Find a Trauma Therapist

Trauma is the emotional response to a distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms your ability to cope. While trauma is often associated with life-threatening events like accidents, violence, or natural disasters, it can also result from emotional abuse, neglect, sudden loss, or even chronic stress.

There are three primary types of trauma:

• Acute trauma: A single distressing event (e.g., car accident, assault)
• Chronic trauma: Repeated and prolonged exposure (e.g., domestic violence, childhood abuse)
• Complex trauma: Exposure to multiple traumatic events, often beginning in early life

The experience of trauma is subjective — what is traumatic for one person may not be for another. Trauma is not just about the event itself, but how your mind and body respond to it.

Recognizing trauma isn’t always straightforward. Trauma doesn’t always appear as dramatic flashbacks or panic attacks — sometimes it shows up as chronic fatigue, irritability, emotional numbness, or difficulty trusting others. People often live with the effects of trauma for years without realizing that their symptoms stem from a past event or pattern of experiences.

Trauma can be obvious and acute, such as surviving a car accident, or covert and prolonged, like growing up in a household where your emotional needs were consistently ignored. Because trauma impacts the brain and nervous system, its effects can surface in ways that seem disconnected from the original event.

Emotional and Psychological Signs of Trauma

• Intrusive thoughts or flashbacks of a distressing event
• Nightmares or trouble sleeping
• Emotional numbness or difficulty feeling positive emotions
• Irritability, anger outbursts, or mood swings
• Persistent fear, anxiety, or dread, even without a clear trigger
• Feelings of guilt, shame, or worthlessness
• Difficulty trusting people or forming close relationships
• Low self-esteem or a harsh inner critic

These emotional responses may show up sporadically or become part of your daily life. For some, trauma can cause a sense of being constantly “on edge” — like waiting for something bad to happen.

Physical and Behavioral Signs of Trauma

Trauma isn’t just in your mind — it lives in your body too. People who have experienced trauma may notice:

• Unexplained physical pain, such as headaches, backaches, or stomach issues
• Fatigue or low energy, even with adequate sleep
• Startling easily or being overly sensitive to sounds, touch, or light
• Changes in appetite or eating habits
• Risky behaviors, such as substance use, self-harm, or compulsive behaviors
• Avoidance behaviors, like skipping appointments, avoiding people or places, or zoning out during conversations

Behavioral patterns like perfectionism, people-pleasing, or difficulty setting boundaries can also be rooted in trauma, especially if you learned these habits as a way to stay safe in an unpredictable or unsafe environment.

Relational and Cognitive Signs of Trauma

Trauma can deeply affect how we relate to ourselves and others:

• Feeling emotionally disconnected or detached from others
• Trouble communicating needs or emotions
• Avoiding intimacy or vulnerability
• Difficulty concentrating or memory lapses
• Constantly scanning for danger (hypervigilance)
• Feeling like you’re “not really here” or that the world doesn’t feel real (dissociation)

These responses are not personal flaws — they are adaptive survival mechanisms your brain developed to protect you. The problem is when these patterns continue long after the threat has passed, keeping you stuck in survival mode.

You Don’t Need a Diagnosis to Have Trauma

Many people believe that only those with a PTSD diagnosis need trauma therapy — but that’s simply not true. Trauma exists on a spectrum, and many people experience subclinical symptoms that still impact their quality of life.

If you’ve ever said things like:

• “I don’t know why I’m like this.”
• “I should be over it by now.”
• “Nothing that bad happened to me, but I still feel messed up.” — you may be dealing with unprocessed trauma.

Working with a trauma therapist or therapist specializing in trauma can help you understand your symptoms, identify their root cause, and begin the healing process. You don’t need to have all the answers to get started — you just need to be open to exploring the possibility that your pain has a deeper source.

Both acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are mental health conditions that can develop after a traumatic event, but they differ in terms of timing and duration.

• Acute Stress Disorder occurs within the first month after a traumatic event and includes symptoms like dissociation, intrusive thoughts, and anxiety. It may resolve on its own or evolve into PTSD if symptoms persist.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is diagnosed when symptoms last longer than a month and continue to interfere with daily life. PTSD may not appear immediately — it can develop weeks, months, or even years after the trauma.

Early intervention with a therapist specializing in trauma can reduce the likelihood of developing chronic PTSD and provide you with healthy coping strategies.