A Simple Guide to Understanding Stress and Trauma

 “Hello there! I’m here to provide you with a bit of information on the various aspects of trauma and stress to normalize these states of mind and help you feel understood during your journey of growth and healing. I would like to remind you that suggestions on this post should not be taken as medical advice, legal advice, therapy, etc. or as a one-size-fits-all approach.  Keep in mind that every individual’s journey of  experiencing and navigating through stress or trauma is distinctive because you are one of a kind and no person is truly like you!  Experiencing abuse in any form is NOT OKAY, but what you are experiencing as a result of abuse is valid. 

Please know that healing is not a formula and is not for anyone else to define for you. You do you, and you follow all that you need to follow, to help yourself.

If you need additional resources or just someone to talk to, feel free to reach out to The Neeti Project."

What is Stress? 

All of us are born with and accumulate over time, a range of coping abilities and mechanisms to overcome difficult situations. However, when you face a scenario which:

a. overpowers your coping skills

b. you recognize as a challenge to your emotional and /or physical wellness...

then this psychological state of mind you experience can be termed as stress (Butcher et al., 2014)

Does stress impact our body? 

Yes. If you identify yourself as (Butcher et al., 2014): 

• extremely competitive
• extremely committed to your work
• impatient
• hostile
• generally insecure
• generally anxious
• generally depressed 
• generally experiencing negative emotions 
• or you consider yourself to not have enough emotional support or a large social circle...

then you are more likely to perceive situations as being stressful or experience stress. Stress mainly effects the heart and can cause cardiovascular diseases like: 

• Hypertension
• Coronary Heart Disease
• Heart Attack

What are some Key Terms Related to 'Stress'?

1. Crisis:  You may have experienced a sudden, very intense stressor and the coping strategies that you normally use to overcome stressful scenarios, aren't enough  for the current stress-inducing situation that you are facing. you can term this as experiencing a crisis and a crisis typically overwhelms a person's adaptive strategies (Butcher et al., 2014). 

2. Adjustment Disorder: Some stressful situations are certainly more common than others and more likely to have been experienced by many people, like - 

• going away to college
• not being able to find a job
• losing a job
• problems in your marriage
• separation or divorce
• or the passing away of someone you loved

For some people, these common stressful situations can be too difficult to cope with, resulting in clinically significant behavior or emotional changes. What does clinically significant mean? It means the person who is experiencing this form of stress is experiencing it at a way higher level than most others would and is unable to perform day-to-day activities as a result of this immense stress within (Butcher et al., 2014). 

Can this state of mind go away over time? 

Yes, absolutely! Adjustment disorder can go away if the stressful situation the person is experiencing comes to an end or the person learns to adapt to the situation that has caused them stress. 

However, if the clinically significant symptoms continue for more than six months, then it is possible that the person is experiencing some other mental health issue that requires a diagnosis by a mental health professional (Butcher et al., 2014). 

What is Trauma? 

Trauma is a state you experience when you confront an event that is deeply distressing and troubling. An event can be considered traumatic when the event is (Mental Health and Gender Based Violence, 2016): 

• Scary
• Overpowering
• Inescapable 
• Uncontrollable 
• Atypical
• Dramatic
• So harmful to a point where it is difficult for you to continue living or functioning in life.

What Does Trauma Look Like? 

Because you are unique, your trauma may manifest in different ways too based on your personality and your surroundings. Here is a list of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors you may indulge in when you are living through a traumatic experience: 

1. Since trauma is experienced when your mind and body is facing a lurking danger or threat, the immediate reaction would most often be to protect yourself from that danger to survive. Therefore, you may engage in or experience (Mental Health and Gender Based Violence, 2016): 

A. a physical urge to fight the threat or danger without any plan in mind. 

B. a physical urge to flee, meaning, run away from the danger or threat without any plan in mind. 

C. high energy levels but your body is unable to move seeing the threat or danger, so you freeze. 

• If the danger or threat does not go away, then your body may engage in another form of freezing called playing dead or flopping, which involves a feeling of dissociation from your body and you may not have any memory of what happened. 

You may also experience other common protective reactions like (Kolk, 2000): 

• Confusion
• Numbness
• Withdrawal
• Terror
• Shock
• Speechlessness

2. Although  immediate reactions to the danger you experienced may subside over time, these may gradually be replaced with more long-term reactions like (Kolk, 2000): 

• Feeling intensely startled from time to time
• An overall feeling of tiredness
• Anxiety
• Fear
• Changes in sleeping and eating patterns
• Physical changes or aches in the body
• Feeling helpless and or/ hopeless
• Unable to schedule or plan ahead
• Mentally disconnecting or separating yourself when another threat is perceived or experienced. 

3. Experiencing the above highlighted reactions for extended periods of time can lead to the development of 'emotion focused coping'. Emotion focused coping is when you tend to change your emotions rather than try and change the scenarios that caused those emotions (Kolk, 2000). 

What is Acute Stress Disorder?

Acute Stress Disorder refers to when a person experiences symptoms of trauma soon after confronting a traumatic event and these trauma-related symptoms last for at least two days. 

However, if these symptoms persist for more than four weeks, then the Acute Stress Disorder can be diagnosed as PTSD by a mental health professional. Individuals who experience Acute Stress Disorder are more likely to experience PTSD as well (Butcher et al., 2014)

Things to Keep in Mind!

• Avoid Self-Diagnosis: This is a common mistake that many people (including me) have indulged or continue to engage in. It is quite normal to do so since we human beings have an urge to constantly search for answers to problems we experience both externally and internally. However, I would highly recommend not to engage in Googling a medical sign or symptom and trying to figure out whether you may be experiencing relevant to stress or trauma because a wrong answer found on the internet could lead to greater stress. Moreover, there are professionals available to make the job easier for you!
• It's Okay to Seek Help! Our innate need to be in constant control of our surroundings, psychological state, and life in general may cause you to ignore, avoid, or hesitate to acknowledge the symptoms of trauma. Additionally, societal stigma attached the word 'disorder' and 'mental illness' may distance you from seeking help. However, these are simply words used by mental health care professionals for them to successfully aid you in treatment. It is absolutely okay to not be in control sometimes. It is alright to not feel at the top of your game throughout life. Experiencing trauma is not easy and the brain being a complex organ, has different ways of interpreting various traumatic situations. I urge you to put yourself first if you are mentally not feeling well and seek all the assistance necessary for you to lead a happy and fulfilling life because you deserve it. 
• Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel: Although it may take a few days, weeks, or months for you to process stressful or traumatic event/s, there most certainly will come a day when memories of the event will cease to control you, your emotions, and your behaviors!
• Resilience and Mental Health: You may wonder why some people adapt better or quickly overcome similar stressful or traumatic situations. They may engage in relatively more healthy psychological and physical functioning despite having confronted a traumatic event. This is because some people are more resilient than others. Typically, people who experience - 

• greater positive emotions
• lesser negative emotions  
• good amounts of self confidence...

have been observed to have higher resilience and are able to overcome trauma more swiftly. 

However, resilience is not something that certain people are just born with and is quite dependent on a number of environmental factors too like - one's gender, age, and socio-economic and educational background. The more resources a person has been provided overtime, the easier it may be for that person to build resilience (Butcher et al., 2014). 

• Take All the Time Necessary:  I would like to remind you that it is absolutely okay to take as much time as you need to recover from any stressor or trauma because everyone is genetically and environmentally built quite distinctively and there are no strict rules that need to be followed when it comes to healing your mind and body! 😊