What is Trauma?

The word trauma comes from the Greek word traumat meaning wound. Psychological trauma is a wound caused by some event or circumstance that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope. It is a natural response to overwhelming events. As such, it is not a mental illness. Some of the most common causes of trauma are war, violence, sexual abuse and natural disasters.

Some of the most common psychological and physiological effects of trauma are shock, anxiety, anger, sleeplessness, overpowering helplessness, retreat from the world, emotional numbness and a fixation on a traumatic event or events. Social and spiritual disorders frequently follow, such as hopelessness and emptiness, an inability to connect with other people in normal ways, an inability to work, suicidal tendencies, substance abuse, hostility and violence. Because of this, the effects of trauma can grow and even spread, like a cancer.

The kinds of trauma that affect whole communities are especially devastating, like warfare and large-scale natural disasters, since such traumas cripple the healing resources that are ordinarily present in any community.