Trauma and Anxiety Resource Center - Promoting Self Regulation and Restoring Resilence
 SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES OF TRAUMA AND STRESS 
 
When our nervous systems prepare us to meet danger, they shift us into highly energized states.  If we can discharge this energy while actively and effectively defending against threat (or shortly after the threatening event), the nervous system will move back toward a normal level of functioning.  If not, the nervous system compensates for being in a state of self-perpetuating arousal by setting off a chain of adaptations that eventually bind and organize the energy. This energy must go somewhere and that place is called "symptoms".
 
The first symptoms of trauma usually appear shortly after the event that engendered them; others will develop over time, sometimes months or years later. 
 

Types of Symptoms

  • Anxiety / Panic Attacks
  • PTSD (post traumatic stress)
  • Hyperarousal
  • Constriction
  • Dissociation (including denial)
  • Feelings of helplessness
  • Easily and Frequently Stressed Out
  • Difficulty Sleeping
  • Phobias
  • Dizziness/Vertigo
  • Troubled Breathing
  • Headaches
  • Unresolved Pain
  • Hypervigilance
  • Fatigued
  • Abrupt Mood Swings: (rage reactions, tantrums, shame)
  • Extreme Sensitivity to Light / Sound
  • Intrusive Imagery 
  • Nightmares or Night Terrors
  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Emotional Flooding
  • Hyperactivity
  • Gastrointestinal Problems
  • Self Regulation Problems
  • Feeling Disconnected to Life

Types of causes:

  •  Motor vehicle accidents
  •  Falls
  •  Personal accidents and injuries
  •  Physical or Emotional abuse
  • Invasive medical or surgical procedures
  •  Illness
  •  Near drowning
  •  War 
  •  Natural disasters 
  •  Violent acts/attacks
  •  Overwhelming life experiences
  •  Experiencing or witnessing  violence or horror
  •   Ritual abuse
  •  Generational and Social trauma
  •  Pre and Perinatal stress