Post-trauma Stress: Reduce Long-term Effects And Hidden Emotional Damage Caused By Violence And Disaster

For survivors of physical and emotional violence, advice from professionals on how to reduce the far-reaching effects of post-traumatic stress.

WHAT IS POST-TRAUMA STRESS? Post-trauma stress is the development of certain symptoms or reactions following an abnormal event. The event is abnormal in that it is life threatening or extremely disturbing, and can be anything from a minor accident to a major disaster. This includes incidents such as a divorce, riots, war, bereavement or any event that causes trauma and shock. This trauma disturbs our normal life beliefs and turns our world upside down, causing confusion, disbelief, feelings of vulnerability, a loss of meaning and purpose in life, and changes in self-image or self-esteem.

It would not be correct to assume that the symptoms are only found after the event, because they can arise earlier. Seeds of the symptoms of post-trauma stress lie not only in the nature of the event itself, but also in the lives of those who experience it.

Post-trauma stress can result from any experience that, for me, is not normal. Because it is not normal it can cause traumatic reactions. The experience should not be seen as an isolated event but rather as an ongoing situation. I bring myself-my character and personality and previous experiences-to the event. All of these, including the nature of the event, will determine how I react both at the time and later.

A man walking down a street in front of a group of apartments was hit on the head by a falling plant pot. This abnormal and unusual event shocked and traumatized the man. Later, he suffered from agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) and the fear that the same thing might happen again if he went out into the street.

Perhaps a trivial accident, it nevertheless caused emotional disturbances as well as physical pain, both at the time and later. We look at the characteristic symptoms of post-trauma stress in more detail in the next chapter.

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