Psychological Stress and Trauma: Cracking the Code
Human suffering is a common outcome of all forms of traumas, crises, and catastrophic occurrences. Suffering, whether mental, emotional, existential, or physical, may have a detrimental impact on individuals in several ways, including personality changes, health state, and the capacity to perform on many levels (Levers, 2012). So, let me break this down for you.
Stress
A stressor is anything outside your body that throws you out of homeostasis balance, and the stress response is how your body attempts to restore that balance (Sapolsky, 2004). Two of the most common reactions to stress are the production of stress hormones and the acceleration of response time (fight, flight, or freeze). Stress responses are not always harmful but rather beneficial. Your body is “raising to face a challenge” and doing precisely what it should. Not only is cortisol heightened during times of stress, but so is oxytocin, the love/bonding hormone that helps us seek and support others (McGonigal, 2013).
Crisis
According to Levers (2012), a crisis is an incident or situation in which a person perceives the risk to be greater or more intolerable than their ability to cope with or adjust to the circumstances. Crises are often unpredictable and catch the individual off guard.
Trauma
Trauma is a catastrophic event (or series of events) in which individuals have been exposed to situations in which they were personally threatened or witnessed death, physical harm, or sexual violence (Friedman, 2015). Traumatic stress may be caused by seeing a traumatic incident or experiencing a crisis. Traumatic stress induced by exposure to an actual or perceived danger of death or significant damage, or a threat to one’s or others’ bodily integrity, may result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a potentially chronic and debilitating condition (Levers, 2012).
Complex trauma (CT)
Complex trauma (CT) is a type of trauma that happens more than once or repeatedly for a period of time. CT is often caused by child abuse and domestic violence, but it can also happen to people who have been confined, have been abused, or have been trafficked for sex. Complex trauma has also been linked to problems with attachment, regulating emotions, controlling behavior, negative thinking patterns, and negative self-perception. CT is a part of other mental health disorders; it is thought to be a big part of why people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have so much trouble with their sense of self and identity (Luyten, Campbell, & Fonagy, 2020).
Relationship Among them
One of the most significant differences between types of traumatic stressors is how they are treated. Resilience factors, the ability to adapt and bounce back, plays a role in the individual’s capacity to cope emotionally and mentally deal with any stressful situation. Treatment will depend on the symptoms the client presents with.
Breaking the Code
Stress management techniques such as diet, exercise, mindfulness, and meditation are helpful skills to prevent fatigue or burnout during a crisis. People who have trouble self-regulating or who have other mental health problems may benefit from cognitive therapy sessions to learn new skills or habits and set up long-term maintenance.
Trauma-focused Psychotherapies are the most often recommended method of Acute Stress and PTSD therapy. “Trauma-focused” means that the treatment centers on the traumatic event’s memory or significance.
Some therapists, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), focus on changing harmful ideas about trauma. Most of the time, they take between 8 and 12 sessions, but depending on how bad the symptoms are, they may take longer.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.
Treatment for trauma depends on where the patient is in their recovery and on other factors, such as other health problems.
What is your code or technique to ensure you maintain a healthy life balance (body, mind, and soul)?
Reference
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Friedman, M. J. (2015). Posttraumatic and acute stress disorders (Sixth ed.). Springer.
Levers, L. L., (2012). Trauma counseling. Springer Publishing Company. VitalSource Bookshelf 10.1.0. Retrieved from vbk://9780826106841
Luyten, P., Campbell, C., & Fonagy, P. (2020). Borderline personality disorder, complex trauma, and problems with self and identity: A social‐communicative approach. Journal of Personality, 88(1), 88-105. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12483
McGonigal, K. (2013). Training for mind-body resilience. Idea Fitness Journal, 10(4), 36-43.
Sanderson, C. (2013). Counseling skills for working with trauma: Healing from child sexual abuse, sexual violence, and domestic abuse. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Van Nieuwenhove, K., & Meganck, R. (2019). Interpersonal features in complex trauma etiology, consequences, and treatment: A literature review. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 28(8), 903-928. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2017.1405316
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