Forums

Question 1: There are lots of different types of trauma events, triggers and factors that contribute to how trauma affects our lives. How do we know what traumatic events will impact us?

It’s not so much about thinking about what traumatic events impact us. It is about becoming aware of how we are in the present in terms of our wellbeing, mental and physical health. It is about understanding trauma and the stress response, and understanding how trauma repeatedly activates this response, often meaning that the person stays in an agitated or shut down state or moves between them.

The stress or survival response – fight, flight and freeze enables us to respond to daily stress. When the stress becomes more pervasive and overwhelms the person as happens with trauma, the person can find it hard to get back to a state of calm. Even when a person is shut down their nervous system may still be on overdrive. This helps to explain why the person reacts to triggers, or finds it hard to manage their strong emotions, and fluctuating levels of arousal. It is about understanding ourselves and that these are normal responses to abnormal events i.e. trauma