All About Trauma

What is trauma?

Trauma is when we experience very stressful, frightening or distressing events that are difficult to cope with or out of our control. It could be one incident, or an ongoing event that happens over a long period of time.

Most of us will experience an event in our lives that could be considered traumatic. But we won't all be affected the same way. Trauma can happen at any age. And it can affect us at any time, including a long time after the event has happened.

If you've been affected by trauma, it's important to remember that you survived however you could. You're having common, normal reactions.

It's ok to ask for help at any time. Even if you're not sure if you've experienced trauma or want to describe your experience that way.

What experiences might be traumatic?

There's no rule about what experiences can be traumatic. It's more about how you react to them.

What's traumatic is personal. Other people can't know how you feel about your own experiences or if they're traumatic for you. You might have similar experiences to someone else, but be affected differently or for longer.

Trauma can include events where you feel:

• Frightened
• Under threat
• Humiliated
• Rejected
• Abandoned
• Invalidated, for example your feelings or views have been dismissed or denied
• Unsafe
• Unsupported
• Trapped
• Ashamed
• Powerless

Ways trauma can happen include:

• One-off or ongoing events
• Being directly harmed or neglected
• Witnessing harm to someone else
• Living in a traumatic atmosphere
• Being affected by trauma in a family or community, including trauma that has happened before you were born

Some groups are more likely to experience trauma than others, and experience it more often. They include:

• People of colour
• People who have served or who are serving in the military
• People who are in prison or have been in prison in the past
• Refugees and asylum seekers
• LGBTQIA+ people
• People experiencing poverty
• People who have experienced discrimination, prejudice and abus
• For those of us who belong to these groups, we may find it harder to overcome trauma. This can be because there is a lack of support available or because of stigma and discrimination.

Types of trauma

Many experiences can be traumatic. And we all experience trauma in unique ways.?But some experiences or events that lead to trauma are sometimes grouped together and given a name.

These terms normally describe how trauma affects people from certain groups, or in specific situations. This section explains some of these terms:

Childhood trauma

You may have experienced trauma during your childhood. These experiences could make you more likely to have mental health problems as an adult. This is especially if you didn't have support to manage the trauma. Or if you experienced trauma continuously, over a long period of time.

Collective trauma

Collective trauma is when a traumatic event happens to a large number of people at the same time.

This doesn't mean that everyone who experienced the event feels the same way about it. Or that they all feel it was traumatic for them. Everyone still copes with it in their own way.

Experiencing collective trauma can mean you experience personal symptoms and 'social symptoms'. Social symptoms can include how society has dealt with or reacted to the trauma. For example:

• If it isn't socially acceptable to talk about the event, or only being able to talk about it in certain ways
• If people avoid or discriminate against certain groups that might be unfairly blamed for the trauma

The anniversaries of a collective trauma might lead to events such as memorials and media coverage. You might find these events comforting ways of managing collective trauma. Or you may find them very difficult. How you feel about these anniversaries can also change over time.

Generational trauma

Generational or intergenerational trauma is a type of trauma that's experienced across generations of a family, culture or group. For example, there's some evidence that shows children and grandchildren of people who survived the Holocaust experience higher rates of mental health problems.

Trauma that happened in the past has an impact on the mental health of current generations. But it's not always clear how. Some researchers think trauma may affect our genes. But it's more likely that trauma affects the environment we grow up in. This can be through things like:

• Stories or warnings older generations have passed on about the trauma they experienced. This could make you wary of the world around you.
• The legacy of trauma continuing to impact your wellbeing and safety, such as the ongoing effects of colonialism on the health and wellbeing of people of colour.
• Trauma affecting how older generations have raised and looked after us. For example, if your parent avoided certain places due to their experience of trauma, you might also feel anxious in those places. This might be more likely to happen if older generations haven't had support for their traumatic experiences when they needed them.

Moral injury

Moral injury means how you feel when you're put in a situation that goes against your morals, values or beliefs. It's often seen in people who have been in situations where they need to make big decisions about other people's lives.

Moral injury might happen because of:

• Lack of resources provided by a workplace, government or ruling body to treat everyone equally
• Poor safety practices
• Regulations or orders from people in charge that don’t seem to be in people’s best interests
• Unsafe or immoral behaviour from others, particularly those in charge
• Working in a system you see as failing, but have no power to fix

This kind of trauma can impact your view of the world, your government, or the organisation you work for. Along with other effects of trauma, you might:

• Feel a lack of purpose in your personal or professional life
• Feel disconnected from people around you
• Feel betrayed, alienated or ashamed
• Question your moral codes and ethics

If the moral injury happened in the workplace, you might also have difficult feelings about continuing to work there. It can be difficult to seek help in the workplace in these situations. This is because the people running the workplace can be part of the cause of moral injury.

If you need to talk to someone about wrongdoing in your workplace, the charity Protect provides confidential support.

Racial trauma

The impact racism can have on your mind and body is sometimes described as racial trauma.

There's no universal definition of racial trauma. Some people use it to mean all the effects that encountering racism can have on how we think, feel and behave. Others use it to describe a specific set of symptoms. Find out more about racial trauma .

Secondary trauma

Secondary trauma is when you witness trauma or you're closely connected to it. But you don't experience the trauma directly. It's sometimes called vicarious trauma.

For example, if you're a journalist who often reports on traumatic events. Or if you're a medical professional working in an accident and emergency department.

Effects of secondary trauma are similar to general trauma. But you may find you also begin to feel detached from the trauma. Or treat it as a very separate part of your life.

Experiencing secondary trauma is as valid as any other kind of trauma. It can impact you just as much.

How could trauma affect me?

Trauma can affect everybody differently. So you might recognise some of the experiences listed on this page. But you might also have experiences or reactions that aren't mentioned here.

When we feel stressed or threatened, our bodies release hormones called cortisol and adrenaline. This is the body's way of preparing to respond to danger, and we have no control over it.

This can have a range of effects, which are sometimes called:

Freeze – feeling paralysed or unable to move

Flop – doing what you're told without being able to protest

Fight– fighting, struggling or protesting

Flight – hiding or moving away

Fawn – trying to please someone who harms you

If we experience trauma, our body's reactions can continue long after the trauma is over. For example, when were in a situation that reminds us of the trauma. This might affect how we think, feel and behave, especially if recovering from the trauma has been difficult..

How trauma makes us feel

Some of us who go through trauma may have these feelings, during or afterwards:

Anger, Numbness or difficulty feeling any strong emotions; Like you have lost your identity or a sense of who you are; Scared or panicked; Grief; Worried; Irritable; Confused; Restless; Unsure of what you need or want; Hypervigilance - which is when you are very alert and aware of your surroundings because you feel something bad might happen; Shock or horror; Shame; But not everyone feels the same way during or after trauma. And how we feel can change over time, even months or years after the event.

Remember that any feelings are valid – even if you aren't sure why you're feeling that way.

Reasons for feeling self-blame include:

Your mind trying to make sense of what's happened, and to avoid overwhelming feelings of anger, grief or betrayal

Finding a way to survive in an unsafe or stressful situation, such as living with someone who's harmed you

Wishing you could have done something differently at the time, even though you couldn't have

Someone else blaming you for what happened or acting like it was your fault

Being made to feel responsible for someone else's actions, even when they had power over you.

Self-blame can be very hard to cope with. But it can be a way your mind tries to protect you. So it might take time and support to be able to start feeling differently.You might feel confused or overwhelmed if someone else says it wasn't your fault. Although hearing this can also be a relief. There's also an inherent sense that you did something wrong – either that you caused what happened to you, or that you should be dealing with it better.

Physical effects of trauma

Trauma can also affect our bodies physically. We might experience:

Headaches Aches and pains around the body

Shaking, Tiredness, Sweating, Changes to how often we eat or what we feel like eating; Memory problems; Dizziness or changes in vision.

This can also lead to other long-term physical health problems that are linked to stress.

Experiences we might have after trauma

The physical and emotional effects of trauma can lead to certain experiences such as:

Flashbacks – reliving aspects of a traumatic event or feeling as if its happening now. It could involve seeing images of what happened, or experiencing it through other senses like taste, sound, or physical sensations in your body.

Panic attacks – a type of fear response. They're an exaggeration of your body's response to danger, stress or excitement.

Dissociation – one way your mind copes with overwhelming stress. You might feel numb, spaced out, detached from your body or as though the world around you is unreal.

Sleep problems – you might find it hard to fall or stay asleep, feel unsafe at night, or have nightmares.

Self-neglect – this is when you're not able to look after yourself and meet basic needs like eating, keeping clean or keeping your home safe. You might neglect yourself because of low self-esteem, or because you're having trouble adjusting to life following a trauma.

Trauma might disrupt your regular routine. This can make it harder than usual to look after yourself. Some trauma might put us in situations where we have limited resources to meet these basic needs.

Self-harm – when you hurt yourself as a way of dealing with very difficult feelings, painful memories or overwhelming situations and experiences.

Suicidal feelings – including being preoccupied by thoughts of ending your life, thinking about methods of suicide or making plans to take your own life. To find out more, see our information onnbsp;coping with suicidal feelings.

Alcohol and substance misuse – a way you might try to cope with difficult emotions or memories.

Can trauma cause mental health problems?

Trauma is a possible cause of many mental health problems. It can make us more vulnerable to developing them. But for most mental health problems, there are usually other factors involved as well as trauma.

When does trauma become PTSD?

Some mental health problems can develop directly because of trauma. These include: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)complex post- traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD). Just because you've experienced trauma, it doesn't mean you will always develop these problems. The symptoms of trauma can be very intense. But these feelings will often fade over time. You may be experiencing PTSD if these symptoms don't go away after a month. Or if you find that they're significantly affecting your day-to-day life. This might mean you need extra support with your mental health.

How else might trauma affect me?

The effects of trauma can last for a long time. Or they can come and go. You might find you have difficulty with day-to-day aspects of your life, including: Looking after yourself; Holding down a job; Trusting others; Maintaining friendships or relationships; Remembering things; Making decisions; Your sex life; Coping with change; Understanding your traumatic experience alongside your religious beliefs; Simply enjoying your leisure time.

In some cases, trauma can have a serious impact on your ability to work. Some of us might find faith a way of coping with the trauma. But some of us might find it hard to understand our traumatic experience alongside our religious beliefs. .How youre affected may depend on other things too, such as: Previous experiences of trauma; Other stresses or worries at the time or later on; Being harmed by people close to you; Whether anyone helped or supported you.

Coping with trauma

Trauma can cause strong feelings and difficult experiences. It can take time and support to be able to cope. But there are things you can try that might help with how you're feeling.

Caring for yourself after a traumatic experience

Looking after yourself straight after a trauma might not be possible. You might not realise you've been through something traumatic. Or you might not have time or space to care for yourself. Your mind might be in a survival mode, or you might not have full control of your actions.

But if it feels possible, there are things you can try to care for yourself. You may also be able to get support from other people in your life, or helpful organisations .

Keep yourself safe

If the trauma has made you feel unsafe or threatened, it can help to go to a safe space. This could be a friend of family member's home, a refuge, a hospital, or just somewhere away from the trauma. If this isn't possible, this useful contacts page has organisations who can support you.

Get medical help if you need it

If your body has been harmed, get any medical help you need. When we experience trauma we can go into shock. So you might not realise you've been harmed right away.

If it feels urgent, call 999 or your local emergency services number; visit A&E. For anything less urgent, you can contact NHS 111 (England) or NHS 111 Wales .

Try to look after your basic needs

After trauma, we might forget to eat, sleep and look after ourselves. These things might feel very difficult. But resting and hydrating ourselves gives our mind the energy it needs to process the trauma. And can help us think what we need to do next.

If sleeping is difficult, giving yourself some time to sit or lie down can help. Sleep when you need to, even if this isn't when you'd normally sleep.

If you're finding it difficult to eat, try to snack throughout the day. Or change your meal times to when you feel more hungry.? Bland foods might feel easier to eat, rather than food with lots of flavour.

Prioritise what to decide now and what can wait

After trauma, you might need to make some decisions for your safety and wellbeing. But trauma can make us feel confused. This can make it harder to make decisions.?

Where you can, try and think of whether you need to make a decision now. Or whether it can wait a while.

If there are important decisions that you don't feel you can make, some of these organisations might be able to help:

• Citizens Advice – free support for issues such as benefits, debt, employment and housing.
• Shelter ?– free support on housing problems.
• Bereavement Advice Centre – practical advice on what to do when someone dies.
• Refuge ?– support and information about your rights if you're experiencing domestic abuse.
• Scope ?– help with your rights if you have a disability. And access to things like disability benefits and adaptations to your home.
• PALS – help with complaints and issues with NHS care.

You may also be able to get support from your local council's health and social care team. But you will have to meet certain criteria. See this page on health and social care rights for more information.

Feel your emotions

You might feel like you need to be strong. Or that showing certain types of emotions is a sign of weakness. You also might find the way you feel is not what others expect.?

It's ok to cry, be angry, or laugh. Try and speak with someone you trust so you can express how you're really feeling.

Focus on your breathing and ground yourself

When we experience trauma, we can become very anxious and overwhelmed. You might feel like your heart is beating fast, you're struggling to breathe, or you're shaking. In these moments, try to focus on your breath. Breathe in and out slowly.

Dissociation during trauma

In some situations, we might dissociate during or straight after a trauma. Dissociation is when you feel disconnected from yourself and the world around you. It's a way our minds might react to keep us safe.

In some situations, it might not always be safe to experience the current moment. Dissociating can separate our mind from this. It doesn't always mean you're unable to move or do anything. You might actually be doing a lot that you don't realise or remember. What's important is that you're safe.

Coping with difficult feelings after trauma

The effects of trauma can last a long time. They might go away and come back. Or they can show up for the first time, long after the trauma has happened.

We might experience overwhelming, distressing feelings related to the trauma at random times. This can happen even if we're feeling happy and well overall.

These are some tips for coping with difficult feelings in the moment.?

Flashbacks

• Tell yourself that you're safe and the trauma isn't happening now.
• Touch or hold an object that reminds you of the present.
• Describe your surroundings out loud, count your footsteps while walking, or try to remember the lyrics to a song to distract yourself.
• Count objects of a certain type or colour.

Panic attacks

• Breathe slowly in and out while counting to five. There are videos online and apps you can use to help pace your breathing.
• Stamp on the spot.
• Taste mint-flavoured sweets or gum, or something sour.
• Touch or cuddle something soft.
• Wrap a blanket around you. A weighted blanket can help, if you find a sense of pressure comforting.

Dissociation or feeling spaced out

• Breathe slowly while counting.
• Hold an ice cube or splash cold water on your face.
• Touch something with an interesting texture or sniff something with a strong smell.
• Imagine a place that feels safe to you.

Having nightmares

• Remind yourself that you're safe.
• Do something calming before you try going back to sleep. This could be out of bed, if it helps you feel calmer.?
• Have an object next to your bed that helps ground you or makes you feel calm.
• Try to avoid drinking, eating or smoking things that keep you awake and alert.
• Try a relaxation exercise .

Feeling sad, depressed or lonely

• Write down your feelings or keep a journal.
• Do something creative.
• Talk to someone you trust. Or try peer support, to share how you feel with people who have similar experiences.
• Spend some time in nature. This could be going outside, or just opening a window for some fresh air.

Feeling like you want to self-harm

• Rub ice over where you want to hurt yourself.
• Massage your hands or the place you want to hurt yourself.
• Stick sellotape or a plaster on your skin and peel it off.
• Take a cold bath or shower.

Helping yourself in the long-term

If you experience long-term effects of trauma, you may want to find ways to support your mental health. This might include finding ways to deal with negative feelings, or open up to others about your experiences.

These tips can help:

Get to know your triggers

Some experiences, situations or people might trigger reactions like flashbacks, panic attacks or dissociation. These can include reminders of past trauma, such as smells, sounds, words, places, or books and films.

You might find things difficult on significant dates, such as the anniversary of a traumatic experience. Or some seasons or times of year might be hard, such as Christmas.

You might not always be able to avoid your triggers. But understanding them can help you be prepared and help manage them when they do happen.?

Recording your moods in a diary could help you spot patterns. Or it might help you to notice early signs of your feelings changing.

Talk to someone

Some of us who've been through trauma can find it hard to open up to others. This might be because we feel unable to share what has happened or can't remember it clearly.

If you struggle with this, you can still talk about how you feel right now. This doesn't mean you have to describe the trauma itself.??

It could help to talk to someone who you trust. This might be someone you know. Or a professional, like your doctor or a trained listener at a helpline .

Give yourself time

Everyone has their own response to trauma. It's important to take things at your pace. Try to be gentle and patient with yourself.

You might feel pressure from people around you to move on. But coping with trauma often takes time. It's not a straight-forward process.

Find ways to relax

Finding ways to relax can help with our wellbeing, especially when we feel stressed, anxious or overwhelmed.

It may also help to spend time in nature. Being outside in green space can help us feel more in touch with our surroundings.

Make a self-care or sensory box

A self-care box can contain things that make you feel calm, relaxed or comforted during difficult times. They can help with anxiety, low mood and depression.

A sensory box is similar, but is filled with things that can help ground you in the moment. They can help manage experiences like panic attacks, dissociation, or flashbacks.

Some things you might include in a self-care box could be:

• Favourite books etc
• A stress ball or fidget toy
• Helpful sayings or notes of encouragement
• Pictures or photos you find comforting
• A notebook and pen to write down your thoughts
• Puzzles or colouring books to distract yourself
• A soft blanket or cosy slippers
• A nice smelling candle or lavender bag
• Something with an interesting texture or feel

Try peer support

Peer support brings together people who have had similar experiences.?To find peer support, you could:

• Ask your doctor or healthcare team
• Try an online peer support community, such as Mind’s Side by Side
• Find a local support group through an organisation such as the National Survivor User Network (NSUN) , Together UK or Rethink
• Contact Mind’s Infoline or a local Mind to see what support there is in your area

Find specialist support

It may help to contact an organisation that specialises in supporting trauma. Or with expertise in the type of trauma you've experienced. See this page of useful contacts for trauma for organisations who can help.

If you're experiencing difficult physical or mental health effects of trauma, speak to your GP. They may be able to refer you to specialist support, or suggest things that can help.

Build a routine

Trauma can disrupt our usual daily routine. This might be because of how trauma makes us feel. Or because a traumatic event has changed a big part of our lives.

Building a new routine can help us adjust to the changes in our lives after trauma. And help make sure that we aren't always focusing on the trauma.?

In your routine, you might want to consider things like physical activity, food, and spending time with others. These things can feel difficult to do after trauma, especially if they aren't part of our routine.?

Managing sleep problems

Many of us who've experienced trauma have problems sleeping.

You might find it hard to fall or stay asleep, or feel unsafe during the night. Or you may feel anxious or afraid of having nightmares.

It may help to try these tips:

• Keep a light on. This may help if you struggle to sleep in complete darkness.
• Comfort yourself. For example, you could curl up in a soft blanket or cuddle a pet or soft toy.
• Play soothing sounds. If silence makes it harder for you to sleep, you could try listening to something as you fall asleep. For example music, nature sounds or people talking, such as podcasts.
• Plan a relaxing bedtime routine. This can help to manage anxiety that might make sleeping difficult. It could involve reading, using a hand cream, or doing breathing exercises. The routine can be as long or short as you need it to be.

Try something creative

Expressing yourself creatively can help to process traumatic experiences. You could join a group or do something creative on your own. It doesn't have to be something you show other people if you don't want to.

You could try:

• Dancing
• Acting and theatre
• Writing, such as poetry or short stories
• Singing or playing music
• Painting, drawing or making sculptures
• Knitting, crochet, embroidery or cross stitch

You can find groups for creative activities in places like libraries or websites.

Treatment

Talking therapies

Arts and creative therapies

Medication

Crisis services

Everyone has their own response to trauma. Not everyone will feel they need treatment. If you're looking for treatment, what you're offered will depend on your symptoms and diagnosis (if you have one), and on your needs.

It also depends on what services are available in your area .What helps is different from person to person, and can change over time. It can help to keep an open mind and explore different options. The treatments for trauma are not always the same as recommended treatments for PTSD or complex PTSD.

Talking therapies

Talking therapies give you space to explore difficult feelings and experiences with a trained professional. You might find this helpful if you're struggling to process or understand your trauma. Or if you want to talk about your experiences confidentially.

There aren't guidelines recommending certain types of therapy for trauma. What works best will be personal to you. But research shows that therapy may be more helpful if the therapist: has a good understanding of trauma. This doesn't mean they need to have experienced trauma themselves. But that they understand how it affects people; Understands your cultural or religious background. And knows how this might affect our response to trauma; Can work with you over a long period of time. Time-limited therapies often don't give enough space to build trust.

Arts and creative therapies

Arts and creative therapies are treatments involving activities like art, music or drama. They happen in a therapeutic environment, with a trained professional. You dont need to have done these activities before. Or have any particular skills or knowledge.

Medication

Some of us may find medication helps to manage the symptoms we experience after trauma. The type of drug you're offered will depend on the symptoms you're experiencing. And any other health needs you might have. Before you decide to take any medication, make sure you have all the facts you need to feel confident about your decision.

Crisis services

Crisis services can help if you're going through a mental health crisis. For example, Samaritans are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Barriers to opening up about trauma

Recovering from trauma can often include talking about what happened. And developing our own way of thinking about what happened.

This can be a difficult process. You may find that certain things make it harder to open up. For example:

Experiencing stigma and blame

There can be stigma around certain types of trauma and experiences. This can make it difficult to talk about what's happened to you. You might worry that people will blame you for the trauma. Maybe this happened to you in the past. This can make it hard to trust people.

Feeling unsafe

You might not be able to tell anyone about your trauma because you're scared for safety. For example, if you're experiencing abuse from a family member or someone you're living with.

If you're experiencing abuse from a partner, family member, or someone in a position of power, help is available. See our useful contacts page for who to contact when you are unsafe.

Struggling to talk or cope with what happened

Talking about a traumatic experience can bring up very strong feelings. It may trigger reactions like panic attacks, dissociation or suicidal feelings.

You may also not remember what happened or know how to understand your experiences. This can make it hard to talk about.

And there might be times when you feel like you just can't cope, or it all seems too hard. This can make it feel much harder to open up about what you're going through.?

People misunderstanding trauma

Some people might not understand trauma like you do. This might mean they don't understand your strengths or what's helped you survive. For example, you might feel that your coping mechanisms are being judged or criticised.

Family or community members may be hostile or critical if you seek help. Or they may deny or dismiss what you're going through.

Some people might not understand why you found a certain experience traumatic. This is especially if they experienced something similar and feel differently about it.?

Barriers to seeking help for trauma

Seeking help for the effects of trauma can be difficult. You might sometimes face barriers to getting the support you need. For example:

Bad experiences of seeking help

This may include professionals not listening to you or helping you. Or if you've been harmed by poor healthcare. If you try something and it doesn't help, it can feel harder to try again.?

Explaining things to many people

You may talk to several healthcare professionals before you can get the right support. This could mean you're asked the same questions a number of times. You may have to recount your traumatic experiences more than you feel comfortable doing.

Getting the right help for you

Some professionals may emphasise treatments that don't feel right for you, such as medication. You might prefer them to address the causes of the trauma you're experiencing.

Too much focus on trauma

Some professionals may try to define you by your trauma. They might use it to explain everything you do or feel, even if you don't feel like it's related. You might also be given a diagnosis you don't agree with because of your trauma.

Professionals don't recognise your trauma

Some professionals may not recognise your experiences as traumatic. This could be because they have a different idea of what they think trauma is. This can be a very distressing experience.

Some professionals might also believe harmful stereotypes about certain groups of people. These stereotypes could lead them to dismiss experiences of trauma. For example, women being dismissed as overly emotional or overreacting, rather than their experiences and symptoms being taken seriously.

If you're unhappy with how professionals are treating you,?you can complain. See this page on?complaining about health and social care to learn more.?

If you've been abused by health and social care professionals, this page on?abuse has some?organisations that can help.

How can I overcome these barriers?

If you're facing barriers like these, here are some things that could help:

• Write things down. This could help if it's too hard to say things out loud or you don't want to repeat them.?
• Focus on safety. If you're restricted in what you can talk about, focus on making sure you're safe. Having a safety plan could help keep you safe, even if you can't leave home straight away. End the Fear has a safety plan template you can download and fill out.
• Choose what you share. What you tell people about your experiences is up to you. You don't need to tell your whole story, or even any of it. Your feelings are valid and you deserve support.
• Tell people what sort of support you would like. For example, asking someone to listen and not give you advice.
• Ask professionals about their expertise. You can ask if they have specific training and experience of working with trauma. And about anything else that concerns you.
• Show people this information. It may help them to learn more about trauma.

Anyone can try therapy. Some people think you can only get help from a therapist if you feel ready to open up. But this isn't true. Therapists who understand trauma should support you and help you cope, regardless of how much you can share.

• Make choices where you can. For example, you might be able to request a therapist of a particular gender. Or choose to sit facing the door if that feels safer for you.
• Focus on how you feel now. It doesn't matter whether you remember or understand what happened. You can still seek help for how the trauma has affected you, and for what you're experiencing you now.

If you've tried something and it hasn't helped, try to be gentle and patient with yourself. Coping with the effects of trauma can be difficult. It can take a lot of time and energy. But many people find that when they have the right combination of treatments.

Thanks for reading!!

Thomas Andrew Duinne Arnold Palmerstone

(Adapted from Mind.org.uk Many thanks to Mind)

All Works ? All by Thomas Andrew Duinne Arnold Palmerstone is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International