Advice

What is trauma?

Trauma is an upsetting or confusing event. It can include something that happened to you directly, something you witnessed, or something that happened to someone you care about. There are a variety of traumatic events such as COVID-19, school shootings, natural disasters, assault, sexual assault, witnessing or experiencing emotional, verbal, physical, financial, or sexual abuse, and more. If you experience a single traumatic event that is an acute trauma. If you experience repeated trauma over time, such as abuse, that is known as complex trauma.

The same traumatic event can impact people in different ways across the life span. Some common ways that people are impacted include: remembering or thinking about the traumatic event when you don’t want to, avoiding reminders and thoughts of the event, depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and more.