Shendi Ramli-Hernandez, LCPC, CCTP II, SEP, BASE-P
Mental Health Therapist and Approved Clinical Supervisor
Trauma in a person,
decontextualized over time,
looks like personality.
Trauma in a family,
decontextualized over time,
looks like family traits.
Trauma in a people,
decontextualized over time,
looks like culture.
Resmaa Menakem
WHAT IS TRAUMA?
Trauma is defined as a body and emotional response after experiencing sudden, extremely frightening/distressing events, and such events disrupt one's sense of safety. Post-trauma responses include flashbacks, avoidance, negative cognition and mood, and arousal. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the diagnostic category for individuals who suffer from the above symptoms for a long period of time.
The meaning of psychological trauma has evolved over time. The scope of traumatic events is beyond abuse incidents, assault/violence, motor vehicle accidents, war, and natural/man-made disasters. The devastating impact of adverse life events can be seen among individuals with long-term disability and life-threatening illness, poverty, racism, gender discrimination, grief /loss, early childhood experience, being bullied, and more. The post-traumatic response occurs when the survival brain unconsciously perceives us to be powerless, helpless, or lacking control during a traumatic event. Furthermore, our neurobiological response to trauma is deeply embedded and often goes without our own awareness. While our mind is fully aware that the traumatic event may happen years ago, our body continues to struggle in differentiating what was then and what is now. For the past years, a growing body of research has indicated that traumatic event takes a staggering toll on our physical, psychological, emotional, and social health. The legacy of trauma has left a trace in our bodies and minds long after the trauma ended.
FACES OF TRAUMA​
Intergenerational Trauma
The inter-generational trauma is a distinct form of trauma that occur when traumatic effects are passed across without exposure to the original event. When an individual has a history of childhood abuse/neglect, parental divorce, poverty, and growing up in a violent home, the psychological impact of the trauma can pass through generations to come. Since trauma impacts the structure and function of the brain and the overall physiological response, the effects of the experience can appear in the trauma survivors' offspring.
Traumatic Grief
While the common response to grief may include shock, disbelief and bewilderment, traumatic grief is a more complex response since it is provoked by the death of significant other with additional PTSD symptoms. When experiencing traumatic grief, one may experience intrusive, distressing preoccupation with the deceased, futility about the future, hypervigilant scanning of the environment for cues of the deceased, impaired social functioning, and more.
Interpersonal Trauma
Interpersonal trauma is a physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional violation of one person or group of people that is perpetrated by another person or group of people when that violation results in feelings of intense fear, powerlessness, hopelessness, and horror. Some examples of interpersonal trauma can also include discrimination, domestic violence, racially motivated hate crimes, community violence, and torture.
Developmental Trauma
Developmental trauma is a term used to describe childhood trauma, such as chronic abuse, neglect, witnessing violence at home, and other adverse events that occur in their own home.
Medical Trauma
Medical Trauma is a set of physiological and psychological responses to injury, serious illness, and medical treatment.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-Traumatic Disorder is a psychiatric disorder for individuals who directly experience, learn, or witness traumatic events, such as abuse, accidents, natural disasters, war, assault, and abuse. People with PTSD experience intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear, or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people. People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch.
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Symptoms of PTSD fall into the following four categories. Specific symptoms can vary in severity.
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Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event. Flashbacks may be so vivid that people feel they are re-living the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes.
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Avoidance: Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People may try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. They may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it.
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Alterations in cognition and mood: Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted”); distorted thoughts about the cause or consequences of the event leading to wrongly blaming self or other; ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt or shame; much less interest in activities previously enjoyed; feeling detached or estranged from others; or being unable to experience positive emotions (a void of happiness or satisfaction).
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Alterations in arousal and reactivity: Arousal and reactive symptoms may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way; being overly watchful of one's surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping.
Many people who are exposed to a traumatic event experience symptoms similar to those described above in the days following the event. For a person to be diagnosed with PTSD, however, symptoms must last for more than a month and must cause significant distress or problems in the individual's daily functioning. Many individuals develop symptoms within three months of the trauma, but symptoms may appear later and often persist for months and sometimes years. PTSD often occurs with other related conditions, such as depression, substance use, memory problems, and other physical and mental health problems.