Treating Trauma

How do we define what trauma? The Oxford dictionary defines trauma as “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.” With that type of definition, the amount of trauma that person could experience in their lifetime is infinite. The truth is we all experience traumatic events and each person handles those events in a different way. When therapists asses a person for post-traumatic stress disorder, we often use what is called a life events checklist to get an idea of how many traumatic events a person has experienced and to what extent those events have affected that person.
Trauma can occur in many ways including Natural Disasters, transportation accident, Fire or explosions, Serious accidents at work, home, or during a recreational activity, Exposure to toxic substances, Physical assault, assault with a weapon, Sexual assault, Other unwanted or uncomfortable sexual experience, Combat or exposure to a war-zone, Captivity, Life-threatening illness or injury, Severe human suffering, etc.
Nearly everyone experiences some sort of trauma in their lifetime, however not everyone develops symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the National Center for PTSD approximately 7-8% of the general population develops PTSD in their life time. This is much higher for military personal at approximately 15-20%.
People tend to have four common reactions to trauma when it is happening. Fight – They have the urge to fight, physically or mentally push the person of thing causing the trauma away. Flight – They have the urge to run away. Freeze – sometimes they do nothing and just freeze up. Disassociate – sometimes people can’t do anything physically with their body and instead go someplace else mentally.
When people have the above urges and struggle to cope with the trauma they find themselves continuously doing those same things repeatedly. It is important to seek help from a licensed clinician that is fully trained in trauma informed practices such as Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) or for kids Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
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