Common symptoms of trauma-related disorders can manifest emotionally, cognitively, physically, and behaviorally. Key symptoms include:
- Intrusive Memories: Recurrent and distressing recollections, nightmares, or flashbacks of traumatic events.
- Avoidance Behaviors: Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, locations, or people associated with trauma.
- Hyperarousal: Heightened startle responses, hypervigilance, difficulty sleeping, irritability, or anger outbursts.
- Emotional Dysregulation: Intense feelings of anxiety, sadness, guilt, shame, numbness, or emotional detachment.
- Cognitive Difficulties: Impaired concentration, memory problems, negative beliefs about oneself or the world, feelings of hopelessness.
- Somatic Complaints: Chronic pain, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, and fatigue.
- Interpersonal Challenges: Difficulty trusting others, social withdrawal, and impaired relationship functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; van der Kolk, 2014).
Understanding these symptoms aids in accurate identification, diagnosis, and effective treatment of trauma-related disorders.
References:
- American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing.
- van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.