Content warning: This post discusses trauma, abuse and mental health symptoms. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please reach out for help at 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) or your local emergency services.
Trauma affects 70% of adults worldwide and can have lasting, damaging effects on a person’s mental, physical, emotional and behavioral health.
Trauma occurs when a person’s ability to cope is overwhelmed by a distressing event that they have experienced or witnessed—dysregulating their body’s natural stress response and resulting in potentially long-term changes in how someone thinks, feels and behaves.
While some traumatic experiences are obvious—like physical or sexual abuse, childhood neglect, violence, sudden loss of a loved one and more—other forms of trauma are often overlooked. These experiences can include emotional neglect, divorce, food insecurity, medical trauma, growing up in a household with substance use and more.
So how do you know if you have experienced trauma?
It’s important to note that every individual has varied life experiences, reactions and ways of coping, but here are a few key signs and symptoms to be aware of that could indicate a traumatic experience in the past.
Don’t have time to read the article? Take this short trauma screening quiz* instead.
Signs and symptoms of past trauma
Trauma responses exist on a spectrum. But whether these symptoms appear immediately after the traumatic event or emerge years later, it’s beneficial to recognize patterns or unresolved trauma that could be impacting your well-being and quality of life.
Physical symptoms
Trauma doesn’t live only in the brain. As a result of toxic stress and interconnected emotional and psychological effects, trauma can manifest in various physical symptoms, communicating what the conscious mind has not yet recognized, such as:
— Avoidance: Actively avoiding people, places or activities that remind you of a negative experience.
— Hypervigilance: Being constantly on guard or alert, startling easily, always observing the environment for potential threats or having an exit strategy prepared.
— Chronic pain and heightened state of being: Experiencing chest tightness, excessive sweating, headaches, upset stomach or an elevated heart rate without clear medical cause.
— Sleep disturbances: Struggling with insomnia, frequent nightmares, fatigue or pervasive tiredness even after a period of rest.
— Immune system dysfunction: Frequent illnesses, slow healing or autoimmune conditions.
Emotional and behavioral symptoms
While some of these emotional, mental and behavioral symptoms might have developed as a coping or survival mechanism during the traumatic experience, they could now be hurting your well-being rather than helping.
— Emotional dysregulation: Experiencing intense mood swings, becoming easily angered or frightened, struggling with pervasive numbness or feeling overwhelmed by emotions that seem disproportionate to the situation.
— Mental health challenges: Experiencing anxiety, depression, feelings of hopelessness or PTSD symptoms (like intrusive memories or flashbacks).
— Cognitive struggles: Difficulties concentrating, memory issues, negative thought patterns or decision-making problems.
— Trust issues: Difficulties trusting others or being vulnerable in interpersonal relationships.
— Attachment challenges: Struggling with fear of abandonment or maintaining healthy boundaries.
— Social withdrawal: Isolating from friends, family, loved ones or social activities.
Healing after trauma
If you have experienced trauma, know that the experience doesn’t define you. Although the effects of trauma are serious, they aren’t the end of the story. Healing and recovery, though a complex process, are absolutely possible through:
— Trauma-informed therapy, which helps individuals process trauma, manage symptoms or mental health diagnoses and even re-regulate their stress response so they no longer live in a state of toxic stress.
— Support from loved ones, which are essential in providing a sense of belonging, encouragement and validation can help sustain you through the healing process.
— Self-care, which helps regulate the nervous system, can reduce chronic stress and promote overall well-being.
Explore more trauma resources.
How you can help a child heal from trauma
Every child deserves to grow up safe, loved and supported.
At SOS, we provide the trauma-informed and professional mental health care children need to heal and move past their trauma.
When you support SOS Children’s Villages, you’re changing individual lives with trauma-informed care and helping break cycles of abuse—building healthier communities for generations to come.
*Disclaimer: This content is not a diagnostic tool or substitute for professional mental health advice. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, please reach out for help at 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988) or your local emergency services.