Trauma refers to experiences that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope, leading to significant distress and impairment in their mental, emotional, social, or spiritual well-being. These experiences can be a single event or an ongoing pattern.
Some common causes are:
- Collective violence (scapegoating)
- Intimate partner violence (domestic violence)
- Financial abuse
- Natural disasters
- Neglect
- Medical trauma
- Psycho-emotional abuse
- Sexual assault
- Traumatic grief
Trauma Symptoms
1Traumatic experiences can activate the sympathetic nervous system, triggering the body’s fight-flight-freeze or fawn response to perceived threats.2 This activation releases stress hormones and temporarily alters cognitive and emotional functioning. While these reactions are adaptive for survival, persistent activation due to severe or ongoing trauma can lead to a range of enduring psychological and physical symptoms.
Psycho-Emotional Symptoms
Some of the psycho-emotional reactions commonly seen are:
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Confusion
- Denial
- Depression
- Difficulty concentrating
- Dissociation
- Fear
- Flashbacks
- Guilt
- Hyper-vigilance
- Irritability
- Mood swings
- Panic
- Self-blame
- Shame
- Shock
- Shame
- Social isolation
Physical Symptoms
Some of the physical reactions commonly include:
- Aches
- Exhaustion
- Fatigue
- Health palpitations
- Hyperarousal
- Insomnia
- Nightmares
- Muscle tension
- Chronic pain
What Does Trauma-Informed Recovery Coaching Look Like?
Trauma-informed recovery coaching provides compassionate and holistic support for people as they strive towards healing and post-traumatic growth. Clients are empowered to set goals and work in collaboration with their coach to develop greater self-awareness and resilience while processing the underlying cause(s). It is a collaborative effort between the client and coach, who arms the client with tools to cope with triggers and regulate emotions while building self-confidence and trust. Visit our coaching page to book a session.
References
- van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York: Viking. ↩︎
- Chu B, Marwaha K, Sanvictores T, et al. Physiology, Stress Reaction. [Updated 2022]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 January. ↩︎