Trauma is a reaction your brain and body can have to a stressful or tragic event. What triggers a traumatic response varies for everyone, which can make it hard to know if you’re experiencing the effects of trauma. It’s typically associated with physical or sexual assault, violence, or accidents, but can also involve repeated events like neglect.

Experiencing a stressful event doesn’t always result in trauma. And experiencing trauma does not always lead to long-lasting effects. About 1 in 3 people who experience trauma develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)¹, a mental health disorder that includes symptoms like avoidance and changes in arousal lasting a month or more. 

It’s hard to deal with a wound that can’t be seen. You might experience strong emotions unexpectedly, trouble sleeping, or physical sensations like a fast heartbeat, seemingly without warning. But, like any other wound, it needs attention to heal. 

Identifying the source of your trauma and how it impacts you is a challenging but important step. You may not feel like talking about it right away, and that’s OK. There are other ways to move forward that may be right for you.

There are many possible causes of trauma as well as ways to categorize them. Here’s a breakdown of the main types:

• Acute Trauma: This refers to trauma in reaction to a one-time, one-off event—for example: getting in a car crash, or unexpectedly losing someone you love.
• Chronic Trauma: This is trauma that develops in response to a dangerous situation that repeats over a longer period of time. This includes things like constant bullying, neglect, or any kind of ongoing abuse.
• Secondary Trauma: This is a reaction to witnessing other people’s hardships or acute trauma. It’s a kind of trauma that’s common for first responders, such as firefighters, EMTs, and social workers. 
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE): This refers to traumatic childhood events that can affect you later in life. Experiences like the loss of a parent, parental neglect, abuse or family conflict are common ACEs.

Stigma and discrimination are sources of trauma for many. For LGBTQ+ people, negative experiences with rejection, emotional harm, and physical violence simply because of who you are can leave a deep impact. Especially when the harm is somehow tied to your gender identity or sexuality, it can make you feel like you yourself are the problem, and not the person hurting you, even though this isn’t true.

Trauma related to your gender identity or sexuality can cause shame, the feeling that you are inherently bad because of who you are. 

No one deserves to feel ashamed of themselves because they survived a traumatic experience. That’s why it’s so important to seek out mental health care that is trauma-informed and sensitive to your experiences and struggles.

It’s important to notice how trauma is affecting your mind and body, and recognize it has no timeline. You may have feelings long after the event has taken place. Here are some feelings and scenarios that may be related.

Many people’s trauma leads to certain mental health struggles. Learn more about these specific mental health conditions to see if there’s anything to consider for yourself.

Sometimes we protect ourselves from the feelings associated with trauma by dissociation, feeling detached from reality, or intellectualization, focusing on facts over feelings. This can often help us in the moment, but in the long run can prevent us from truly coping.

Recognizing the effects of past trauma and exploring ways to work on it is one of the greatest and bravest forms of self-compassion. It can be challenging to find the time and energy to prioritize mental health, but the rewards for doing so are countless. 

In general, focusing on activities that improve your mood and sense of self are great, healthy ways to respond to trauma.

If you believe you’ve experienced or are experiencing trauma, you’ve already taken an important first step by finding this page. There are many resources available for people dealing with trauma from all causes and at all stages—whether you’ve just realized it’s what you’re going through, or whether you’ve been dealing and trying to address it for a while.

1. National Health Service UK. Causes - Post-traumatic stress disorder