After a traumatic experience, your mind and body may continue responding as though the danger is still present even when the experience itself is over.
You may have unwanted memories, nightmares, or moments when it feels as though you’re reliving what happened. You might avoid certain places, people, conversations, or feelings because they bring back difficult memories. Some people feel constantly on guard, easily startled, disconnected from themselves or others, emotionally numb, or unsure whether they can trust their own sense of safety.
These responses are not signs of weakness. They are ways your mind and body learned to protect you during or after something overwhelming. Over time, however, they can begin to interfere with sleep, relationships, work, and your ability to feel present in your everyday life.
Trauma-informed therapy can help you better understand these responses, navigate triggers and difficult emotions, reduce avoidance, and reconnect with a greater sense of safety, choice, and connection. You don’t have to share every detail or process difficult experiences before you feel ready.
Trauma/PTSD
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Individuals exposed to combat situations or warfare
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Experiencing or witnessing physical violence, such as assault, domestic violence, or mugging.
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Experiencing or witnessing sexual assault, rape, or childhood sexual abuse.
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Surviving or witnessing natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, or wildfires.
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Being involved in or witnessing serious accidents, such as car crashes or industrial accidents.
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Traumatic experiences related to severe medical illnesses, surgeries, or medical procedures.
Some Possible Types of Traumatic Events
What this can look like:
Feeling Like the Past Is Showing Up in the Present
Memories, nightmares, flashbacks, or reminders of what happened may bring up intense emotions or physical reactions. At times, it can feel like your mind or body is responding as though the experience is happening all over again.
Avoiding Reminders of What Happened
You may find yourself staying away from certain people, places, conversations, activities, thoughts, or feelings because they remind you of what happened or bring up emotions you’d rather not experience.
Changes in How You See Yourself, Others, or the World
Trauma can affect how you think and feel about yourself, other people, relationships, or the world around you. You may feel disconnected or numb, blame yourself for what happened, have difficulty trusting others, or notice that things you once enjoyed don’t feel the same anymore.
Feeling Constantly on Guard
Your mind and body may have a hard time recognizing when it’s safe to settle. You might feel easily startled, irritable, restless, watchful of your surroundings, have difficulty sleeping, or feel like you’re always waiting for something to go wrong.
Not every painful experience fits neatly into a traditional definition of trauma. Ongoing or repeated experiences such as emotional neglect, chronic stress, difficult relationship dynamics, discrimination, or persistent microaggressions can also have a lasting effect on how you feel, relate to others, and move through the world.
When these experiences build over time, you may become constantly alert to signs of danger or rejection, struggle to trust yourself or other people, feel disconnected from your emotions, or find certain interactions unexpectedly overwhelming. You might also minimize what happened because it doesn’t seem “bad enough” compared with someone else’s experience. You don’t need to label an experience as trauma or prove that it’s bad enough to deserve support.
Little “t” trauma
The Past Doesn’t Have to Keep Feeling Like the Present
Trauma can leave your mind and body responding as though you still need to protect yourself, even when the danger has passed. Therapy can help you understand these responses, process what you’ve been through at a pace that feels manageable, and begin responding to reminders of the past in new ways.