What is trauma?
A bodily reaction.
Not an illness – but an experience in the body that can be healed.
Trauma can steal joy.
Different types of trauma
Type 1 – a specific event
Type 2 – a life situation
Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD ) – Bessel van der Kolk
Relational trauma – the first 1000 days – Allan Schore
Trauma is not always covered by the PTSD diagnosis.
Many traumatized people are instead given other diagnoses, for example:
- depression
- anxiety
- ADHD
- autism
Complex PTSD – prolonged traumatization caused by people who should be safe.
Dissociation – memories are activated in the right hemisphere, while the left hemisphere
(language, context and the story of ourselves) temporarily shuts down.
Signs of trauma
- fear, insecurity
- control needs
- anxiety and panic attacks
- flashbacks
- triggers
- reliving the event – in speech, play or by constantly looking for danger
- sleeping difficulties
- inability to relax
- hyperactivity
- numbness / numbness
- feel too much or too little
- difficulties in regulating emotions
- anger
- acting out behaviors
- relationship difficulties
- low self-esteem
- misunderstanding
- psychosomatic reactions
- frozen facial expression and body movements
- loss of appetite
- regression
- energy shortage
- depression
- reduced creativity
- personality changes
- self-destructive behaviors
- sexualized behaviors
- thoughts of revenge
- guilt and shame
- magical thinking
- feeling of meaninglessness
Infants
- lack of growth
- attachment difficulties
- tenseness
- lack of eye contact
Preschool children
- autism-like behaviors
- compulsive play
School children
- takes too much responsibility
- bed-wetting
Teenagers
- hopelessness
- risk-taking
- avoids becoming an adult – or becomes an adult too early
- need for strong stimulus
Signs and symptoms may appear after 6 months,
or only after 1.5-2 years.
Common emotions in trauma
Powerlessness – “I don’t know what to do.”
Loneliness – “No one sees me or what I am experiencing.”
Abandonment – “No one understands me or helps me.”
Shame – “There must be something wrong with me.”
Guilt – “It’s my fault.”
Immanuel Journaling
- I see you.
- I hear you.
- I understand how big this is for you.
- I am happy to be with you and to meet your vulnerability gently.
- I can do something about what you are going through.
A person can experience a critical event without being traumatized about it:
- have a secure connection
- have good self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities
- have previous experience in dealing with difficult situations
- have good relationships
- receive and experience support, especially from family
- have adults around them who believe in their ability to protect and actually try to protect
- can somehow understand what is happening
- has been prepared to some extent
- have the opportunity to express and talk about what happened, in different ways
- can feel satisfied with their own actions in the situation
- can see that there is something to learn from what happened
Post-traumatic growth đ±
What can lead to trauma?
Any situation where a person experiences:
- loss of security – loneliness
- loss of privacy – abuse
- loss of control and strategies – powerlessness
- loss of hope – hopelessness
Examples of potentially traumatizing events
- critical incidents
- natural disasters
- accidents
- fire
- war
- kidnapping
- terrorist attacks
- everyday events
- case
- strong sounds, light, cold or heat
- loneliness
- to get lost
- not feeling protected
- failures
- hospitalization and medical treatments
- close to drowning
- close to suffocation
- school situations
- bullying
- performance requirements
- major changes
- movers
- divorce
- new family member
- disease
- losses
- separation from biological family
- witnessing violence
- domestic violence
- sexual abuse
- parents who cannot meet the child’s needs
- witnessing other people’s difficult experiences
Ulrika Ernvik