Dorothy FarrarTrauma (psychological)
A psychological trauma is a state of the psyche that corresponds to an isolation from the external environment for spiritual healing after a serious event. Traumatic events can include wars, natural disasters, prison stays or various experiences of violence. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common forms of psychotrauma.
What is psychological trauma?
In a psychological trauma, the psyche seals itself off from external influences in order to recover after a psychological shock caused by a serious (traumatizing) event and to enable processing.
It is a protective measure, because the psyche is injured in this state and needs time to process the traumatic impressions. Ideally, a trauma ends in a growth experience and thus in increased resistance to the traumatizing factor. In the worst case, trauma develops into pathological long-term psychological consequences.
Causes
The cause of trauma is a shocking event, but it doesn’t always have to be obvious. Experiences of war, violence or car accidents are well-known triggers.Likewise, domestic violence or even psychological terror, which the outside world would not perceive as harmful, can lead to traumatization. It is not the objective, but the subjective gravity of an experience that counts. Whether an environmental factor can become a trauma for the psyche also depends on the so-called resilience of the human being. This is the psychological resilience and thus the processing potential in the face of potentially traumatizing influences.
Symptoms and course
People with psychological trauma develop characteristic and less clear symptoms. They often develop isolation behavior, isolate themselves from the outside world, no longer enjoy their previous hobbies and seem internally flattened to depressed. Also often a fixed gaze can be observed.
Traumatized people seem affectless, which means that their psychological reactions are no longer or only weak. They may appear distant to caregivers. Contact with the traumatic factor either makes them aggressive and defensive, or they fall even deeper into their traumatic “rigidity”. Traumatized people are perceived by their environment as permanently pessimistic, an attitude they display for protection.
Most traumas give up on their own over time and develop in one direction or another. After about 6 weeks without any change, one speaks of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); but it can also lead to a growth experience, to new resilience and thus also to more joie de vivre.
Diagnosis
Trauma is diagnosed by raising a psychological cause. In some cases, this must first be determined by depth psychology, as displacement has occurred. On the basis of questionnaires for the patient and analytical examinations by the psychologist to investigate the symptoms, the diagnosis of psychological trauma can then be made.
There are complex diagnostic procedures with which psychologists and psychotherapists work in order to clearly diagnose trauma at all and at the same time to recognize the extent to which further consequences and developments have already appeared. This is important for the subsequent treatment, as consequential damage can usually be effectively treated in the early phase.
treatment and therapy
There are several psychosocial and drug-based ways to treat trauma. However, the drug area is primarily symptomatic and does not bring about the healing or further development of the trauma, but facilitates the time until the first treatment successes. Antidepressants are usually given to help the person overcome problems such as guilt and learn to live better with going through this normal development.Depending on the individual case, psychosocial therapies include psychoanalysis, trauma therapy, imaginative therapy, gestalt therapy and the equally important and frequent aspect of behavioral therapy in the treatment. Various methods are often used experimentally until the trauma patient shows a development and thus justifies the success of a treatment method.
However, it is also important to create a healthy social environment beyond the psychosocial therapy. Studies have shown, for example, that a permanent caregiver is very important for trauma victims and can help them lead a normal life again more quickly. There are also always new experimental therapy approaches in trauma research, with which the patient can also experiment, depending on the therapist and his or her experience.
Prevention
Trauma can hardly be prevented, since one usually has little influence on when one comes into contact with traumatizing environmental factors. Those affected often notice for themselves that something is wrong with them. You should seek professional help yourself in these cases, as it can help you prevent the long-term consequences of psychological trauma, such as PTSD. This can be a very difficult step to begin with, but once you have made it, you will have help and support from all sides to guide you in the right direction.
Hello and welcome to my Health Guide & Encyclopedia! My name is Dorothy Farrar, and I'm the founder and main author of this platform.
My passion for health and wellness started at a young age when I became interested in the connection between the food we eat and the way we feel. This fascination led me to study nutrition and dietetics in college, where I learned about the importance of a balanced diet and the impact of various nutrients on the body.