Emotional and Psychological Trauma: Causes, Symptoms, Help - Riverside, CA

Trauma

Are you currently experiencing trauma?

Trauma can occur if you have experienced a significant dangerous or life-threatening event. Following the event, you may experience a variety of reactions. If you identify with several of the following signs and symptoms, you may be suffering from trauma.

Are you constantly living in fear?
Are you constantly walking on eggshells?
Do you feel battered by words?
Do you feel like you have to control what you have to say and do in order to keep the peace?
Do you have nightmares?
Do you avoid places or situations that are similar to where the event occurred?
Do you have recurring, vivid memories of the event?
Do you feel like you are constantly looking over your shoulder, or on guard?

If you are suffering from trauma, it’s important to give yourself time to heal and to allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling without judgment or guilt. Just remember, whether the traumatic event happened years ago or yesterday, you can heal and move on.

There are five major types of trauma, each with their own distinct symptoms: domestic violence and abuse, child abuse and neglect, elder abuse and neglect, post-traumatic stress disorder, and healing emotional and psychological trauma.

Domestic Violence & Abuse

Domestic abuse occurs when one person in an intimate relationship or marriage tries to dominate and control the other person. Domestic abuse that includes physical violence is called domestic violence. Domestic violence and abuse can happen to anyone, yet the problem is often overlooked, excused, or denied. This is especially true when the abuse is psychological, rather than physical. Emotional abuse is often minimized, yet it can leave deep and lasting scars.

Signs That You Are In An Abusive Relationship

To determine whether your relationship is abusive, answer the questions below. If you identify with a lot of these questions, the more likely it is that you’re in an abusive relationship.

Do you:

Feel afraid of your partner much of the time?
Avoid certain topics out of fear of angering your partner?
Feel that you can’t do anything right for your partner?
Believe that you deserve to be hurt or mistreated?
Wonder if you’re the one who is crazy?
Feel emotionally numb or helpless?

Does your partner:

Humiliate or yell at you?
Criticize you and put you down?
Treat you so badly that you’re embarrassed for your friends or family to see?
Ignore or put down your opinions or accomplishments?
Blame you for his own abusive behavior?
See you as property or sex object, rather than as a person?

Child Abuse & Neglect

Child abuse is more than bruises or broken bones. While physical abuse is shocking due to the scars it leaves, not all child abuse is as obvious. Ignoring children’s needs, putting them in unsupervised, dangerous situations, or making a child feel worthless or stupid are also child abuse. Regardless of the type of child abuse, the result is serious emotional harm.

Warning signs of child abuse and neglect

Child abuse is not always obvious. By learning some of the common warning signs of child abuse and neglect, you can catch the problem as early as possible and get both the child and the abuser the help that they need.

Warning signs of emotional abuse in children:

Excessively withdrawn, fearful, or anxious about doing something wrong.
Shows extremes in behavior, such as extremely compliant or extremely demanding, or extremely passive or extremely aggressive.
Doesn’t seem to be attached to the parent or caregiver.
Acts either inappropriately adult or inappropriately infantile.

Warning signs of physical abuse in children:

Frequent injuries or unexplained bruises, welts, or cuts.
Is always watchful and “on alert,” as if waiting for something bad to happen.
Injuries appear to have a pattern, such as marks from a hand or belt.
Flinches at sudden movements or seems afraid to go home.
Wears inappropriate clothing to cover up injuries, such as long-sleeved shirts on hot days.

Warning signs of neglect in children:

Clothes are ill-fitting, filthy, or inappropriate for the weather.
Hygiene is consistently bad.
Untreated illnesses and physical injuries.
Frequently unsupervised, left alone or allowed to play in unsafe situations and environments.
Frequently late or missing from school.

Warning signs of sexual abuse in children:

Trouble walking or sitting.
Display knowledge or interest in sexual acts inappropriate to his or her age, or even seductive behavior.
Makes strong efforts to avoid a specific person, without an obvious reason.
Doesn’t’ want to change clothes in front of others or participate in physical activities.
Runs away from home.

Elder Abuse & Abuse

Every year, tens of thousands of elderly Americans are abused in their own homes, in relatives’ homes, and even in facilities responsible for their care. You may suspect that an elderly person you know is being harmed physically or emotionally by a neglectful or overwhelmed caregiver or being preyed upon financially. By learning the signs and symptoms of elder abuse and how to act on behalf of an elderly person who is being abused, you’ll not only be helping someone else but strengthening your own defenses against elder abuse in the future.

Warning signs of elder abuse and neglect

If you suspect elderly abuse, but aren’t sure, look for the following physical and behavioral signs.

Physical abuse:

Unexplained signs of injury such as bruises, welts, or scars, especially if they appear symmetrically on two sides of the body
Broken bones, sprains, or dislocations
Report of drug overdose or apparent failure to take medication regularly
Broken eyeglasses or frames
Signs of being restrained, such as rope marks on wrists
Caregiver’s refusal to allow you to see the elder alone

Emotional abuse:

Threatening, belittling, or controlling caregiver behavior that you witness
Behavior from the elder that mimics dementia, such as rocking, sucking, or mumbling to oneself

Sexual abuse:

Bruises around breasts or genitals
Unexplained venereal disease or genital infections
Unexplained vaginal or anal bleeding
Torn, strained, or bloody underclothing

Neglect by caregivers or self-neglect:

Unusual weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration
Untreated physical problems, such as bed sores
Unsanitary living conditions
Being left dirty or unbathed
Unsuitable clothing or covering for the weather
Unsafe living conditions, such as no heat or running water, faulty electrical wiring, or other fire hazards
Desertion of the elder at a public place

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Following a traumatic event, almost everyone experiences at least some of the symptoms of PTSD. It’s very common to have bad dreams, feel fearful or numb, and find it difficult to stop thinking about what happened. But for most people, these symptoms are short-lived. They may last for several days or even weeks, but they gradually lift.

The symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can arise suddenly, gradually, or come and go over time. Sometimes symptoms appear seemingly out of the blue. At other times, they are triggered by something that reminds you of the original traumatic event, such as a noise, an image, certain words, or a smell. While everyone experiences PTSD differently, there are three main types of symptoms, as listed below.

Re-experiencing the traumatic experience:

Intrusive, upsetting memories of the event
Flashbacks, such as acting or feeling like the event is happening again
Nightmares of the event or of other frightening things
Feelings of intense distress when reminded of the trauma
Intense physical reactions to reminders of the event, such as pounding heart, rapid breathing, nausea, muscle tension, or sweating

PTSD symptoms of avoidance and emotional numbing:

Avoiding activities, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma
Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma
Loss of interest in activities and life in general
Feeling detached from others and emotionally numb
Sense of a limited future, such as you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, or have a career

PTSD symptoms of increased arousal:

Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Irritability or outbursts of anger
Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Irritability or outbursts of anger
Difficulty concentrating
Hypervigilance
Feeling jumpy and easily startled

Healing Emotional and Psychological Trauma

Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extremely stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world.

Traumatic experiences often involve a threat to life or safety, but any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and alone can be traumatic, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective facts that determine whether an event is traumatic, but your subjective emotional experience of the event. The more frightened and helpless you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized.

A stressful event is most likely to be traumatic if:

It happened unexpectedly
You were unprepared for it
You felt powerless to prevent it
It happened repeatedly
Someone was intentionally cruel
It happened in childhood

Symptoms of Emotional and Psychological Trauma

Following a traumatic event, most people experience a wide range of physical and emotional reactions. These are normal reactions to abnormal events. The symptoms may last for days, weeks, or even months after the trauma ended.

Emotional symptoms of trauma:

Shock, denial, or disbelief
Anger, irritability, mood swings
Guilt, shame, self-blame
Feeling sad or hopeless
Confusion, difficulty concentrating
Anxiety and fear
Withdrawing from others
Feeling disconnected or numb

Physical symptoms of trauma:

Insomnia or nightmares
Being startled easily
Racing heartbeat
Aches and pains
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating
Edginess and agitation
Muscle tension

TREATMENT FOR TRAUMA

Experiencing a traumatic event can turn your life upside down. You may feel like you are not yourself anymore and that your life will never be the same. The good news is that the appropriate therapy can help you recover and go on to have a satisfying and fulfilled life. Treatment for trauma can take many forms. Two of the latest and most effective treatments are Trauma-focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT) and Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). At IFC Wellness, we have therapists who specialize in both of these approaches.

Contact Us

IFC Wellness Center
7177 Brockton Ave., Suite 226
Riverside, CA 92506
Info@IFCWellnessCenter.com

Lori A. Barker, Ph.D.
(909) 539-8955

Nene Cook, Psy.D.
(951) 291-7080

Colbert Williams, Sr., LCSW
(866) 726-7881

Fax: (951) 788-7075