Trauma reaction
From Drug Rehab Wiki
Psychological trauma occurs when an unusual or abnormal event causes overwhelming feelings of powerlessness, helplessness and fear. A sudden single event--such as an act of violence, natural disaster or accident--can precipitate a lasting traumatic effect or trauma reaction. Situations of more prolonged duration that result in overwhelming cumulative distress, like an abusive relationship or wartime experiences, can as well.
It is a natural response in crisis (an intensified period of distress) to feel powerless, helpless or afraid. These are normal reactions to abnormal events. A trauma reaction, however, is a persisting response that interferes with one’s life after the crisis has passed.
Psychological trauma, whether brief or prolonged, is frequently involved with other types of traumatic response: for example, physical injury can cause intense feelings of powerlessness, helplessness and fear. The impact of all types of trauma can cross all realms of a person’s life. Emotional, mental, financial, social, familial, legal and spiritual aspects of daily life can be impacted by crisis. They can be impacted indefinitely by a trauma reaction to crisis that is unresolved.
Trauma depletes the usual abilities to cope and recuperate from intensified stress. Usual coping skills and life strategies can fail to meet the demands of severe trauma. Feelings of shock, numbness, confusion, anxiety and fear interrupt daily life. What came easily prior to trauma often becomes difficult or even, at times, impossible. Daily routines and usual skills and abilities can slip away in the wake of traumatic events.
Accommodating stress, and rising to meet the demands of distress, is a natural, flexible ability used in daily life. They accompany the basics of living such as work, exercise, deadlines, hunger, fatigue and thirst. Stress and distress themselves are not extraordinary and are resolved with our problem-solving throughout the day. Problem-solving is a routine and automatic response to the simple chores of life and to the extraordinary and abnormal events in life. It is overwhelming stress and persisting distress that depletes coping skills. Some stress cannot immediately be accommodated just as some problems cannot be immediately resolved.
Coping and basic problem-solving require resources. Cognitive resources allow us to understand, analyze and generate solutions. Emotional resources guide us toward greater understanding of what needs have come to bear upon the situation at hand. Social and family resources provide support for the work that has to be done as do finances and one’s spiritual life. Some events and situations are overwhelmingly extraordinary and push available resources--internal and external ones --to the breaking point. These are traumatic events which require additional resources and a period of recovery.
What will cause available resources to be inadequate is not determined by character weakness, but by the type of distress encountered. For the most part, traumatic events that overwhelm one's ability to cope would be traumatic to whoever experienced them. Consequently, what separates those who are traumatized from those who are not is life circumstance. Natural disasters and violence are common causes of trauma reactions and well illustrate the nature of trauma as a normal response to an abnormal event. It is likely that anyone, for example, who survived a catastrophic hurricane or a violent assault would be traumatized, require additional resources for support and a period of time for recovery.
See also PTSD
