What Is Psychic Trauma?

Mental trauma (or psychological trauma) refers to those psychological, emotional and even physiological abnormalities caused by relatively serious injuries in life. This abnormal state may be slight, and after a period of time (usually within three months), self-adjustment can heal automatically. But there are also some trauma effects that last for a long time, often even for life. For more severe trauma, it is called post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the classification of psychology and psychiatry ^[1] .

There are many life events that can cause trauma. From severe catastrophic traumatic events such as the US 9/11 incident, the Southeast Asian tsunami incident, major earthquakes, wars, serious traffic accidents, kidnapping by gangsters, being robbed or raped, witnessing the death of a loved one or others, death due to serious illness Threats or severe physical disabilities, as well as victims of violence or other criminal acts, etc., to relatively minor traumatic events such as broken love, marriage breakdown, career or academic failure, interpersonal conflicts, workplace frustrations, suffering Abandoned or betrayed by relatives, etc. People often judge the severity of trauma based on the severity of the traumatic event. They believe that if a person encounters a serious and terrible disaster, then he must have suffered severe trauma. On the contrary, if the traumatic event is not serious, he will think that This person's mental damage will not be serious. In fact, this view is very wrong. For a person with a strong heart, a very serious traumatic event may not cause serious mental trauma. On the contrary, for a person who is more psychologically weak, an event that is generally considered not to be serious is enough to cause serious mental illness. trauma. Therefore, we judge the severity of a person's trauma not based on the severity of the trauma event, but on the psychological, emotional, and physical response of the party.

Mild trauma may be manifested as depressed mood, gloom, tears of sadness, decreased motivation for life, unwillingness to associate with others, lack of interest in life, etc. This situation is very common in our lives, and even strictly speaking, everyone must experience it many times in their own lives. This condition usually comes through the comfort and support of relatives and friends, self-regulation, and after a period of adjustment, it can heal itself without the need for professional treatment. However, if the above conditions persist for more than 3 months, you should consider seeking professional help. Treatment can be through medication, but can also be through non-drug counselling or psychotherapy.

Moderate trauma may manifest as prolonged depression, pessimism, social loneliness and autism, or severe

Differential diagnosis of trauma:

1. Single-onset depression: Popularly speaking, single-onset depression is also called single-onset major depressive disorder, which means that it occurs only once without symptoms of mania, mixed depression, and hypomania. Those who suffer from depression for the first time and have the above-mentioned symptoms are also called single-onset depression, because it is unknown whether the patient will develop disease in the future, and if the disease recurs, it is called recurrent depression.

2. Internal emotional injuries: Internal emotional injuries can also be referred to as internal emotional injuries of seven emotions. Seven emotions are the seven emotional activities of joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, terror, and shock. They are mental illnesses and are caused by internal injuries. One of the main pathogenic factors. Qiqing is a normal physiological manifestation, but sudden, intense or long-lasting mental stimulation exceeds the tolerance of the human body's physiological activities, causing the disorder of the human body's air conditioning and the imbalance of yin, yang, and blood, which will become endogenous pathogenic factors. , Which makes people sick.

If you or your colleagues have already experienced trauma, the advice provided by the professionals below will help you a bit.

Things to do:

1. Make life as normal as possible;

2. Tell your things and feelings;

3. Do some relaxing exercises;

4. Regular eating and exercise;

5.If possible, go back to the place where the accident occurred;

6. Return to the unit to work;

7.Talk to your doctor and see if there are any good suggestions;

Things not to do:

1. Self-isolation;

2.Close your emotions;

3.Excessive drinking;

4.Excessive fatigue;

5.Unusual meals;

6. Take a vacation or rest on your own;

Colleagues can also support each other:

1. Listen patiently to a traumatized colleague telling them what happened.

2. Ask open questions, don't take your personal experience to interrupt their talk.

3. Don't forget to tell them you know how they feel

4. Don't despise their feelings, or show that they need to work together, and others may love nothing. Most people can recover from trauma, and of course life will return to normal as expected. The shadow of trauma will slowly fade away, and when the memory returns to normal, the trauma will be cured.

Over time, trauma will slowly become a past tense. The factors that cause painful reactions in the subconscious are slowly disappearing, and people will regard the traumatic event as an experience in life and learn something from it.