Trauma Awareness - Identifying Different Types of Trauma

Trauma is an emotional response to a very stressful event, series of events or a highly distressing incident. The incident overwhelms the person's ability to cope and can leave the person disorientated with a deep sense of fear and hopelessness. The response is nearly always detrimental to the person's functioning and can lead to physical, mental and emotional expressions of the harm and pain experienced. This can be challenging for a person to understand and overcome without external support.

It is important to note that trauma is not the event or incident itself, trauma is what happens within our bodies in response to the event, events or incidents that we experience. In this post we will consider different types of trauma and the ways in which it can manifest.

Acute Trauma

Acute trauma is trauma that is experienced as a result of a single incident or event that is isolated and brief. Acute trauma may occur after an incident such as an assault, car accident or emergency, for instance, a house fire.

Complex Trauma

Complex trauma is trauma that is experienced as a result of prolonged repetitive events that are varied, interrelated and ongoing. Often the events are intrusive and relational. Complex trauma may occur from childhood abuse involving formative attachment relationships, the difficulties surface from trying to adapt to survive these experiences.

Chronic Trauma

Chronic trauma is trauma that is experienced as a result of an ongoing repeated distressing event such as domestic violence including witnessing domestic abuse or living through war or neglect.

Intergenerational Trauma

This is trauma that gets passed down through generations in the form of genetics or learned behaviour. Some that experience intergenerational trauma may exhibit maladaptive parenting styles which impact on their child's development, this pattern can repeat through generations. Experiencing prolonged chronic stress and traumatic experiences can also cause changes in the way a person's genes work as they adapt and respond for optimal survival.

Vicarious Trauma

Repeated and frequent exposure and engagement with traumatic stories or content can increase the likelihood of experiencing vicarious trauma. This does not mean that you have personally experienced the trauma but you are continuously hearing a first hand account of the traumatic experience of someone else. People who work in professional roles such as therapists, social workers and doctors are particularly susceptible to this.

Collective Trauma

Collective trauma is a trauma that affects society at large. Events such as pandemics, recessions, natural disasters, genocide and terrorism can shape how a community responds and relates to themselves and to others. This differs from historical and intergenerational trauma as those affected by collective trauma do not necessarily need to share the same culture or family group.

Historical Trauma

Historical trauma is trauma experienced by generations of a specific oppressed group of people. A series of atrocities inflicted on a group of people can cause a lasting legacy of psychological injury and harm which passes down generationally. A history of forced migration, slavery, violent abuse and colonisation continues to impact on people of the global majority today.

Trauma and You

The content here is intended for information purposes. As a therapist practising in the United Kingdom I do not diagnose my clients nor do I wish to personally impose labels on a person's specific set of circumstances or experiences. I work in a way that supports my clients to understand their own experiences and as such, if relevant, we may consider the various types of trauma and their own unique experience of it.

Trauma can have long lasting negative impacts on mental, emotional and physical health. If you recognise that you experience trauma and you would like support in dealing with it please reach out for the support that you deserve. If you are currently struggling and need to speak to someone who will listen today contact the Shout text service or Samaritans helpline. These services are available to anyone in the UK, 24 hours a day, all year round. If you feel that you would like ongoing personalised support from a qualified Psychotherapist you are welcome to book a free introductory call with me or search for a therapist on online directories such as the Counselling Directory or Psychology Today .

Disclaimer: Information and opinions in this blog do not constitute as therapy or personalised professional advice.

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