Your Response to Trauma Matters
Here’s an important part of the discussion about trauma - it’s our response to it that matters. Two people may experience the same event and one might develop post-traumatic stress disorder whereas the other person might function normally after a few days.
The Symptoms of PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, happens when the symptoms following a traumatic event don’t go away and interfere with daily functioning. People become stuck and their brains are physiologically altered in response to the trauma.
Psychiatric professionals may use the diagnosis of PTSD when their patients experience three main symptoms:
Intrusions - These are flashbacks or nightmares associated with the event that make it feel like the event is actually occurring in present time.
Avoidance - Staying away from people, places or feelings that might be a reminder of the experience.
Hyperarousal - The body is on high alert which can look like insomnia, hypervigilance, irritability or a startle response.
As with all mental health diagnoses, there is a tremendous amount of nuance surrounding the diagnosis. The purpose of this article is not to explore all of that nuance or to offer any sort of diagnosis. The idea here is to give you an introduction to the wide range of responses to trauma.
We know that the approach to recovering from PTSD takes on many facets that may include expressive writing or narrative therapy, which is incorporated into my work. I usually work with people after they have undergone therapy for acute responses to trauma.
All People Who Experience Trauma will NOT develop PTSD
Maybe when you read the symptom list above, you thought to yourself, “Gosh, that’s definitely something that I’ve experienced.” Even if you don’t develop PTSD, there are ways that traumatic experiences stick with you. I think of the response to trauma as a spectrum. On one end, there is no residual effect following the event. One the other end is PTSD. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.
Here are some ways people might respond to trauma:
Images of the event flash into your mind at unexpected times
Disrupted sleep
Avoiding places that remind you of what happened
Getting startled more easily
Heart racing when you encounter a certain scent
Ruminating - thoughts about what happened play on repeat
Remember, these responses do not mean you have PTSD, but they could mean that you have residual effects of the BIG thing you went through. Next week we’ll talk about how this can impact your health.
Writing Prompt
Create a safe space for yourself. Bring to mind that BIG event. Make a list of the ways that you have responded. Draw the scale I shared above on your piece of paper. Mark the spot where you think you fall in terms of your response to the event.