Tackling Trauma
is the UK’s one-stop resource to help you understand and access self-help to aid recovery from traumatic experiences.
This website is intended to complement therapeutic services and is not established as a stand-alone recovery tool. For those that need more, there are many other sources of trauma help in the UK and the directory provides further details.
This website contains multi-media information, resources and a directory. When you click on the videos they may take you to YouTube where there may be adverts and follow-on videos within the standard operating aspects of the YouTube app.
For some, there is a natural processing of trauma; when people experience safety, love, and positive attachments in all areas of their lives, they are able to integrate the trauma and come to terms with what has happened to them.
The pages within this website will provide you with the understanding, tools and strategies to help towards your healing. For those who are supporting family or friends who have been traumatised, the following pages will help you to help them.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is commonly defined as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation (DSM-V, APA, 2013)
Most people will experience at least one traumatic event during their lives.
Whilst all traumatic events are stressful, not all stressful events are traumatic.
Everyone experiences stress in their daily lives and it is commonplace in most lifestyles.
Stress is not always damaging if in small doses and experienced in the short term. It can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do your best such as exam stress or attending an interview.
Stress is usually experienced in short sharp bursts and once over, we can return to a normal emotional and psychological sense of self. Overcoming low to moderate stress can enable us to become resilient.
When stress becomes unpredictable and prolonged, we can experience feeling vulnerable and powerless. During these times we do not have the capacity to regulate ourselves, so we are in a constant state of stress with our mind and our bodies in a constant state of high alert. Common reactions may include anger, fear, guilt and feeling anxious most of the time.
Trauma experiences can be difficult life events, something we have witnessed or something that we have experienced as life-threatening.
Trauma can be caused by an overwhelmingly negative event that causes a lasting impact on the victim’s mental and emotional stability.
Click here for the list that is not exhaustive – any more traumas you want us to add then let us know?
- Adoption
- Ageism
- Amputation
- Antisemitism
- Armed forces
- Arrest
- Becoming visually / hearing impaired
- Bereavement
- Biological weapon
- Biphobia
- Bomb
- Bullied
- Burglary
- Car crash
- Car crash near miss
- Cheating / infidelity
- Chemical weapon
- Child criminal exploitation
- Child sexual exploitation
- Climate
- Coercive control
- Computer virus
- County lines
- Criminal exploitation
- Criminal justice system
- Cult membership
- Cyclone
- Debt
- Diagnosis – health / mental health / disability / chronic condition / terminal illness
- Disablism
- Disciplinary process / action
- Discrimination
- Dismissal
- Domestic abuse
- Drought
- Drug overdose
- Earthquake
- Eating disorders
- Emotional abuse
- Emotional incest
- Entering an elderly care home
- Entering children’s care system
- Exclusion
- Exorcism
- Experiencing or witnessing an accident
- Explosion
- False arrest
- False imprisonment
- Famine
- Female genital mutilation
Financial abuse
Financial loss
Fire
Flood
Food poverty
Forced marriage
Forced migration
Fostered
Fraud victim
Gambling addiction
Gang membership
Gender dysphoria
Genocide
Groomed
Hacked
Hallucinating
Hate crime
Hearing voices when no-one is there
Heart attack
Held captive
Hoarding
Home invasion
Homophobia
Human trafficked
Hunger
Hurricane
Imprisonment / incarceration
Injustice
Kidnapped
Leaving care
Life or death situation
Lightning strike
Lived homeless
Loneliness
Loss
Manslaughter
Mastectomy
Miscarriage of pregnancy
Modern slavery
Mud slide
Munchausen syndrome
Munchausen syndrome by proxy
Murder
Natural disaster
Near death experience
Neglect
Nuclear weapon
Online abuse
Overdose
Pandemic
Parental cult membership
Parental incarceration
Parental mental health
Parental separation / divorce
Parental use of alcohol or drugs
Peer on peer abuse
Perinatal environment (impacts at least 17+ weeks of age in the womb)
Physical abuse
Placement changes in the children’s care system
Poor mental health
Poor parental mental health illness
Poverty
Pregnancy termination
Prisoner of war
Property repossession
Racism
Radicalisation
Redundancy
Refugee
Scam victim
School exclusion
Secondary trauma
Seeing things that aren’t really there
Self-harm
Sexism
Sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Sexual harassment
Sexually exploited
Shelling
Social worker changes in the care system
Stalking
Strangulation
Strip search
Stroke
Suicide
Suicide attempt
Suspension
Terrorism
Testimony at court
Transphobia
Tsunami
Twister
Vicarious trauma
Victim of crime
Volcano eruption
War / conflict
Witness of crime
Witness of violence
Wrongfully imprisoned
Young Carer
Types of Trauma
Acute:
Acute trauma can occur with the sudden, one-time application of force or violence that causes immediate damage to a living body. It is caused by a ‘single traumatic’ event. Examples of acute trauma include an accident, an act of violence, a natural disaster, the death of a significant person, physical or sexual assault or witnessing an event.
Chronic / Complex Trauma:
Chronic or Complex trauma happens when an individual experiences multiple traumatic events and refers to traumatic stressors that are premeditated, planned and caused by other human beings. Examples of complex trauma include sexual abuse, domestic abuse, war, neglect, bullying and the experience of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19).
Developmental Trauma:
Developmental trauma is often accompanied by repeated traumatic events. It focuses more on the underlying trauma in the young person’s history. Repeated instances of developmental trauma such as abandonment, abuse and neglect during a child’s early life can cause negative effects on cognitive, neurological, psychological and attachment developments.
Interpersonal Trauma:
Interpersonal trauma occurs when an individual experiences multiple traumatic events that are caused by other human beings which are repetitive over time. It is where a person has been hurt by another person, they are then wounded by the experience. This can be childhood abuse, neglect, parental mental health, witnessing domestic abuse, parental drug and/or alcohol use.
Trauma is experienced on three levels, physical, cognitive and emotional:
Physical
When we experience a stressful/traumatic situation, our bodies shift into emergency mode which changes our physical responses. From being calm and regulated, the traumatic situation impacts on our physical functioning, our heart beats faster, blood pressure escalates, our muscles tense, we breathe faster.
Cognitive
After experiencing trauma, how we think changes. We tend to think in a negative fashion and imagine all the worst-case scenarios. This causes us to be even more stressed or worried, causing us to function less effectively thus justifying our fears. In essence, this creates a cycle or a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Emotional
We experience a constant feeling of anxiety. We cannot always pinpoint what exactly is causing this; it simply exists. Concentration may be affected, and we may become easily annoyed or upset further limiting our ability to function effectively. Trauma can cause fear, sadness, guilt, blame and shame.
Examples of the Impact of Trauma
Sleep:
Nightmares, having problems falling asleep, problems staying asleep, constantly waking up during the night, sleeping too much, not wanting to get out of bed, lack of sleep impacting lives e.g. school, work and relationships.
Emotional:
A feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, intense fear, guilt, inability to tolerate stress or shame, inability to use language for feelings and reduced empathy.
Physical:
Intrusive thoughts and flashbacks of the trauma, panic attacks, difficulty concentrating, overly alert, easily startled, being hyper-vigilant, medical complaints such as headaches and migraines.
Behavioural:
Being irritable or angry, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, aggression, destructiveness, substance use and impulsiveness.
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD)?
PTSD is when you experience symptoms for more than one month. A more comprehensive overview can be found on the ‘post-traumatic stress disorder UK’ website:
CPTSD shares symptoms with PTSD but includes additional issues like severe emotional dysregulation, persistent feelings of worthlessness or shame, and major difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships. Symptoms can include emotional outbursts, a constant sense of emptiness, distrust, dissociation, and physical problems. A more comprehensive overview can be found at this link:
Trauma Repair and Recovery
Repair:
Recovery:
The most significant factor in working towards recovery is that of the relationships around us.
“When a person has been hurt in a relationship, they can only be healed in a relationship” Shemmings, D. (2017)
Herman, J. (1997)
The 3 Stages of Trauma Recovery
Stage One - Safety and Stabilisation:
At the beginning stage, people experience symptoms as described in the impact of trauma page. Understanding the impact and to then learn how to become resilient, to learn strategies in overcoming the impact. This stage promotes creating a safe and stable life.
To create a safe environment and to be with people who enable you to feel safe, this includes home, work, school, and college
Develop emotional stability, your ability to calm your body, become more emotionally regulated
To manage post-traumatic symptoms
To understand your emotional reactions, to be able to say, “I feel like this because of…”
To develop self-esteem
To resolve any feelings of guilt, shame or blame.
Stage Two - Coming to terms and processing the trauma:
Becoming unstuck from the impact of the trauma and using differing ways of processing the trauma such as using trauma informed counselling and recognising the trauma is in the past and not in the here and now.
For some, there is a natural processing of trauma; when people experience safety, love, and positive attachments in all areas of their lives, they are able to integrate the trauma and come to terms with what has happened to them. The pages within this website will provide you with the tools and strategies to enable you to heal.
For those who are supporting family or friends who have been traumatised, the following pages will equip you with information to help your loved ones.
Stage Three - Integration and developing post-traumatic growth:
Remembering all that has been learnt in stage 1 and being able to acknowledge the trauma is in the past so allowing you to live a healthy life in the here and now.
To be aware that during your life there will be challenges and potential triggers linked to your trauma, we term this a ‘trauma reminder’.
We will support you with strategies to enhance your safety and relapse prevention.
Understanding your brain – the science behind your trauma reactions
Becoming unstuck from the impact of the trauma and using differing ways of processing the trauma such as using trauma informed counselling and recognising the trauma is in the past and not in the here and now.
When we encounter a trigger to our past which can be conscious or unconscious, the brain responds in milliseconds. The reptilian brain responds on instinct, the instinct to survive the situation, fight/flight/freeze. If you experience a small trigger you will remain in the reptilian brain for a short period of time. When a person has countless times responding to triggers, our brain becomes hard wired to respond and remain in the reptilian brain. We can re-train the brain to shift back into the neocortex which enables us to create safe and positive thoughts and reactions. You are then able to reason with what has just happened.
“That person I saw was not the person from my past; the glasses reminded me of them. That person is not here, and I am safe”.
When someone confronts a dangerous situation such as seeing a snake whilst walking in the woods, the eyes send the information to the amygdala which is an area of the brain for emotional processing. The image is processed and if the brain interprets this image as dangerous, it will automatically send a distress signal to the hypothalamus. From this part of the brain’s command centre, the rest of the body receives communication through the autonomic nervous system so that the body is prepared for a survival response; flight/fight/flop or to remain in freeze position. The amygdala has sent a distress signal to the adrenal glands which respond by releasing the hormone epinephrine (adrenalin) which then flushes through the body providing a rush of energy which enables you to run away or fight. The adrenalin will cause physiological changes, the heart beats faster and you breathe more heavily which widens your small airways in your lungs which enable you to take in as much oxygen as possible as you breathe which is then sent to the brain, increasing your senses to become sharper and therefore more alert. At the same time epinephrine triggers the release of glucose (blood sugar) which will supply extra energy to all vital parts of your body required to support your survival response.
The amygdala initiates the fight/flight/flop or remain in freeze response through inputing information into the hypothalamus activating the sympathetic nervous system and to the brain stem (primal brain). When your primal brain is engaged, your frontal cortex is not working, therefore you are unable to process rationale thinking, such as “it is not a snake, it is merely a coiled rope”.
These responses take milliseconds, the reptilian brain, which is the instinctual part of the brain, will respond before you have even processed the event such as walking past a gate and hearing a dog barking at you, instinctively, you may jump away from the gate. If the perceived danger continues, cortisol is then released which enables the body to remain on high alert continuing to activate the sympathetic nervous system. Once the danger is perceived as over, the body then puts on the brakes and shifts to a position of rest, calming the body down, the body now activating the parasympathetic nervous system.