of poor sleep.
Physical symptoms of trauma can be headaches, the feeling of having a fast heartbeat, nausea or dizziness. These physical symptoms can be so strong that they greatly inhibit the person who experiences them in everyday life.
In addition, there are also several patients with trauma who constantly try to be perfect or do things perfectly. If they have psychological trauma due to psychological abuse from childhood, they will feel that they are never good enough. Therefore, in adulthood, they try to get as close to perfectionism as possible in order to feel as valuable as others.
It is important to talk about your problems
Most people who have trauma will find it very difficult to talk about it. This is because the person in question has to feel the same bad feelings that led to the trauma. All the bad memories will come back again. But without the problems being talked about, it will never be possible to get rid of them.
It is important to seek treatment for the trauma . Trauma prevents people from living a normal life, and can affect all areas of life. It can affect work, family life, social life, emotional life and much more. Often the symptoms can be reminiscent of depression or social anxiety , but by talking to an expert you can find out what is really the cause of your ailments .
This way you can also find out how to cope with your suffering . Therapy Guard’s therapists can help you on the way to a better life. It is entirely possible to live a normal life, even if you carry with you painful and deep wounds from childhood or from an extreme event in your life. Seek help today to find out how you can live a normal life and have a better everyday life.
