Redefining trauma

Mental Health Training

Trauma is an individual event that is out of the ordinary for you. Still, everyone experiences trauma and deals differently with this distress, and something that may be traumatic for you could be an everyday life situation for someone else.

The unconscious aspect of trauma

For example, if you never witnessed animals in an abattoir being slaughtered, your reaction to seeing this for the first time would be extremely different from someone who regularly works there.

I have known many individuals become vegetarians following a visit to this place. Surprisingly, they do not have open days.

It can be difficult to judge how a person will react in any given situation; some of the most unlikely individuals in history has turned out to be heroes. Perhaps it is deep-seated compassion that exists in all of us, we just love to see the underdog come good.

I remember my first time as a medical student many years ago visiting a mortuary for the first time; all the cadavers (20 in total) laid out on plinths in a partial state of dissection with the intense aroma of Formaldehyde.

It wasn’t until the late afternoon; one of our classmates returned to the lessons. She was so traumatised by the event that day.

She had left the autopsy early without any of us noticing. When questioned, She had no idea where she had been for the last few hours or any recollection of leaving the room in the first place.

The physiological aspect of trauma

During a traumatic event, a sensor called the Amygdala triggers your brain to activate a “fight-or-flight” survival response.

This reaction, which is all emotional, sends a message to your adrenal gland in a split second, leading to cortisol and adrenaline production to get you out of danger, which then activates a series of physiological and metabolic effects.

Your mouth will suddenly get dry, your heart will start racing, your stomach will be upset, and you’ll feel like you are going to be sick or pass out.

All this requires energy, to stand and fight or run away, and the body’s metabolism (i.e. raising plasma glucose) is activated.

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