TRAUMA
Tuesday, October 24, 20064:07 AM
what is it:
Recent research has revealed that emotional trauma can result from such common occurrences as an auto accident, the breakup of a significant relationship, a humiliating or deeply disappointing experience, the discovery of a life-threatening illness or disabling condition, or other similar situations. Traumatizing events can take a serious emotional toll on those involved, even if the event did not cause physical damage.
Regardless of its source, an emotional trauma contains three common elements:
-it was unexpected
-the person was unprepared
-there was nothing the person could do to prevent it from happening
It is not the event that determines whether something is traumatic to someone, but the individual's experience of the event. And it is not predictable how a given person will react to a particular event.
symptoms of emotional trauma:
physical:
-Eating disturbances (more or less than usual)
-Sleep disturbances (more or less than usual)
-Sexual dysfunction
-Low energy (sometimes)
-Chronic, unexplained pain
emotional:
-Depression, spontaneous crying, despair and hopelessness (check)
-Anxiety
-Panic attacks
-Fearfulness
-Compulsive and obsessive behaviors
-Feeling out of control (check)
-Irritability, angry and resentment (50% check)
-Emotional numbness (the other 50% check)
-Withdrawal from normal routine and relationships
cognitive:
-Memory lapses, especially about the trauma
-Difficulty making decisions
-Decreased ability to concentrate
-Feeling distracted (sometimes)
extreme symptoms:
Re-experiencing the trauma
-intrusive thoughts
-flashbacks or nightmares (check)
-sudden floods of emotions or images related to the traumatic event (check)
Emotional numbing and avoidance
-amnesia
-avoidance of situations that resemble the initial event
-detachment
-depression (check)
-guilt feelings
-grief reactions
-an altered sense of time
Increased arousal
-hyper-vigilance, jumpiness, an extreme sense of being "on guard"
-overreactions, including sudden unprovoked anger
-general anxiety
-insomnia (check... having it for AGES)
-obsessions with death (check)
Common personal and behavioral effects of emotional trauma:
-substance abuse
-compulsive behavior patterns
-self-destructive and impulsive behavior (check)
-uncontrollable reactive thoughts (check)
-inability to make healthy professional or lifestyle choices
-dissociative symptoms ("splitting off" parts of the self)
-feelings of ineffectiveness, shame, despair, hopelessness (check)
-feeling permanently damaged (check)
-a loss of previously sustained beliefs
Common effects of emotional trauma on interpersonal relationships:
-inability to maintain close relationships or choose appropriate friends and mates
-sexual problems
-hostility
-arguments with family members, employers or co-workers
-social withdrawal
-feeling constantly threatened (er i dunno... it does occur occasionally)
[okay i'll leave these symptoms to the people around me to decide ha hahee ha]Labels: fear, frustration, health, randominity, stress, teenage life
say something,
say it RIGHT.
