Trauma Disorders: Types, Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is likely the most widely recognized and discussed trauma disorder. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, approximately 6% of the U.S. population, equivalent to around 6 out of every 100 individuals, will experience PTSD at some stage in their lives.

PTSD can occur in all age groups, including children and adolescents. PTSD develops after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violation. The exposure may be directly experiencing the event, witnessing it occur in person, learning of it occurring to a close friend or family member, or having repeated exposure to details of traumatic events as part of one's job, such as emergency personnel.

The symptoms of PTSD include four main types:

1. Re-experiencing the trauma through upsetting memories, nightmares, flashbacks, and psychological and physical reactivity to traumatic reminders
2. Avoidance of trauma-related thoughts, feelings, people, places, conversations, activities, objects, and situations that bring on distressing memories
3. Adverse alterations in cognition and affect, such as impaired memory of crucial elements of the traumatic event, excessively pessimistic thoughts and beliefs about oneself or the world, distorted attribution of fault to oneself or others, enduring negative emotions related to the trauma, such as fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame, and diminished interest in previously pleasurable activities.
4. Increased arousal symptoms include hypervigilance or being on constant "high alert" for danger, heightened startle reaction, difficulty concentrating or sleeping, irritability or outbursts of anger, and reckless or self-destructive behavior.

For a PTSD diagnosis, symptoms must last for at least one month, cause significant impairment in social or occupational functioning, and not be due to medication, substance use, or other illness. PTSD is further classified by the duration of symptoms.

• Acute PTSD lasts between one to three months after trauma exposure
• Chronic PTSD persists for three months or more
• Delayed onset PTSD occurs at least six months after the trauma took place

Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) may occur in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic event. It involves strong dissociative symptoms in addition to re-experiencing, avoidance, and arousal symptoms seen in PTSD.

Dissociative symptoms include:

• Numbing or lack of emotional responsiveness
• Derealization - feeling detached from one's surroundings
• Depersonalization - feeling detached from one's own body or identity
• Dissociative amnesia - inability to recall key aspects of the traumatic event

The dissociative symptoms represent attempts to mentally avoid and separate from trauma-related emotions and memories. ASD lasts for a minimum of three days and up to one month following trauma exposure. It may precede the eventual development of PTSD.

Adjustment disorders are characterized by emotional or behavioral disturbance in response to an identifiable stressor or life change that causes significant personal distress. The most common stressors involve family relationship conflicts, romantic breakups, major illness or health problems, job loss or change, and moving. Stressors may be single events or ongoing problems.

The predominant symptoms of adjustment disorders include:

• Depressed mood
• Anxiety or worry
• Feelings of hopelessness
• Diminished ability to cope with daily responsibilities at work, school, or home

Disturbances may also include aggression, rule-breaking, reckless behaviors, somatic complaints, and suicidal ideation. The maladaptive reactions are disproportionate to the severity of the stressor. Adjustment disorders onset within three months of the stressor and typically resolve within six months after the stressor is over. Chronic adjustment disorder involves persistent symptoms beyond six months.

CPT helps you restructure and reframe negative thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs that formed in response to the trauma. This allows you to view yourself, others, and the world in a more balanced, realistic light.

This method reduces trauma-related anxiety, fear, and avoidance by gradually and repeatedly exposing you to traumatic memories in a safe, controlled setting. It reinforces that remembering will not cause further harm while correcting the brain's overactive fear conditioning.

We offer real-world coping skills to manage trauma-related symptoms and emotional distress, including mindfulness and stress tolerance techniques, emotion regulation, anger management, assertiveness training, communication, and relationship skills.

Our compassionate, multidisciplinary team includes psychiatrists, therapists, nurses, and other professionals, all specialized in treating PTSD and trauma-related conditions using clinically proven methods tailored to each person's needs.

EMDR uses rhythmic bilateral stimulation like alternating eye movements, taps, or tones while recalling trauma memories to accelerate the brain's natural information processing and healing mechanisms. Over time, traumatic memories lose their intense emotional charge.