When stressful events break your sense of safety, it can lead to trauma. Things like accidents, natural disasters, abuse, violence, or loss can all leave you feeling powerless. These events can cause lasting sadness, fear, and bad memories. You may feel numb, detached, and unable to trust others. But understanding trauma is key to knowing its impact and seeking support and care.
Traumatic experiences most often involve a perceived threat to your life or safety. But any event that makes you feel overwhelmed and alone can cause trauma. Sometimes the event itself is not the root of the trauma. How you experience it may be what leads to trauma. The more scared and helpless you feel during the event, the more likely you are to be traumatized.
Types of trauma
There are 3 main forms of trauma. These include:
- Acute trauma: This can happen from a single event. This might be a car accident, an act of abuse, or a natural disaster. It could also be a sudden major loss or witnessing a violent act.
- Chronic trauma: This type of trauma is due to repeated and prolonged events. These events don’t have an expected end date and can go on for a long time. This might involve domestic violence, poverty, neglect, or bullying.
- Complex trauma: Complex trauma is a result of a variety of events over a long period. Often committed by a trusted caregiver, this may lead to a sense of betrayal. Complex trauma often starts in childhood.
Defining the type of traumatic event you have faced can help inform you of the kind of care you receive.
About 90 percent of older adults in the U.S. have gone through at least one traumatic event. For older adults, trauma symptoms can come back after being gone for a long time. Sometimes trauma symptoms appear for the first time, even decades later. When trauma symptoms show up in older adults, they can be worse than before.
Trauma can also affect one’s overall health. Those with past trauma are more prone to develop dementia in later years. Additional physical, mental, and cognitive conditions due to trauma include:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Lung disease
- Chronic fatigue
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Substance abuse
- Sleep disorders
- Cognitive impairments
Older adults might not see how trauma affects their health. They may fear the stigma attached to their trauma. Their health care providers may not recognize the signs or symptoms of trauma or how to provide treatment.
But trauma-informed care providers are more attuned to the dilemma that trauma survivors face. They can offer care that meets their needs and offers hope.
Mind and body
Trauma can affect every aspect of your life. Some conditions include:
Physical
- Fatigue: Feeling extremely tired even with adequate rest
- Headaches: Frequent or severe headaches
- Sleep disturbances: Trouble falling or staying asleep, or experiencing nightmares
Emotional
- Anxiety: Constant worry or fear
- Depression: Persistent sadness or loss of interest in activities
- Mood swings: Rapid changes in mood, from anger to sadness
Psychological effects
- Flashbacks: Reliving the traumatic event as if it's happening again
- Intrusive thoughts: Unwanted, distressing memories or dreams of the trauma
- Being overly alert and easily startled
Social effects
- Social withdrawal: Isolating from family, friends, and social events
- Fearing further harm or rejection
- Difficulty forming and maintaining relationships
- Trauma interferes with trust, intimacy, and emotional vulnerability
If you notice any of these conditions, you should talk with your health care provider.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Some people can also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a condition that can develop after a traumatic event that threatens your safety. If you have PTSD, your symptoms don’t improve over time. Often, they may even worsen.
When you experience a stressful event, your nervous system causes a fight-or-flight response. Your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises, and your muscles tighten, boosting your strength and reaction speed. Once the danger has passed, your nervous system calms your body, lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, and returns to its normal state.
PTSD occurs when your nervous system stays “stuck” in this state. It’s unable to return to its normal balance even after the danger has passed. Recovering from PTSD involves helping your nervous system become “unstuck” so you can heal and move on from the trauma.
Not all people will have lasting effects, but 6 percent of U.S. adults develop PTSD.
Treatment options for trauma
Trauma alters your whole life, but healing is possible. Many therapies can help calm your nervous system. Treatments exist to help you heal. These therapies should be performed by your health care professional or a licensed psychotherapist. These include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps people notice and question negative thoughts and beliefs about their trauma, pushing a more balanced and realistic view.
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
PE therapy helps reduce anxiety by facing fears. Patients learn to control their breathing and talk about their trauma safely. They slowly face their fears in real life. Sometimes they return to where the trauma happened, realizing they are safe now.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR uses eye movements to help process and release traumatic memories. It reprocesses memories that were not fully processed due to stress, thereby easing nightmares, flashbacks, and triggers. It's best for single-event trauma.
- Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a choice for those who find other therapies, like EMDR or CBT, tough. It involves a therapist helping you relax and focus. This helps cut the emotional impact of certain memories. This can help people feel more in control and empowered.
- Medication
Antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs can help manage trauma symptoms. They can ease depression and anxiety, making daily activities easier. It's important to work with your doctor to find the right meds and dose. Mixing meds with therapy can address both physical and emotional aspects of trauma. Routine exams and adjustments may be needed for the best results.
- Support systems
Support systems can include support groups, family, and friends. Each can help a loved one with trauma by aiding them in doing the daily efforts that are of great value in their life, talking about the event and their feelings (if they want to), and using coping strategies during stress.
- Self-care methods
A trauma-informed approach to self-care focuses on caring for the body, finding support, and using self-regulation techniques to balance the nervous system. These methods help manage symptoms and create a sense of safety. It can include:
- Physical activities such as walking, dancing, or a workout routine
- Present moment awareness activities, such as deep breathing
- Eating healthy meals
-
Getting a good night’s sleep
Healing from trauma can happen with the right care and understanding. Trauma-informed therapies can help people handle their feelings, deal with symptoms, and take back control over their lives. Support can be found from mental health professionals, psychologists, or psychiatrists.
You can also reach out to groups like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) , among others. With support, people can find healthier coping skills, improve their self-worth, and build stronger relationships. The journey may be tough, but with patience and guidance, healing and growth are possible.
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This information is not intended to take the place of regular medical care or advice. Please check with your doctor before using this information or beginning any self-care program. Images used for this article do not depict any members of the Silver&Fit program.
References
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This article was written by Kimberley Reynolds, edited by Jason Nielsen, and clinically reviewed by LaToya White, MSW, LSW, on June 9, 2025.
