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Emotional Trauma
Types of Emotional Trauma
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Severe
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Commonplace
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| Precipitating event |
Extreme catastrophes such as a natural
disaster, exposure to war, rape, assault, violent crime, car or airplane
crash |
Everyday events experienced as overwhelming
and unmanageable. Stressors often seen as "normal" part of life such
as disappointment in a love relationship or the loss of a job due
to downsizing. |
| Diagnosis |
When fully developed, diagnosis of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) |
Persistent Traumatic Distress (PTD), often
misdiagnosed as disease-based. Symptoms may appear only in certain
contexts, e.g., in intimate or unexpected circumstances. |
| Common symptoms |
Range of complaints such as anxiety, flashbacks,
nightmares, sudden floods of emotions or images related to the traumatic
event, amnesia, avoidance of situations that resemble the initial
event, hyper arousal, overreactions including sudden unprovoked anger,
jumpiness, an extreme sense of being "on guard," problems with concentration,
insomnia, phobia, substance abuse, depression, psychosomatic complaints,
an altered sense of time, grief reactions, obsessions with death,
guilt feelings, increased interpersonal conflicts. |
Depression; anxiety; panic attacks; feeling
fearful, especially when exposed to circumstances similar to the trauma;
memory lapses, especially around the trauma; difficulty making decisions;
decreased concentration; feeling distracted; eating and sleep disturbances;
sexual dysfunction; compulsive and obsessive behaviors; feeling out
of control, irritable, angry, and resentful; emotional numbness; withdrawal
from routine and relationships; spontaneous crying; despair and hopelessness;
low energy; chronic, unexplained pain |
| Additional problems |
Extreme symptoms also can occur as a delayed
reaction to the traumatic event. Sufferers of PTSD have trouble functioning
in everyday life. |
Many learn to "work around" PTD. Common
problems include an inability to maintain close relationships or to
choose appropriate friends and mates; sexual problems; inability to
make healthy lifestyle or professional choices; compulsive behavior
patterns; and uncontrollable reactive thoughts. |
Traumas Many Faces: Recognizing and Healing Emotional
Trauma:
Recognizing
Trauma is the first part of Traumas Many Faces and describes the
symptoms and causes of emotional trauma.
Healing Trauma
is the final part of Traumas Many Faces and is a description of how trauma
is healed.
Quiz & Overview of Trauma Symptomotology:
Is Emotional Trauma
a Factor in Your Life? Quizzes you on symptoms that may suggest
you are living with unresolved trauma.
Types of Emotional
Trauma is a breakdown of trauma symptomology.
Return to home page for Emotional
Trauma.
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