Mental trauma. Psychological trauma: causes and signs of critical condition

According to Freud, trauma is an emotional shock experienced by an individual and not subject to psychological processing, and the irresistible affects that accompany it. Another definition: unexpected excessive irritation, under the influence of which the usual ways of functioning of the mental apparatus are powerless and the Ego becomes absolutely helpless.

Psychotrauma or psychological trauma greatly affects the life and condition of a person.

Psychotrauma- this, of course, is the harm caused to the psychological health of a person by their actions other people or unfavorable circumstances. Distinguish between mental and psychological trauma. With mental trauma the normal functioning of the psyche is disturbed. With psychological trauma the psyche is not disturbed, the person remains adequate, adapts well in the social environment.

Where does psychotrauma begin?

Any event that is acutely experienced by a person and which is regarded by him as a blow: death or loss (departure) of a loved one, attack, rape, robbery; for a child, it can be a fright, any shock, a divorce of the parents.

How does psychotrauma manifest itself?

The person begins to cry a lot, even minor events can unbalance him and lead to tears.

Also, a person who has received a psychotrauma can talk about it all the time, return to memories again and again - this is called obsessive memories. In severe cases, a person begins to view all events negatively.

· A person begins to merge himself with this situation and cannot look at it from the outside, he is involved in it and cannot distance himself from this psycho-traumatic situation.

What is terrible psychotrauma?

If a person has suffered a psychotrauma, his mental or psychological state is unstable and works, to put it mildly, "not correctly." And consequently, the further development of his personality will also go in the wrong direction. For each individual, development can go differently, it depends on individual characteristics: auto-aggression can develop (aggression directed at oneself is the path of self-destruction: here there is a tendency to injury, illness, suicide, etc.); some try to "get away" from solving problems with the help of drugs, alcohol, although this is also a path of self-destruction; some choose the path of antisocial behavior.

Basic information

In terms of intensity, psychotraumatic effects are divided into massive (catastrophic), sudden and acute, leading to a sharp suppression of a person's adaptive capabilities; by socially significant consequences - to narrowly focused and multifaceted actions in which the parameters of a person's social life suffer (social prestige, the possibility of self-affirmation, respect for others and close people, etc.); according to intimate and personal consequences to biologically and personally destructive ones, leading to psychosomatic diseases, neuroses, reactive states. The destructive power of mental trauma depends on the individual significance of the traumatic event for a person, the degree of his psychological security (fortitude) and resistance to the blows of fate. The role of psychotrauma can be played by the news of the presence of a serious illness, the need for a complex operation. For example, in connection with oncological, or cardiological pathology. There, in cardiac surgery practice, in 26.1% of patients with heart defects in the postoperative period, Skumin's syndrome is formed, in the development mechanism of which the psychotraumatic nature of the "cardiosurgical" situation plays a significant role.

The concept of “psychological trauma” was most widely used in the framework of the theory of post-traumatic disorder and the crisis psychology that arose in the late 80s. Psychological trauma is the experience of a special interaction between a person and the world around him. Psychological trauma - experience, shock. The most striking examples of psychotrauma are humiliation and a threat to life and health.

Treatment of psychotrauma, most often, there is a complex method: drug treatment and work with a psychotherapist or psychologist.

Finally, it can be noted that not all people who find themselves in a traumatic situation begin to get sick and show the symptoms described above. So there is susceptibility to psychotrauma and resilience to them. This is what you need to think about. After all, it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it.

Since there are few scientific developments in this area, clear criteria have not yet been described. Although the following can be noted from observations: more often psychotrauma occurs in people who in their behavior resemble children (that is, immature adults); also people who strongly perceive everything "close to the heart." All this is rooted in childhood - the immaturity of emotions and behavior, perhaps the experience of traumatic situations in childhood.

Imagine that a small child lives in each of us. He still can't walk or talk. Moreover, he cannot even think and feel. All that is available to him now is to feel. He has a corporality, but the higher mental functions (attention, thinking, memory) are still completely undeveloped.

His main task is to survive! And the most important need is safety! He still cannot stand up for himself, it is vitally important for him to rely on someone!

In a situation of insecurity, a threat to human life or health, psychological trauma can occur.

What is psychotrauma?

Psychotrauma is a reaction to a life event or situation that affects personally significant aspects of the existence of an individual and leads to deep psychological experiences.

Strong feelings, repressed memories are harmful to a person's mental health. As a result, there may even be a transition of the mental state to a pathological or borderline level of functioning.

The peculiarity of the occurrence of psychological trauma is also that the threat to life, safety or health can be directed not at the person himself, but at the one who is next to him (close, familiar or just a passerby).

That is why a person who, say, saw scenes of violence in his family, but was not a direct victim of these violent acts himself, can also receive psychological trauma and form distrust in relations with the opposite sex.

In many ways, whether a person will be injured or not depends not only on external factors, but also on his personal characteristics, as well as on the significance that he attaches to what is happening.

For one, a certain event may turn out to be an insignificant trifle, and for another, a tragedy of a lifetime.

The main types of psychological trauma

Psychological trauma can have an acute short-term character and be expressed in a shock reaction to a direct threat to a person's life or health. According to ICD 10, this is interpreted as "Reaction to severe stress and adaptation disorders."

For example, a person got into a car accident, which only miraculously did not end tragically or lost a loved one.

Another type of psychotrauma is chronic, which occurs as a result of long-term lingering influence of negative stress factors and can last for decades! Over time, the plot of a traumatic situation may fade into the background, and a mental illness may develop.

According to the modern ICD 10 classification, there is such a diagnosis as “Prolonged depressive reaction”, and it lasts no more than two years. But sometimes the severity of depression is observed more pronounced than in the adaptation reaction, and over time, the emotional experiences of the traumatic situation become irrelevant. Therefore, this depressive episode (often for the first time in life) may be the first bout of chronic (endogenous) depression. And the psychotrauma only pushed its emergence.

Most often, trauma is experienced by those who were brought up in a dysfunctional family, or who regularly experienced physical or emotional abuse in partnerships.

Fear of death, loss of a loved one, breakup of a relationship are the most common traumatic events.

Human reaction to psychotrauma

The main components of the symptom complex of psychological trauma: emotional, physical manifestations, problems in the field of personal and social implementation/adaptation.

A person who has experienced or is experiencing psychological trauma may experience sharp emotional swings and mood swings: from oppressive apathy and total indifference to pronounced rage and uncontrollable irritability.

Feelings of hopelessness, longing, sometimes guilt and shame for their weakness and indecision become dominant.

A person may avoid communication, preferring as the main way of spending time - withdrawing into oneself. He worries a lot and may experience fear that cannot be explained. He is overcome by a feeling of loneliness and abandonment. It can be difficult for him to hold attention for a long time and focus on something. Often there is insomnia or intermittent sleep with overpowering nightmares.

As a rule, a person has increased fatigue, muscle tension, and an accelerated heartbeat.

The duration of this kind of symptoms can be completely different: for someone it is weeks, and someone calculates for months.

Living through trauma, a person can feel relief. Symptoms, as a rule, weaken over time, but can occur in a situation where a person comes into contact with events, images, directly or indirectly reminiscent of what caused the psychological trauma.

As already mentioned, the occurrence of psychotrauma, its strength and intensity largely depend on the significance of the event and personal characteristics, including stress resistance. The support of others and the timely provision of the necessary assistance and treatment are also important.

How to come back to life after a psychological trauma

When talking about the treatment of trauma, it is important to keep in mind the time it takes to regain a sense of security and experience pain.

Working with psychotrauma is quite complex, during which strong resistance may arise, there is a risk of retraumatization. First of all, you should take care of a well-established contact with a psychotherapist, the formation of a sense of security and comfort.

An important resource in the treatment of psychological trauma is switching a person's attention to what can occupy his mind and help improve his condition (hobbies, household chores, taking care of someone, reading), thereby keeping from painful memories and experiences. It is also worth remembering the need for support from relatives and friends.

Do not interfere with all the feelings that arise.

They are a necessary part on the path to healing and gaining trust in the world and a sense of reliability and stability for a small traumatized child inside a person!

Naturally, a psychologist or psychotherapist will always come to the rescue. But, in dealing with psychological trauma, self-support can be a great addition and a great way to gain a resource for the opportunity to return to life!

I would like to offer some practical recommendations for independent work.

Most often, one of the symptoms of trauma is self-deprecating thoughts. It is important to restore faith in yourself and cope with guilt and self-flagellation. To do this, you should find in yourself those features or even the slightest actions you performed, for which you can praise yourself and which you can be proud of.

It will be good if you write down for yourself a list of your achievements, deeds, deeds that you had in your life, and for which you are grateful to yourself.

Be sure to add at the end of each sentence: “I am proud of it.” For example: “I completed the work plan perfectly for the past six months! I am proud of it!”, “I gave my mother a ticket to the sanatorium! I'm proud of it!"

As you expand this list, you will notice how much more your resource in working with psychological trauma becomes.

If we recall Transactional Analysis and what was discussed at the beginning of the article, it is the Body child that is most often traumatized, therefore it is so necessary to return a sense of security and a sense of stability through the body as well.

To do this, you can use meditation techniques and breathing exercises.

Repeat the exercise at least 5 times, inhaling deeply, filling the lungs with oxygen, and then exhaling. At the same time, you can mentally repeat affirmations like “I am calming down!”, “I am relaxing!”, “I am calm!”.

After relaxing the body, working with thoughts, you can move on to feelings using art techniques. For example, intuitive drawing of one's emotions, feelings, experiences can be quite effective in working with psychotrauma. It does not matter your level of artistic skill, creativity. The main thing is to restore calmness and the ability to return oneself to the state of “here and now”, thanks to the work of unconscious processes.

But, it is worth remembering that not in all cases it is enough just to work independently. After all, not only and not so much technology is important, but an organized safe space for living pain, trusting relationships for responding to all emerging feelings and qualified support and assistance for a speedy return to life!

Such a concept as psychological trauma, unfortunately, has a place to be in a modern civilized society. Not a single person on earth is immune from the blows of fate and is far from always protected from injustice and cruelty.

Experiencing some unpleasant event in life, the grief of losing a loved one, betrayal by relatives and friends, the consequences after a serious illness, or simply being under the impression of terrifying events, each person is subjected to emotional experiences and stress, as a result of which psychological trauma may occur. Violence against a person, suppression of will, blackmail, threats, humiliation of human dignity, and other events, circumstances, as well as someone's actions that force him to experience long-term fear, depression, depression lead to such a deplorable result. In everyday life, this may apply to men suffering from sexual impotence.

Similar moments in people's lives at the same time cause them completely different and unpredictable reactions. One bright tragic event in the life of a child, for example, can leave a scar in his memory and affect his mental health and emotional state.

Varieties of psychological trauma

The concept of "psychological trauma" in medicine and psychology has long been known and thoroughly studied. At the moment, it can be attributed to provocative factors that cause diseases of this kind. Psychotraumas even have their own classification, subdivided into types:

sharp;
shock;
chronic.

The first two forms are characterized by short duration and spontaneity. As for the third, chronic form, the situation here is much more complicated. Such a psychotrauma is of a protracted and long-term nature, accompanied by a constant impact on the psyche of a person who, due to certain circumstances, is forced to undergo pressure that causes irreparable harm to his health. It can be an unsuccessful marriage, a dysfunctional family, constant blackmail.

A person can experience mental trauma as a result of realizing his helplessness and powerlessness in front of circumstances. It can also be caused by constant fear for the lives of loved ones, the inability to take control of the situation and direct it in the right direction. Psychologists have noted the similarity of psychological trauma with stressful situations. At the same time, one can observe how, previously calm and balanced, a person becomes nervous, vulnerable and vulnerable.

It is mainly the personal and personal perception of a tragic event or stress that plays a role here. It is the attitude to the event and emotional and physical health that are fundamental in this case.

The same type of incidents for different people can have different consequences, and it is not at all necessary that they turn out to be traumatic: for someone, despite all the tragedy, the situation may not be reflected and perceived as an unfortunate misunderstanding.

By the way, adults are several times more likely to develop consequences after psychotrauma than children.

According to experts, not only cases and tragic events are important, but also a person’s inner personality warehouse, stress resistance, and their own beliefs formed in the process of education. Phenomena such as stress or psychotrauma can cause not only a negative nervous shock, but also an emotional outburst of any kind, although this happens much less frequently.

As an example, we can consider such a case when one of the family members, who had long been considered killed, returned home, or a poor man who eked out a semi-beggarly state suddenly turns out to be the heir of a millionaire. All these events have a common similarity: they fall out of the usual chain. And the fact becomes especially sad when, instead of positive, a person is subjected to psychological trauma.

However, these phenomena cannot be attributed to psychotraumas of a chronic type, which are precisely characterized by the presence of hopelessness and the subconscious expectation of the opposite turn of events or the search for an opportunity to adapt to the situation.

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Symptoms of psychological trauma

Psychological trauma refers to pathologies and deviations bordering on the disease, so this phenomenon has its own symptoms. Moreover, they are clearly divided into two main subgroups:

emotional;
physical.

Signs of psychological trauma related to the first group are expressed in jumps and mood swings. Patients are characterized by apathy, indifference to ongoing events, giving way to attacks of uncontrollable rage or hidden irritation. Such people may experience an unreasonable sense of guilt, accompanied by a feeling of uselessness and lack of demand. Very often they lose faith in people, withdraw into themselves, stop communicating with acquaintances and friends, considering themselves abandoned and excluded from life and society.

Patients often experience fear and anxiety, often developing into phobias, and then replaced by apathy and a feeling of complete loneliness.

As for the physical symptoms, they include insomnia, which entails a decrease in immunity, weakening the human body and making it vulnerable to various diseases, including colds. People who do not get proper rest during the night sleep do not have time to recover mentally.

In such patients, exacerbations of already existing chronic diseases, cardiac disorders, accompanied by attacks of fear and anxiety, are often noted. Pathological processes can also affect the functional features of the gastrointestinal tract. Such people tire quickly, experiencing constant severe weakness throughout the body. They periodically experience debilitating headaches, confusion of thoughts, weakening of concentration and memory.

A clear symptom of psychotrauma at the physical level is constant muscle tension, in which it is almost impossible to enter a state of relaxation. It is not always possible to get rid of this kind of pathologies on your own.

Psychological trauma (short designation - psychotrauma) is a theoretical construction used to name some harm caused to the psycho-emotional state of a person.

The essence of psychological trauma

To date, there is no single definition of this term and there are no clear criteria by which it is possible to differentiate psychotrauma from other harmful factors. However, most people, including professional psychologists, use the term “psychological trauma” to mean that some traumatic event has taken place in the life of an individual, or that the person is affected by any external or internal factors that damage mental health or deprive of peace of mind.

Due to such fuzziness and vagueness in the definition, many academic minds refer the term "psychological trauma" to pseudo-scientific, everyday concepts, preferring to use a more precise construct: "a condition that arose as a result of a traumatic event and exposure to stressful or frustrating factors."

It should be noted that psychological trauma is inherently fundamentally different from the phenomenon of "psychic trauma". The concept of "psychic trauma" refers to real, objectively confirmed harm delivered to the psyche by someone or something, which caused a malfunction in the functioning of the psyche, which led to dysfunction of the higher nervous activity of a person. The consequence of mental trauma is noticeable, clearly expressed violations of the normal functioning of the psyche. For example: a person has "gaps" in memory, he ceases to recognize relatives, cannot clearly and logically express his thoughts, loses the ability to evaluate, analyze, compare phenomena of reality.

Psychological trauma does not bring such catastrophic consequences for the psyche. The person remains capable and adequate. He retains a critical view of his condition. After a psychological trauma, an individual is able to adapt in society. Changes determined in the emotional, volitional, cognitive, mnestic sphere of the psyche are not global, dynamic and reversible. In fact, the defects that have arisen in the psyche, for example: the inability to concentrate or, are a reflection of an unstable or depressed psycho-emotional state, and not a consequence of destructive mental lesions.

The concept of "psychological trauma" includes both long-acting, weakly expressed unfavorable circumstances, and suddenly arising intense negative factors of absolutely any content. However, hypothetically, these phenomena can cause mental illness, manifested both in a change in the emotional background, and in the appearance of abnormal behavior in a person who is objectively recognized as mentally healthy. Due to the lack of clear criteria, any event that caused a strong emotional reaction of a negative color can be interpreted as a psychological trauma.

It is assumed that psychological trauma can initiate the development of borderline states of the psyche, the formation of disorders of the neurotic level, including:

anxiety-phobic (obsessive fears);
obsessive-compulsive (and ritual actions);
conversion (hysteria);
asthenic ();
affective (depression).

However, in this context, the concept of “psychological trauma” is identical to the result of an intolerable (stressful) situation, that is, it is a state of overload of the mental regulation system. It is in connection with this that the main consequences of psychotrauma are observed: harmony in the inner world of the subject disappears, the balance between the personality and the human environment is disturbed.

The phenomenon of "psychotrauma" has achieved the greatest study and distribution in the study of the causes and manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorder. Adepts of crisis psychology, who have put forward and study the pathogenetic mechanisms of this pathology, interpret the term "psychotrauma" as an emotional shock experienced as a result of special conditions for the interaction of an individual and the world around him. Attempts have been made to describe the signs, causes and criteria of psychological trauma, which will be discussed later.

Causes of psychological trauma

Among the likely circumstances that can cause psychological trauma are the following reasons.

Group 1

Any one-time critical event that occurs suddenly, which the individual interprets as a strong blow. Examples of such crises are situations in which a person was physically injured:

own sports, domestic, professional injury, which caused the loss of normal functionality of the body;
a car accident that caused severe health consequences;
unexpected need for surgery;
a serious viral or bacterial infection that has chained a person to a bed in an intensive care unit;
an attack by intruders associated with physical injuries;
injury or injury associated with the performance of professional duties (for example: burns received by a firefighter during the elimination of a source of ignition);
a sharp deterioration in health as a result of a natural disaster or military action.

Group 2

The causes of psychological trauma lie in unforeseen changes in the habitual way and conditions of a person's life, status and position in society. Examples of such situations are:

death of a close relative;
rupture of relations with a loved one;
divorce from a spouse;
job loss;
the need to change the scope of activity;
robbery, theft, fraudulent activities, as a result of which the person lost her means of subsistence;
rape;
unpredictable debts;
forced change of living conditions or change of place of residence;
unexpected, accidental problems with the law (for example: hitting a drunk pedestrian).

Group 3

The cause of psychological trauma can also be chronically acting, which are significant in the individual, subjective perception of the individual. Examples of such "prolonged" stresses can be:

imprisonment;
severe somatic illness;
conflicts in the family;
living with a drug addict spouse;
unfavorable psychological atmosphere at work;
disagreements with superiors, colleagues and subordinates;
problems of a sexual nature;
overwork and lack of rest.

However, it should be clarified: no matter what global difficulties and mental suffering a person experiences, stress does not necessarily provoke a psychotrauma.. In order for stressors to become psychotraumatic factors, the following conditions must be met.

Factor 1

Psychological trauma is characterized by the obsessive nature of memories: a person constantly mentally returns to the event, analyzes the circumstances, sees the present through the prism of a negative phenomenon. However, it is impossible to precisely separate: when a negative perception of the world is the result of a psychotrauma, and when it is a personality trait - in most cases it is impossible.

Factor 2

Personal involvement: the individual cannot separate himself from the traumatic event. A person is not able to distance himself from the problem, to look at the situation from a different perspective, while maintaining calm and composure. That is, the individual identifies his personality with a negative phenomenon. However, such involvement cannot be unequivocally interpreted as an indicator of psychotrauma: many people simply do not have sufficient psychological knowledge and interpret any trifle as a personal drama.

Factor 3

The event that happened causes serious changes in the psycho-emotional status and interferes with the natural process of self-development and self-improvement. In fact, the problem stops a person at the previous stage of development or returns to a lower level. However, a halt in development and a passive attitude towards life are characteristics of quite a few people. Therefore, this factor also cannot be unambiguously interpreted as a criterion of psychological trauma.

Other factors that can potentially cause psychotrauma include:

the person was not mentally prepared for a specific scenario;
the person felt his own powerlessness and could not prevent such a course of events;
the crisis was deliberately provoked by the surrounding people;
the individual came into contact with insensitivity, cruelty, violence, betrayal on the part of those people from whom he did not expect such actions;
the phenomenon required colossal expenditures of psychic energy.

All of the above allows us to assert that psychological trauma is not a description of a specific episode, it is an indication of the presence of an acute emotional reaction of an individual to an event. That is, the more suffering, fear, helplessness a person feels in some situation, the more catastrophic this psycho-traumatic event becomes for him, respectively, the greater the risk of developing psychological trauma.

Signs of psychological trauma

What signs can inform that a person has developed a psychological trauma of a relationship? Since psychotrauma is neither a disorder, nor a syndrome, nor a disease, but a very vague concept, no specific symptoms of this crisis can be singled out. However, numerous surveys of people who have described that they are experiencing psychological trauma show that there are certain experiences, changes in the areas of the psyche and behavior, which are mechanisms for responding to distress. At the same time, a person does not react to a crisis: “right” or “wrong”, but feels, thinks, acts differently from the usual way, showing a wide range of various symptoms.

Signs of psychological trauma include:

feeling of loss of one's own safety and belief in the presence of a threat;
experiences of impotence, helplessness;
the emergence of an irrational obsession;
the emergence of ideas of self-accusation and self-abasement;
the emergence of self-destructive life scenarios, for example: suicidal ideas or alcoholism;
denial of the event;
feelings of resentment, anger, rage;
debilitating melancholy, a feeling of hopelessness;
inability to concentrate, absent-mindedness;
inability to think of anything else as a crisis event;
loss of desire to act;
inability to enjoy the objectively pleasant phenomena of life;
voluntary complete seclusion from society;
global experience of loneliness, abandonment, uselessness.

The fact that a person has experienced a psychotrauma can be informed by:

the appearance of sleep problems: insomnia, interrupted sleep, nightmares;
change in eating habits: obsessive overeating or complete refusal of food;
vegetative signs: pressure surges, palpitations, tremor of the limbs, profuse sweating;
the appearance of pain syndromes of a psychogenic nature;
lack of logic in the actions of the individual, haste, fussiness, inconsistency;
inability to perform usual work due to difficulty concentrating;
fatigue, irresistible fatigue even after prolonged leisure;
tearfulness, intense reactions to the smallest stimulus;
restlessness, desire to run somewhere;
loss of interest in the opposite sex.

Treatment of psychological trauma

With psychological trauma, the statement is true: time is the best healer. Indeed, over time, the experienced grief loses its relevance, the person returns to the usual rhythm of life. However, for many contemporaries, the process of recovery from psychological trauma is very difficult. Or instead of the desired finding of balance, a person already receives real neurotic or mental disorders that require treatment.

All people without exception who have experienced a traumatic situation should seek medical help if the experience of psychotrauma lasts more than three months. Unambiguous signals about the need for treatment are:

depressed state and melancholy mood;
thoughts about the futility of life and ideas about death;
obsessive fear of loneliness;
total fear of death;
irrational anxiety, anticipation of an imminent catastrophe;
insomnia or insomnia;
uncontrolled outbursts of aggression;
chronic pain in the absence of an organic disease;
loss of strength and other manifestations of asthenia;
sexual dysfunction;
seizures;
signs of anorexia or bulimia;
psychosensory disorders: and;
pronounced lapses in memory;
motor excitation;
violation of social adaptation;
the emergence of obsessive behaviors.

It is necessary to urgently begin the treatment of psychological trauma if a person demonstrates suicidal behavior, harmful addictions have developed: alcoholism, substance abuse, uncontrolled intake of pharmacological agents.

Depending on the essence of the psychological trauma, the symptoms demonstrated, the stage of development of the neurotic disorder, the method of psychotherapeutic treatment is chosen. Good results in the treatment of the consequences of psychotrauma show:

cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy;
gestalt therapy;
neurolinguistic programming;
psychosuggestive therapy;
methods of provocative therapy.

It should be borne in mind that in a state an individual cannot provide himself with the necessary assistance. Therefore, in times of crisis, adequate, competent, targeted assistance from an experienced specialist is extremely important. The insidiousness of psychological traumas lies in the fact that their consequences can be noticeable not instantly, but after decades. At the same time, the depth of the impact of stress factors may lie outside the sphere of consciousness, and the presence of a real problem may be invisible to a non-specialist. Psychological assistance, and if necessary, treatment, will allow you to overcome psychological trauma more quickly and minimize the risk of developing a dangerous mental disorder.

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What is psychological trauma?

Psychological trauma (aka psychotrauma) implies the impact of severe stress on the emotional and psychological spheres of a person, which he could not calmly endure and which caused him some harm. Psychotrauma often develops in situations that threaten a person with death or cause him to feel a persistent lack of security. In other words, a person feels that his life is in danger, he cannot turn anywhere, no one can help him, he himself is not able to do anything with the situation, while all circumstances indicate that he will lose something valuable ( life, health, freedom, etc.).

As a result of psychotrauma, a person's thinking changes. While he is in a stressful situation, he begins to think about the things that are dear to him. He quickly begins to form new views on life, taking into account the circumstances that cause him psychological trauma.

You can call this condition as a situation that leaves a scar on the human body. On the one hand, everything has healed, the wound is no more, as well as the circumstances that caused it. On the other hand, a scar remained on the body, which reminds a person of the conditions under which it arose.

It should be noted that the more a person plunges into his own suffering, the more his physical health decreases (immunity drops).

Causes of psychological trauma

There is a wide range of causes that cause psychological trauma. It is quite difficult to list all of them, so they are combined into groups:

A single event that happened suddenly and was associated with a physical impact on the body, which is interpreted as a strong blow:

Car accident and other disasters.
Attack by a rapist or gopniks.
Personal household, sports or physical injury, which led to limited movement.
Workplace injury.
Surgical intervention that was done suddenly and out of necessity.
Deterioration of health due to the outbreak of hostilities or natural disasters.

Events that led to a sharp change in lifestyle, social status of a person:

Death of a relative.
Rape.
Job loss.
Forced change of residence.
Breaking up with a loved one.
Arising debts that cannot be repaid.
The need to change jobs.
Robbery, fraud, theft, after which the person was deprived of his own property.
An unexpected event that brought a person to account before the law.

Stresses of a protracted nature that are significant for a person:

Imprisonment.
Sexual problems.
Living with a dysfunctional spouse (drug addict, alcoholic, tyrant).
Unfavorable psychological conditions at work.
Severe somatic ailments.
Conflict with boss.

Psychological trauma leads a person to the fact that he constantly returns memories to the past, which becomes obsessive for him. He evaluates real life through the prism of the experiences that are present in him, negatively looks at the world.

Man cannot separate himself from the problem. He is unable to look at her from the side. At the same time, the problem hinders its development and further improvement. The person seems to stop at the level of development at which he was at the time of the traumatic event.

Concomitant factors that help psychotrauma develop are:

Lack of readiness of the individual for such circumstances.
Intentional provocation by people of a traumatic situation.
Feeling powerless and unable to influence the course of events.
The allocation of a large amount of mental energy to the passage of the situation.
The clash of an individual with the qualities of people from whom he did not expect this - insensitivity, indifference, cruelty, betrayal, violence.

The consequences of the development of psychological trauma

Traumatic situations force a person to change their views, values, moral principles and behavior patterns. Since situations become unusual for a person, most likely, he did not think at all that such a thing could happen to him, his worldview, which he used up to that moment, is significantly destroyed. The longer stress factors affect a person, the more the consequences of psychological trauma develop.

They may be:

Clinical deviations of borderline conditions.
Change in moral values, cessation of following social norms.
neuroses.
Loss of intimacy.
Destruction of personality.
reactive states.

Stressful situations affect a person with a force with which he is not able to cope. Much depends on the significance of the events and the mental forces that the individual has to solve the problem that has arisen.

Types of psychological trauma

Despite the fact that psychological trauma can be eliminated, the process is reversible, it should still be understood that the problem must be dealt with together with a specialist. To do this, he identifies the type of psychological trauma:

First classification:

Shock - occurs spontaneously under the condition of a threat to the life and health of one's own body or loved ones.
Acute - is of a psychological nature, when the event was short-term, but rather unpleasant.
Chronic - long-term exposure to harmful factors on a person. At the same time, psychotrauma can last for years and not be expressed outwardly.

Second classification:

The trauma of loss. For example, the fear of being alone.
Relationship trauma. For example, the betrayal of a loved one.
Injuries of own mistakes. For example, feelings of guilt or shame.
Trauma inflicted by life itself (existential). For example, the fear of death.

It is quite difficult to outwardly recognize a person with a psychological trauma if he is in normal living conditions. Usually, psychotrauma manifests itself only in those circumstances that are similar and remind the person of the conditions in which it developed initially.

All psychologists identify a number of symptoms indicating the presence of psychological trauma:

Self-blame and self-abasement.
Loss of desire to act.
Resentment, rage.
Irrational obsessive anxiety.
An inability to derive joy from things that are objectively pleasant.
Feelings of insecurity and constant threat.
Inability not to think about an unpleasant event.
Denial of what happened.
Seclusion from society is voluntary.
Helplessness, impotence.
The development of self-destructive behavior, such as alcoholism or drug addiction.
Feeling of hopelessness, longing.
Voluntary experience of abandonment, uselessness, loneliness.
Confusion, inability to concentrate.

The following facts can indicate the presence of a psychotrauma in a person:

Pain symptoms of a psychogenic nature.
Sleep problems in the form of insomnia, nightmares, interrupted sleep.
Quick fatigue and lack of fullness of forces after a long rest.
Change in diet: overeating or not eating.
Loss of interest in the opposite sex.
Tearfulness, quick irritable reaction to trifles.
Frequent heartbeat, pressure surge, profuse sweating, tremor of the limbs.
Lack of logic in actions, inconsistency, haste, fussiness.
Difficulties in concentrating, because of which the individual cannot perform the usual work.

Psychological trauma should be eliminated, since it significantly affects a person's behavior and ability to live happily ever after. If you can’t cope with stress on your own, then you can be treated with a psychotherapist.

We need to set goals for the future. Focus on what you want to get to, not on what you are trying to run away from.

Also, do not forget that the trauma is the stronger, the stronger the significance of the event. In other words, one should realize that such situations are normal and natural, although not frequent. They should not be treated as something unusual.

Outcome

It will take a long time to get rid of psychological trauma. In one day it will not be possible to achieve the desired result. A person must understand this in order to show patience for the period while he gets rid of his psychotrauma, so that it does not dictate to him how to live on and how to look at the world around him.