How to survive severe trauma

Introduction: The human mind is so powerful, it controls every desire, feelings and emotion. Obviously, nothing happens without the consent of the mind. Sometimes, events and situations around us can trigger a complementary reaction which often results in action. A boy who received a noble price for academic excellence will suddenly become very excited and proud of himself. Similarly, a man can become dejected for losing his job. The latter leads to a kind of stress to the mind and if not careful handled will deteroriate to psychological issues. This leads us to the concept of trauma. How can we help to keep our mind sound even after stress? What is Trauma?For the purpose of this article, trauma refers to severe and lasting emotional shock and pain caused by extremely upsetting experience which may cause psychological damage. In other words it's the response of a person to a highly stressful event. Such events as rape, accident, war and disaster. This overwhelming shock can affect a victim's ability to cope, cause feelings of helplessness, deters self will and the ability to gain control of one's emotion. Although, not everyone develops trauma after stress while others may develop a short or long term trauma.Types of trauma.Psychological trauma can be grouped into three based on the the severity of exposure to stress. Acute trauma; this happens to a person in a one-time touch with stress event. Chronic trauma; A person experience this type of trauma due to prolonged and repeated exposure to a particular stress and shocking event. A good sample of this is child abuse.Complex trauma; at this level a victim has been susceptible to multiple and highly stressful event.Vicarious/transfer trauma; trauma at this level can be seen as transferable condition. Oftentimes, family members, friends and health personnel of a trauma victim might end up in the same shock.Many factors surrounds how a trauma victim can respond and recover from it. This factors will determine whether the symptom of the condition will be mild or sever. Such factors include past experiences, their background, approach in handling their emotion and presence of other mental disorder.Potential causes of traumaA wide range of events can resort in trauma. Some of these events are; AccidentNatural disasters War Chronical illness Harassment Physical, psychological or sexual abuse Robbery attack Bereaved of one's ex (loved one)Broken relationshipFailure in an exam or long sought-after interview. And what have you?Traumatized persons develop some response ranging from emotional to physical response. Although, these response differ in individuals. Such physiological or emotional responses include among others sadness, denial confusion, anxiety, fear, depression, hopelessness and difficult concentration. On the other side, physical response are sweating, headache, fast heart beat, fatigue and hyper arousal where such person becomes unnecessarily alert as they relive the traumatic event. This condition is so overwhelming that some people may resort to substance abuse. Traumatized persons might develop some mental health problems known as the Post Trauma Symptom Disorder (PTSD). This includes; avoidance and isolation behavior and even as serious as considering suicide.Effective steps to live on after trauma: It's important to note that potentially, anyone or everyone can experiences trauma at any stage in life. If you fail to do anything about the condition, it's possible you may be making matters worse because you will end up in mental disorder like the PSTD.How do I manage myself or anyone around me who is in trauma:Understand that it's normal to feel the way you do. There is no need trying to avoid them. Just give yourself time to heal.Do well to take good care of yourself. Take good food, sleep well and do physical exercise.Lean on your loved ones and feel free to talk with them about your experience. Be patient even when you feel you can't move forward again. This is a very useful approach because obviously, trauma might take time to heal.Be engaged to what you love doing like listening to music, spending time gazing at nature, playing games and so on.Visit health professionals for therapy and advice. They can tell you what to do and what not to do. Moreover, they can administer treatment to traumatic stress through psychological therapy.