What is psychological trauma and what are its symptoms? Learn how single-event and complex trauma differ, how the brain responds and how recovery works.
The word "trauma" is used so often in everyday language that we hear it applied both to a bad exam result and to a catastrophe that turns a life upside down. Yet psychological trauma refers to the marks left on the mind and body by experiences that overwhelm a person's capacity to cope and leave them helpless and terrified. After the 6 February 2023 earthquakes, Turkey experienced first-hand, and painfully, just how wide a social impact trauma can have; even years later, many people still carry the effects of those days. In this article I will try to explain what psychological trauma is, how the brain responds to danger, the difference between single-event trauma and complex trauma, the most common symptoms and the steps that support recovery.
What Is Psychological Trauma?
Psychological trauma describes the emotional effects that can arise when a person directly experiences, witnesses, or learns that someone close to them has experienced an event involving a serious threat to their own life or physical integrity, or to the lives of those close to them. Examples of traumatic events include disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires; traffic and workplace accidents; physical or sexual assault; war and forced migration; and sudden, unexpected deaths.
There is an important point here: what defines trauma is not only the event itself but its impact on the person. Of two people who live through the same earthquake, one may recover within a few weeks while the other struggles with sleep problems and intense fears for years. This difference is not a sign of weakness; it is shaped by a person's past experiences, what happened to them during the event, the support they received afterwards and many other factors.
Nor is every difficult experience a trauma. A break-up, a job loss or a failure can be extremely painful and may call for serious support; however, in the clinical sense, the concept of trauma is generally reserved for experiences that threaten life or leave a person in deep helplessness and terror. This distinction is not meant to belittle your pain, but to help us understand correctly what kind of support is needed.
What happens in the brain at the time of trauma?
The most instructive way to understand the effects of trauma is to know how the brain works in the face of danger. Our brain has an "alarm system" that quickly detects danger. When a threat is perceived, this system mobilises the body within seconds: the heart speeds up, breathing quickens, the muscles tense. This is an enormously valuable mechanism that keeps us alive.
In moments of danger, the body generally turns to one of three responses:
- Fight: Resisting the threat and defending yourself.
- Flight: Getting away from the danger.
- Freeze: Freezing and becoming immobile when neither fleeing nor fighting is possible.
The freeze response is the one that many trauma survivors later blame themselves for most: "Why didn't I do something?" "Why didn't I run?" Yet freezing is not a conscious choice; it is an automatic survival response of the brain. Knowing this can be an important step towards reducing the guilt and shame that follow trauma.
The way you responded at the time of trauma was not a test of character; it was an automatic choice your brain made to keep you alive.
Memories are stored differently
Under intense threat, the brain does not record events as an orderly story, the way it does ordinary memories. Instead, smells, sounds, images and bodily sensations may be stored in fragments, with a heavy emotional charge. This is why traumatic memories sometimes feel not like something "in the past" but like something "happening right now". The vibration of a passing lorry can instantly bring back the fear of that night in the body of someone who has lived through an earthquake. This is called being triggered, and it develops outside the person's control.
The Difference Between Single-Event Trauma and Complex Trauma
Psychological trauma does not always arise in the same way. Specialists generally speak of two basic types.
Single-event trauma
This is a single traumatic event that takes place at a particular time and has a beginning and an end. A road accident, an earthquake, an assault or a sudden loss falls into this group. In single-event trauma, the person's life before the event is often relatively safe, and this safe past can be an important resource during recovery.
Complex trauma
This refers to traumatic experiences that continue over a long period, happen repeatedly and often cannot be escaped. Ongoing neglect in childhood, emotional or physical abuse, witnessing domestic violence, long-term bullying or captivity-like conditions belong here. Complex trauma usually takes place within relationships, at the hands of people who should have been trusted. For this reason its effects are not limited to fear and anxiety; it can profoundly affect how a person sees themselves, their ability to regulate emotions and their capacity to trust others.
You can also read my article on complex trauma, in which I discuss it and its relationship to childhood experiences in more detail.
What Are the Symptoms of Psychological Trauma?
In the first days and weeks after a traumatic event, it is quite common to have intense reactions, and this is often expected. Some of these reactions ease by themselves over time. Common symptoms are as follows:
Re-experiencing symptoms
- Unwanted memories and images coming into the mind
- Nightmares about the event
- Intense fear or physical reactions when confronted with something that reminds you of the event
Avoidance symptoms
- Staying away from places, people or conversations that remind you of the event
- Constantly keeping yourself busy so as not to think about the event
Changes in thoughts and feelings
- Feelings of guilt, shame or anger
- Strengthening of beliefs such as "The world is a dangerous place" or "No one can be trusted"
- Loss of interest, emotional numbness, a sense of being cut off from others
Hyperarousal
- Being constantly on guard, startling easily
- Sleep problems
- Irritability and difficulty concentrating
If these symptoms last longer than a month and clearly affect daily life, an assessment by a specialist for post-traumatic stress disorder is important. I discuss this subject in more detail in the article on post-traumatic stress disorder. Remember, symptoms alone do not amount to a diagnosis.
How do trauma reactions look in children?
Children may not be able to describe what they have experienced in words the way adults can, so trauma reactions often show up in behaviour. Common signs include regression in skills already acquired (for example, bed-wetting again or thumb-sucking), difficulty separating from a parent, disrupted sleeping and eating patterns, frequent angry outbursts, or replaying the event again and again in play. A child who keeps building "collapsing houses" with their toys after an earthquake may in fact be trying to make sense of what they went through. In this period it is protective to answer the child's questions honestly and in an age-appropriate way, to keep the daily routine and to reassure them often that they are safe. If the symptoms continue for a long time, it helps to seek support from a specialist who works with children.
Trauma in Turkey: The Individual and the Collective Dimension
Trauma is not only an individual experience; societies also have shared traumas. Earthquakes, major accidents and waves of migration affect not only those directly involved but a wide group of people who follow the news, lose loved ones or take part in relief efforts. After the 6 February earthquakes, many people noticed that, even though they did not live in the earthquake zone, they were experiencing sleep problems, overreacting to sudden noises or living with intense earthquake anxiety. In big cities, above all Istanbul, the expectation of a possible earthquake keeps this anxiety alive.
There is also the concept of indirect trauma. Watching images of destruction on social media for hours, taking part in search and rescue work, or being in constant contact with traumatised people as a healthcare worker can produce trauma-like reactions. For this reason, limiting your consumption of news and images during difficult events is an important part of protecting yourself.
How Can You Support Yourself After Trauma?
The suggestions below are no substitute for professional support; however, after a traumatic experience they can help calm your nervous system and re-anchor you in everyday life.
1. Rebuild a sense of safety
Create as regular a daily routine as you can. Waking, eating and sleeping at set times gives the nervous system the message "You are safe now". In times of uncertainty, small, predictable routines matter a great deal.
2. Grounding exercise: 5-4-3-2-1
When memories suddenly take you back to the past, connect with the present by noticing 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 sounds you can hear, 2 smells you can notice and 1 taste you can sense. This exercise helps shift your attention from the danger in the past to the safe present moment.
3. Slow your breathing
Making your out-breath slightly longer than your in-breath, for example breathing in for a count of four and out for a count of six, supports the body's calming system. Practising this regularly for a few minutes during the day gives you a skill you can draw on in difficult moments.
4. Don't stay alone
Spending time with people you trust is one of the strongest protective factors in easing the effects of trauma. You don't have to talk about the event; simply being together can do you good.
5. Don't blame yourself
Whatever your reaction was during the event, it was the path your brain automatically chose to survive in that moment. Try to treat yourself with the compassion you would show a friend who had gone through the same thing.
6. Stay away from alcohol and substances
Although alcohol may seem to numb distress in the short term, it impairs the quality of sleep and can make it harder for trauma reactions to heal.
7. Move your body
Trauma can leave behind an intense feeling of tension and immobility in the body. Regular walking, gentle stretching or dancing to music you love can help release built-up tension and re-establish a safe bond with your body. Think of movement not as an obligation but as an act of care for yourself.
When Should You Seek Professional Support?
It is important to consider seeking support from a specialist in the following situations:
- If the symptoms have continued for more than a month or are getting worse
- If you are struggling to keep up with work, school or relationships
- If you are experiencing intense guilt, shame or hopelessness
- If sleep problems have lasted a long time
- If you are turning to alcohol or other substances to cope
- If you think you had long-term difficult experiences in childhood and that they are affecting your life today
Trauma can sometimes go hand in hand with intense hopelessness and thoughts of self-harm. If you have such thoughts or do not feel safe, please call 112 (emergency services) without delay. Whether medication is needed is determined by a psychiatrist's assessment.
How Is Psychological Trauma Addressed in Therapy?
The first and most important step in working with trauma is safety. In therapy, a relationship in which the person can feel safe is established first, what trauma reactions are and why they occur is explained, and emotion regulation skills are worked on. Work with traumatic memories begins only when the person is ready, and at their own pace.
In trauma work based on cognitive behavioural therapy, thoughts that develop after the trauma, such as "It was my fault" or "Nowhere is safe", are examined; avoided situations are revisited in a gradual and controlled way; and the memory is reorganised in the mind as an event that belongs to the past. In complex trauma, a schema therapy perspective can help in understanding deep-rooted beliefs and relationship patterns formed in childhood.
There are also other methods used in the field of trauma; EMDR, for example, is one of the approaches known in the field, and you can look at my informative article on what EMDR is. Which approach is suitable is assessed according to what the person has been through and what they need. You can find information about individual work on the individual therapy page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does psychological trauma go away on its own?
Some of the reactions that follow a traumatic event, especially with strong social support, can ease over time. However, if the symptoms last longer than a month or clearly restrict your life, professional support is important.
How do I know if I have experienced trauma?
Unwanted memories, nightmares, avoiding things that remind you of the event, being constantly on guard and emotional numbness are important signs. These symptoms alone do not amount to a diagnosis; an assessment can only be made through sessions with a specialist.
Do childhood traumas affect adulthood?
Yes. Long-term difficult experiences, especially those that happen within relationships, can affect a person's sense of self, relationships and emotion regulation in adulthood. It is possible to understand and work with these effects.
Can watching earthquake news be traumatic too?
Being exposed to images of destruction intensely and over a long period can lead to trauma-like reactions even in people who did not experience the event directly. Limiting your news consumption and sharing it with loved ones when you are struggling is protective. It may also be reassuring to know that if you are finding this period hard, it is possible to get support from a specialist.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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