Trauma

Common Trauma Reactions

Listed below are common trauma reactions associated with trauma, this is not exclusive. In the weeks following or even years later, expect these reactions:

• Distressing recollections or memories of the event, including images or thoughts that happen without warning at the strangest times

• Distressing dreams of the event or difficulty going to sleep for fear of having bad dreams about what happened

• Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring

• Physical reactions and sensations upon exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble the traumatic event (i.e., nausea, difficulty breathing, faintness, fear, worry, and hurt)

• Trying to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma

• Trying to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma

• Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma

• Diminished interest or participation in significant activities, personal relationships, school, or work

• Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others

• Unable to experience pleasure, joy, or loving feelings

• Sense of foreshortened future (i.e., do not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life)

• Difficulty falling or staying asleep

• Inability or outbursts of anger

• Difficulty concentrating or remembering

• Hypervigilance – chronic state of fear/intense worry that something else is about to happen, constant state of alert

• Exaggerated startle response (i.e., jumpy, easily startled by sounds, sights, smells, or situations that remind you what happened)

It is not unusual to experience some or all of these reactions during the weeks that follow a traumatic event. When the trauma is a disaster or other external event, reactions may be experienced even longer, especially when physical reminders of the trauma cannot be avoided or when the details of the incident are kept alive in the media for an extended period of time. If there is no appropriate intervention provided, trauma reactions can last for years after the experience or surface years later.

Helping Children and Teens Deal with Trauma

• Discover what is traumatic for the child. Do not make assumptions.

• Do not expect to hear what you may think, listen and pick up on opportunities.

• Identify and deal with the fantasies and give information. Reality is always easier to deal with than fantasy.

• Keep a time perspective. Do not rush the child.

• Create a network with a common understanding of the child. Parents, teachers, and relatives need education as to trauma responses and recovery.

• Take a preventative approach. Highlight the problem in its context and provide parents with information on what to expect, how to respond, when and how to seek help.

• Maintain a normal perspective, but do not ignore signs of disturbance. When responding always review in your mind normal developmental processes and tasks which the child faces after the trauma

• Support normal routines, networks, and relationships.

• Promote meaning through symbols and rituals.

Preschool — Grade 2

Grades 3 - 5

Adolescents Grades 6 and Up

- Wilson and Raphael 1993

Helpful Strategies for Trauma Victims/Survivors

• It is very important to your recovery to get enough rest, especially the first 4-6 weeks following the trauma.

• If you cannot sleep at night, take a nap of 15 minutes-1/2 hour during the day.

• If waking up during the night because of traumatic dreams, know they will pass in time. Do what comforts you. Read a good book until you become sleepy again.

• Listen to good music, write, do some housework, watch television, have a light snack. Remember, this will be a temporary change.

• Exercise of some kind is important to help relieve you of the tension that traumatic experiences create. Even if you have not been exercising, go for a short walk.

• Avoid too much caffeine, alcohol, or other stimulants. Do not self-medicate.

NOTE: If you are having difficulties with relaxing or sleeping following the trauma, then call your doctor for a temporary prescription to help you sleep. Make sure to tell your doctor the trauma you experienced so you will have ongoing communication as you recover from the initial traumatic responses. If lack of sleep or rest persists beyond 4-6 weeks consult with a trauma specialist.

Pull back on making a commitment to additional responsibilities for the first four weeks. The tendency for some is to take on additional responsibilities thinking it will help them forget. In reality, it frequently drains them of energy, delays the healing process, and intensifies future reactions when they finally emerge.

Be protective and nurturing of yourself. It is okay to want to be by yourself, or just stay around home with the family. Do those things which relax you, give you some pleasure.

Expect during the 4-6 weeks following the event that new memories of, and reactions to, your experience are likely to emerge. This does not mean things are getting worse. Generally these newer memories and reactions mean you are, in fact, feeling more protected, safer, and rested enough to now deal with them.

Understand that your trauma reactions need to be expressed and experienced by you in order for you to heal. Children, for example, go to the same horror movie, like “Jason,” 4-6 times so they can master their fear of the terror they experienced when seeing the movie for the first time.

Trauma dreams, intrusive thoughts, images, and other traumatic specific reactions repeat themselves in much the same way. In most cases they will become less upsetting and frightening to you after 4-6 weeks and should occur less and less frequently.

If any trauma reactions continue beyond six weeks from when the trauma occurred, you need to talk with a trauma consultant. If you do not, such reactions can become chronic as well as create additional problems for you.

We all have different reactions. What scares you may not scare someone else. If you are experiencing reactions after the six week period, it does not mean something is terribly wrong with you. It means your past experiences have not equipped you to know how to respond to what happened. Generally, talking to a trauma specialist a few times will resolve the problem.

A traumatic experience can, however, terrorize the strongest and healthiest. It can induce such terror that our lives become disorganized or disoriented. We can become someone strange or act in ways we have never acted before. This can panic us.

Trauma is not an experience we want to keep to ourselves; we want to resolve it as quickly as possible. Do not hesitant to consult with a trauma specialist when your reactions are overwhelming or interfere with normal functioning. The specialist can help you sort out which reactions are normal and can help you to prepare for possible future reactions.

Finally, traumatic experiences tend to change the way we look at life, our behaviors, activities, relationships, and our future. Expect in the weeks to come to see the world differently, your friends, loved ones, work relationships. In time, you will redefine what you want for yourself.

The first 4-6 weeks therefore is not a time to be making any major decisions. Put what you can on hold. During recovery from a trauma everything is a bit distorted. You want to wait whenever possible to deal with major decisions until after you have had time (4-6 weeks) to reorder your life and feel stable once again.