Trauma and PTSD
What is trauma?
Trauma is caused by experiencing a shocking or deeply distressing and disturbing event that overwhelms the individual’s ability to cope. Trauma causes the development of negative beliefs about the self, the other, and/or the situation. This results in the individual to react in maladaptive ways when faced with similar situations in the future.
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can occur after someone experiences trauma. Not every person who has experienced trauma develops PTSD. Some people develop some symptoms after experiencing the traumatic event, but they go away after a few weeks. When the symptoms last more than a month and seriously affect the person’s ability to function, the person may be suffering from PTSD. Some people with PTSD don’t show symptoms for some time after the traumatic event.
Common causes of trauma
● Physical or sexual assault
● Being a victim or witnessing domestic violence
● Emotional or physical neglect or abuse
● Taking part in military combat or being in a war zone
● Living through war or a natural disaster
● Having a life-threatening illness or injury
● Bullying
Symptoms of PTSD
● Intense or prolonged distress in response to trauma triggers
● Experience a persistent negative mood and inability to have positive emotions
● Unable to remember details about the trauma
● Try to avoid thinking about or remembering the trauma
● Makes significant efforts to avoid anything that might trigger trauma memories
● Feel irritable or angry, or shows physical or verbal aggression
● Experience unwanted and persistent memories about the event
● Has distressing and persistent dreams about the event
● Suffers insomnia and/or sleep disturbances
● Difficulty concentrating
● Exhibits an exaggerated startle response
● Hypervigilance
What is Attachment Trauma
and Complex PTSD?
Attachment trauma is a form of relational trauma involving a severe disruption in the bond between a child and his/her/their caregiver. Although this disruption can manifest in different ways, it typically involves the absence of healthy amounts of nurture, care, and reliable caregiving from neglectful or abusive caregivers during early childhood. Attachment trauma is a key factor in contributing to the development of Complex PTSD, which is the direct result of repeated or prolonged exposure to trauma. In addition to all the symptoms of PTSD, individuals suffering from Complex PTSD also form negative self-concepts and struggles with impaired interpersonal relationships.
Causes of attachment trauma
● A parent who is emotionally unavailable
● Childhood neglect due to substance abuse, such as alcoholism or drug abuse
● Mental illness, such as depression, in a parent or caregiver
● A serious physical illness in a parent or caregiver, leaving the person to be unable to tend to the child’s basic needs for love and attention
● The sudden loss of a parent or caregiver who the child depended on to feel safe and loved
● Significant family instability, such as parents who are preoccupied with a difficult divorce or a parent who is only sporadically engaged with the child
Symptoms of
attachment trauma
●Fear of being left behind or abandoned
●Feelings of helplessness, inadequacy, being “not enough”
●“Checking out” of relationships or friendships, feeling unattached or emotionally unavailable to connect
●Holding on to a relationship, even if it is unhealthy or abusive, so as to avoid any feelings of abandonment or loneliness
●Fear of conflict within a relationship, or avoiding the conflict at all costs
●An excessive and pronounced need for control, whether it be control over the environment, other people, or situations
●Self-judgment and setting unrealistic expectations, perfectionism
●Reacting to situations on one extreme or the other, for example, reacting too much or not at all to difficult situations
