Trauma

Trauma can shape the way you feel about the world and yourself. If trauma from your past causes mental or emotional health concerns for you today, Maggie Vaughan, MFT, PhD, and the team at Happy Apple can provide personalized mental health care in Columbus Circle, Manhattan, and in Midtown, Central Park South, the Upper West Side, and the Upper East Side of New York City. Call Happy Apple or schedule an appointment online for compassionate and trauma-informed mental health care today.

What is trauma? 

Trauma is your emotional reaction to terrifying or harmful events or circumstances in your life. Even if you don’t experience a traumatic event directly, you can develop trauma simply by witnessing or hearing about a terrible event. 

Trauma can have a major impact on your mental and emotional well-being, which is why the expert team at Happy Apple is prepared to give you trauma-informed care no matter the cause or effect of your trauma. 

Which types of events or circumstances can cause trauma?

Countless happenings can have a traumatic impact on your life. No two life experiences are exactly the same, so your trauma will be entirely different from someone else’s. 

Even if you’re not certain what caused your trauma, the team at Happy Apple can help you identify and process the underlying cause. You might experience trauma from:

• Childhood abuse or neglect
• A bad accident
• The death of a loved one
• A natural disaster
• A violent attack
• A life-threatening illness
• Sexual assault or rape
• Bullying 
• A severe injury
• An unstable home environmental 

Sometimes, the cause of trauma is a little harder to identify. Milder causes of trauma that can still have a significant impact on your life include breakups, bullying, and surgery. 

How does trauma impact my mental health?

Any traumatic event can lead you to develop symptoms of a mental health condition. One notable psychiatric condition that can stem from trauma is called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD can develop in the weeks or months after a traumatic event in your life and cause symptoms within three key categories:

Re-experiencing

Re-experiencing symptoms cause you to feel like the traumatic event or circumstance is still fresh or ongoing. You might get nightmares or flashbacks of your trauma or experience physical signs of distress. 

Avoidance

After experiencing a traumatic circumstance, you may take steps to avoid anything that reminds you of it. This includes people, places, objects, and even the memories themselves. 

Arousal and reactivity

Having experienced something traumatic, you may feel tense or on edge all or most of the time. You may feel extra irritable or reckless and have trouble concentrating or sleeping. 

Trauma can also lead to a variety of depressive and anxious symptoms, as well as guilt, shame, blame, or isolation.

If you need mental health care to cope with your trauma, call Happy Apple or schedule a visit online today.