Trauma: Understanding Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

In today's fast-paced world, challenging life situations don't spare us. Whether it is about meeting the tight deadlines in the corporate world or dealing with overwhelming life situations, your mental health is always at stake. As more and more people have some sort of mental disorder, recognizing them has become far more important.

Trauma is one of the mental disorders that may occur after an individual goes through a traumatic episode. Six percent of the US population experience trauma at some point in their life, according to the national center for PTSD. You may not recognize that you have trauma, so the first thing you should learn is its symptoms. Let's check out some of the symptoms in the below points-:

● Intrusive distressing memories from a traumatic event

● Nightmare

● The physical reaction to traumatic memories

● Avoid visiting places or talking about something related to traumatic events

● Difficulty in maintaining positive emotions

● Feeling detached from family members and friends

● Hopelessness about future

● Trouble concentrating on your work

● Irritable and outbursting behavior

The symptoms mentioned above can help you detect trauma; however, to be fully sure, you can visit the PTSD counseling center in Phoenix, AZ, to diagnose it. Let's understand the diagnosis process through the explanation below.

Diagnosis of trauma

Your counselor may conduct several tests to diagnose the problem through physical examination or psychological evaluation, discussing signs and symptoms. Diagnosis of trauma can happen in many ways-:

1. You may have experienced a traumatic event

2. Someone close to you has experienced a traumatic event that affects you

3. You have repeatedly gone through events that remind you of traumatic events

4. You witnessed traumatic events occurring to other

When you engage in anxiety and trauma counseling in Phoenix, you can diagnose the exact problem. Upon recognizing the problem, your counselor can provide you with appropriate treatment options as mentioned below-:

a) Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy lets you recognize cognitive patterns and negative beliefs that may hold you back from living your life to the fullest. This therapy can help you overcome the fearful situation and reduce flashbacks and nightmares. Cognitive therapy can change your perception of traumatic memory, reducing its impact on your life.

b) EMDR therapy

EMDR, or eye movement and desensitization therapy, is another effective trauma therapy. With eye movement, your therapist may ask you to process your traumatic event in bits and pieces. The idea is to make your brain adapt to traumatic scenarios, so it becomes immune to the traumatic memories. EMDR is an effective therapy for many mental disorders like trauma, anxiety, and depression.

c) Exposure therapy

Exposure therapy helps people to overcome their fear by exposing them to similar situations. For instance, someone who fears flying may get exposed to airports and airplanes in a safe environment with increasing degrees of exposure until the fear is minimized.