Traumatic Stress

Traumatic stress is where there has been an accumulation of traumatic experiences – such as in cases of bullying or other emotional or physical abuse where each incident is a trauma in itself. Or there may have been multiple traumas of different kinds.

 

Common indications are:

Issues around sleep:

Nightmares

Waking up more tired than when you went to bed

Not wanting to go to bed even though you are tired

Exhaustion and listlessness throughout the day – despite having slept all night

Feeling ‘spaced out’

Memory problems

An inability to concentrate

Problems with personal boundaries

Inexplicable aches, pains or symptoms

Feeling worse when you relax

Over-reacting to problems

Feeling very stressed, but not knowing why

Confusing fear and excitement

Signs of an exaggerated startle response – jittery movements, awkwardness.

Showing signs of a strong emotion e.g. anger without seeming to be aware of it – tone of voice, facial expression, choice of words…

Flashbacks or panic attacks

A feeling of living in the past.

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