What is Emotional or Psychological Trauma?

Emotional or psychological trauma describes a condition where the patient is frozen in a state of active emotional intensity and distress that is connected to a traumatising event. The response can set in immediately following the traumatising event but may sometimes be delayed for as long as years. Trauma can cause lasting difficulties in an individual's life.

The trauma patient shows a range of physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms that may include: eating or sleeping disturbances, low energy, chronic, unexplained pain, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorders, emotional numbness, a feeling of being out of control, memory lapses, distraction, and re-experiencing the traumatising event.

How to distinguish stress from trauma:
If someone is able communicate his or her distress to other people and can respond adequately, and if a return to a state of balance is possible, the person is dealing with stress.

• Traumatising events are usually overwhelming life experiences like war, rape, kidnapping, sexual or physical abuse or surviving a natural disaster.
• Important: It is not the event that determines whether something is traumatic but the individual's experience of the event.

Symptoms often subside with time, even without professional treatment. But cognitive-behavioural therapy and relaxation techniques may help the patient to return to a normal daily life much faster.