The Mind Body Practice Issues

“Trauma - a severe emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely upsetting experience.”
Oxford Dictionary Online

Trauma is what a person experiences when they are confronted with what they perceive as a life threatening or life changing event. Although these feelings are disturbing to the sufferer they are a normal and expected response. It is the brain's way of processing information that is outside the normal everyday experience – the unexpectedness of the experience undermines the person’s trust in normalcy, the person can lose faith in an ordered existence.

Some situations that can provoke trauma are; being in an accident or witnessing an accident; experiencing a burglary or an attack; life threatening medical conditions; abuse either in childhood or as an adult.

Some symptoms of trauma;

• recurrent intrusive recollections of the event
• changes in sleep (e.g. not being able to sleep, or wanting to sleep all the time)
• recurrent vivid dreams about the event
• feeling or behaving as if the event were happening again
• changes in behaviour (e.g. short temper)
• numbed responses
• changes in work effectiveness (e.g. poor concentration)
• reduced interest in the external world (e.g. feelings of detachment and estrangement)
• a sense of always needing to be ultra-alert
• a sense of being vulnerable, leading to a fear of losing control

Whilst some of these symptoms are normal reactions to a traumatic experience, if they persist for weeks after the event then help should be sought. Counselling can help the sufferer process the traumatic event in a confidential, safe place which can help relieve the symptoms. If the trauma is left unprocessed, further problems may be experienced in the future, for example, depression and increased anxiety.