Types of Trauma

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What is psychiatric trauma?

	An experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking and which may result in lasting mental and physical effects.
	A self test for your reaction to stressful events: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Self-Test

Psychiatric trauma is essentially a normal response to an extreme event. It involves the creation of emotional memories about the distressful event that are stored in structures deep within the brain. In general, it is believed that the more direct the exposure to the traumatic event, the higher the risk for emotional harm.

What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an emotional illness that develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience. PTSD sufferers re-experience the traumatic event or events in some way, tend to avoid places, people, or other things that remind them of the event (avoidance), and are exquisitely sensitive to normal life experiences (hyperarousal). Although this condition has likely existed since human beings have endured trauma, PTSD has only been recognized as a formal diagnosis since 1980.

General Article and Websites

Some articles and websites on PTSD, its symptoms, and treatment options:

• http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-disorders/post-traumatic-stress-disorder.shtml
• http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/nimh_ptsd_booklet.pdf
• http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/index.jsp