Trauma comes in many forms. The effects of trauma can be a response to any number of experiences or events such as a natural disaster, being in a combat zone, physical abuse, rape, witnessing an act of violence, severe illness or injury, being involved in a car crash, bullying, or childhood abandonment or neglect.
Each person’s reaction to trauma is unique. What may be traumatic for one person may not be for someone else. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) describes it as “an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects.”
Sometimes the effects of trauma are experienced immediately. Sometimes they may be delayed and not manifest until years later. Either way, even when you don’t consciously remember it, unresolved or improperly processed trauma can change the way you think, act, feel, and process information, and have a profound and lasting impact on your mental and emotional stability, self-image, and outlook of the future.
An out-of-control response to trauma can negatively impact the quality of every area of your life, from work performance to relationships to your ability to perform daily tasks.
Physiological effects of trauma
When you experience a traumatic event, your body’s defense system kicks into action, triggering physiological responses that charge your brain and prepare you to react quickly to protect yourself from danger.
As stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are released into your system you are likely to also experience physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, heightened awareness, racing thoughts, cold hands, and quicker, shallower breathing. This fight or flight response to the perceived threat is an automatically generated survival mechanism over which you have no control.
Ideally, the body returns to normal after the traumatic event is over and the stressor is removed. Often, however, because of the overwhelming and shocking nature of the trauma, the brain is unable to properly process it. Traumatic memories are fragmented instead of integrated into and stored with regular memories.
The fight or flight response switch gets stuck in the on position, causing you to respond to every trigger that reminds you of the trauma and relive it through vivid flashbacks or nightmares that overwhelm you with stress and anxiety even in the absence of any real danger.
For your brain to work effectively, all parts of it need to be able to communicate with one another, but when the lower portion responsible for survival is activated repeatedly or in a prolonged way, the necessary connections between it and the other parts of the brain are disturbed.
The prefrontal cortex area in the upper part of your brain that regulates emotions, behavior, and executive function is also reduced, which significantly impacts your ability to be calm, think rationally, and respond in a flexible, planned way.
Physical and psychological effects
Left untreated, trauma can mess with your body as well as your mind. Stress hormones continue to be produced whenever memories of the experience or event are triggered, even if there is no real threat of danger, putting you at higher risk for health conditions such as stroke, heart disease, PTSD, and depression.
Common physical symptoms include chronic fatigue, increase in blood pressure, racing heart, panic attacks, nausea, dizziness, shakiness, sweating, changes in appetite, weight gain or weight loss, sleep disorders, feeling on edge, being easily startled, trouble concentrating or staying focused, memory problems, and unexplained aches and pains.
Psychologically, the effects of trauma can leave you shaken, creating a loss of faith in any predictability, meaning in the world, or a safe place to be. You may feel confused, edgy, disoriented, and hypervigilant, and continue to relive the traumatic event through nightmares, intrusive thoughts, or flashbacks.
Behavioral effects of trauma
The effects of trauma can lead to unhealthy coping behaviors such as turning to drugs, alcohol, or overeating, or engaging in risky behaviors or self-harm to numb your feelings. Some people may react by being aggressive, reenacting parts of the traumatic event in the present, (for instance, a child acting out aspects of the experience during play) and some may not want to leave a particular place for fear of what might happen.
Other common effects of trauma on behavior are avoiding triggers or reminders of the event, self-neglect, inability to take proper care of your basic needs, withdrawal, appearing spaced out during conversations, strained relationships, and trouble attending to the responsibilities of your day-to-day life.
Emotional effects
Your first feelings following a traumatic experience are likely to be shock or denial. Longer-term reactions may include a range of other emotions such as sadness, anger, shame, blame, guilt, mood swings, feeling detached from others, and feeling like the world around you is unreal.
If you are struggling with the effects of trauma, know that help is available. Symptoms can be effectively treated, and a trained mental health professional in Carrollton, Texas can help you learn how to cope with stress and healthily manage your emotions. To set up a risk-free appointment with one of the faith-based counselors at Carrollton Christian Counseling, please give us a call.
“Trauma and the brain.” Traumatic Stress Wales. traumaticstress.nhs.wales/children-and-young-people/trauma-and-the-brain/.
“Rocky Shore”, Courtesy of EXPANALOG, Unsplash.com, CC0 License
- Sandra Stein: Author
Sandra Kovacs Stein was born in Calcutta, India, grew up in the Dominican Republic, and went to school in Canada, where she planned to settle after getting her Master’s degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Instead, she fell in love with an Ameri...
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