Knowra Psychological trauma Psychological trauma Psychological trauma is lasting emotional or psychological harm associated with events or circumstances experienced as deeply threatening, overwhelming, or distressing. Its effects vary across people and may persist after danger has passed.
Fight-or-flight response : An automatic physiological response that prepares the body to confront danger or escape it. Traumatic threat can activate this response intensely or leave it unusually easy to trigger.
Stress : A physiological and psychological response to demands or perceived threats. Trauma is related to stress but involves harm that can outlast the immediate response.
Trauma-informed care : An approach to services that recognizes trauma’s effects and emphasizes safety, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. It adapts care to reduce avoidable distress and prevent retraumatization.
Adverse childhood experiences : Potentially harmful experiences before age 18, including abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Repeated childhood adversity can contribute to lasting trauma-related effects across development.
Traumatic memory : A memory of a traumatic event, which may be vivid, fragmented, or triggered by reminders. Its sensory and involuntary qualities can make past danger feel present again.
Adversity : A difficult or harmful circumstance that challenges a person’s well-being or development. Adverse circumstances may contribute to trauma, though exposure does not affect everyone alike.
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy : A structured psychotherapy that helps people process trauma and change related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is an established treatment approach for trauma-related difficulties, especially in children and adolescents.
Attachment theory : A framework describing how early relationships shape patterns of connection and security. Traumatic caregiving or separation can disrupt expectations of safety in close relationships.
Dissociation : A disruption in the usual integration of awareness, memory, identity, emotion, or perception. During overwhelming experiences, dissociation can distance awareness from distress or danger.
Post-traumatic stress disorder : A mental disorder involving persistent symptoms after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. It is one possible diagnosis associated with trauma, not a synonym for trauma.
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