Psychological trauma is an emotional injury, usually resulting from an extremely stressful or life-threatening situation, which may have lasted a few minutes, hours or sometimes for a certain amount of time. Trauma could be a substantial perceived danger, not necessarily life-threatening, but experienced over a significant period. Psychological trauma can arise also from physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual abuse that you may have suffered.
Causes of trauma
Common signs and symptoms of trauma
Bodily Hyperarousal
Most common signs of trauma are embodied responses such as increased heart rate, difficult breathing (rapid, shallow, panting, etc.), cold sweats, tingling, muscular tension, etc.
Mental Hyperarousal
Increase in thoughts, especially worrying ones.
Dissociation
An automatic separation of awareness from physical reality, which protects us from the impact of escalating arousal. If a life-threatening event continues, dissociation protects us from the pain of perceived danger. It is a common means of enduring experiences that are, at the moment, beyond endurance.
Denial
In this case the disconnection is between the person and the memory of or feelings about a particular event (or series of events). We may deny that an event occurred, or we may act as though it was unimportant.


Feelings of helplessness, immobility, or freezing
If hyperarousal is the nervous system’s accelerator, immobility is its brake. When both of these states occur at the same time, a feeling of overwhelming helplessness results. This is not the ordinary sense of helplessness that affects all of us from time to time. It is a feeling of being completely immobilized and powerless to act. This is not a perception, belief, or trick of the imagination. It is real. The body feels paralyzed.
One may experience one or more of the following symptoms
Concurrently with or shortly after trauma or much later on: hypervigilance (being “on guard” at all times); intrusive imagery or “flashbacks;” exaggerated emotional and startled reactions to noises, quick movements, etc.; nightmares and night terrors; abrupt mood swings (rage reactions, temper tantrums, shame); reduced ability to deal with stress (easily and frequently stressed out); panic attacks, anxiety, and phobias; etc.
How therapy can help with trauma
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In order to explore your options in dealing with your trauma through a therapeutic process, email us or please call us (between 9:00AM & 6:00PM from Monday to Saturday).