What is Trauma
Trauma refers to an experience or event that causes distressing and often lasting psychological or physical effects. It typically overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, leaving them feeling powerless and unable to fully process or integrate the emotions and memories associated with the event. Trauma can result from various situations such as accidents, abuse, violence, natural disasters, death of a loved one, including witnessing a traumatic event or other disturbing occurrences.
The impact of trauma can vary widely among individuals, influencing emotions, behavior, and overall well-being in significant ways. After such events, most individuals endure negative thoughts and feelings like grief, anger, or fear for a period. Some may develop additional symptoms that meet criteria for specific mental health disorders such as Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
What are the symptoms of ASD?
Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) is a psychological reaction that can occur in response to a traumatic event. It is similar to PTSD but occurs within the first month after the traumatic experience and typically lasts for a minimum of three days and a maximum of one month.
The symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder include:
- Intrusive symptoms: Intrusive thoughts, memories, or dreams related to the traumatic event.
- Negative mood: Persistent negative emotions such as fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame.
- Dissociative symptoms: Feeling detached from oneself, surroundings, or reality.
- Avoidance: Avoidance of reminders or thoughts related to the traumatic event.
- Arousal symptoms: Heightened arousal, including difficulty sleeping, irritability, hypervigilance, and exaggerated startle response.
If symptoms persist beyond one month, the diagnosis may shift to PTSD. Acute Stress Disorder can significantly impair daily functioning and may require professional intervention to help manage symptoms and facilitate recovery.
What are the symptoms of PTSD?
Distressing thoughts and emotions that don’t resolve after the traumatic event occurred characterize PTSD. Specific symptoms include:
• Intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts or memories
• Overwhelming feelings of fear, anger, guilt, or shame
• A quick startle response
• Reckless behavior
• Sleep disturbances
• Irritability
• Recurring dreams or flashbacks
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Breathing difficulties
Experiencing emotional outbursts, flashbacks, and other debilitating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can lead to feelings of isolation. In general, PTSD can severely impact quality of life by disrupting social interactions, causing avoidance of social situations, and impairing school, work, or family responsibilities. It often co-occurs with substance use disorder, anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
