Types of Trauma

Trauma comes in many forms, and each person’s experience is unique. Here are a few examples of different types of trauma:

• Acute Trauma: This is caused by a single overwhelming event, such as a car accident, natural disaster, assault, or sudden loss. The event may be over quickly, but the emotional impact can linger long after it’s passed.
• Chronic Trauma: Complex trauma typically involves repeated exposure to traumatic events, often during childhood or formative years. This can include experiences like childhood abuse, abandonment, or living with a caregiver who is unsafe or unstable. Complex trauma can affect self-esteem, trust, and relationships well into adulthood.
• Developmental Trauma: This occurs when trauma is experienced during critical developmental stages, such as early childhood. It can disrupt emotional growth and create patterns of fear, shame, and emotional dysregulation that impact the way someone experiences relationships and stress as they grow.
• Medical Trauma: This can happen after distressing medical experiences, such as an emergency surgery, chronic illness, or life-threatening diagnosis. You may feel fear, helplessness, or anxiety in medical settings or when reminded of your illness or treatment.
• Relational Trauma: Relational trauma happens when someone close to you—like a parent, partner, or caregiver—violates your trust, betrays you, or emotionally harms you. This can make it difficult to trust or feel safe in future relationships.
• Secondary Trauma: This happens when someone witnesses or hears about a traumatic event, often through caring for someone who has experienced trauma. Caregivers, healthcare workers, first responders, and loved ones of trauma survivors can experience this type of trauma.
• Birth Trauma: A traumatic birth experience—whether due to medical complications, feeling unsupported, or fearing for your life or your baby’s—can leave lasting emotional scars and impact how you feel about yourself, your body, or future pregnancies.

Common Experiences of Trauma

While everyone processes trauma differently, here are some common emotional, mental, and physical experiences:

• Flashbacks or Intrusive Memories: This is caused by a single overwhelming event, such as a car accident, natural disaster, assault, or sudden loss. The event may be over quickly, but the emotional impact can linger long after it’s passed.
• Avoidance: Staying away from places, people, or situations that remind you of what happened.
• Hypervigilance: Feeling constantly on guard or easily startled, as though danger is always near.
• Emotional Numbing: Feeling detached from yourself or others, unable to feel joy, connection, or even sadness.
• Guilt and Shame: Believing that you should have done something differently or blaming yourself for what happened.

How Trauma Affects Your Life

Trauma doesn’t just live in your mind—it can impact your body, relationships, and ability to function in daily life. You may struggle with sleep, focus, or trusting others. You might feel trapped in survival mode, reacting to everything as if it’s an emergency, even when you’re safe. Trauma can make you feel isolated, like no one could possibly understand what you’re going through.

But here’s what’s important to know: you’re not broken, and you’re not alone. Trauma is your body and brain’s way of protecting you from overwhelming pain, but with the right support, you can learn to feel safe again and begin to rebuild your life.

How Support Can Help You Heal

Healing from trauma takes time, but you don’t have to do it alone. Therapy can help you process what happened and regain a sense of control. Here’s how support can help:

Processing the Trauma

Therapy provides a safe, supportive space to explore and work through painful memories at your own pace, without judgment or pressure.

Releasing the Fight-or-Flight Response

Trauma can keep your nervous system stuck in overdrive. Therapy can help you calm your body’s response to triggers and feel grounded in the present moment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps you identify and reframe negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself and the trauma, replacing self-blame with self-compassion.

Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy

PE helps you gradually face your fears and memories in a safe way, reducing the emotional grip they have on you over time.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT helps you accept difficult feelings without judgment and empowers you to take meaningful steps toward the life you want to live, even when the past feels heavy.