In mental health, trauma is an emotional response to a distressing event with the potential for long-term mental and/or physical harm. Trauma impacts our sense of safety and self through such events as accidents, natural disasters, war, or the death of a loved one or such oppression as racism. Trauma can also cause anxiety and hyper vigilance and reduce our ability to trust others and ourselves and to regulate our emotions as we feel shame, fear, powerlessness, and helplessness. Physical outcomes can include headaches, nausea, fatigue, racing heart, and sweating, and those who experience trauma may resort to such unhealthy coping mechanisms as substance use.
A perceived danger can trigger the fight or flight response, often a trauma response creating a surge of adrenaline to prepare for confronting the danger (“fight”) or escaping it (“flight”). In fight or flight, we may experience increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, and muscle tension.
Through therapy, those who’ve experienced trauma can establish trust, receive support and validation without judgment, evaluate what they can control to feel safer, learn to manage their emotions, and practice healthy ways of coping with the effects of trauma.
Deb Falzoi
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