What is Trauma?

Trauma is a biological response to a distressing event or situation that breaks your sense of security. Traumatic experiences often involve a direct threat to life or safety, but anything that leaves you feeling overwhelmed or isolated can result in trauma. While it’s common for most people to deal with fear and anxiety during and immediately after a traumatic event, everyone’s emotional response is unique. While some people will naturally recover with time, others may continue to experience trauma and stress-related symptoms:
• Fear
• Guilt
• Anger
• Helplessness
• Sadness or grief
• Shame
• Shock or disbelief
• Racing thoughts
• Dizziness, faintness, shakiness
• Rapid breathing and/or heartrate
• Changes in sleeping patterns
• Physical pain, especially stomach aches and headaches
• Loss or increase in appetite
• Increased substance use or dependence

Throughout the pandemic, many healthcare professionals have faced moral dilemmas related to the difficulties of providing high-quality care with limited equipment or staff. This emotional burden, combined with long hours, high pressure, and confronting human suffering regularly, is traumatic and increases the risk of individuals developing mental health challenges.

Trauma in Healthcare
Healthcare is a stressful profession under typical circumstances, but the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the level of stress and trauma to the work of medical professionals. Healthcare workers have been carrying the burden of system-wide unpreparedness, regularly witnessing traumatic events, and receiving little time to properly care for themselves. This emotional burden, combined with long hours, high pressure, and confronting human suffering regularly, is traumatic and increases the risk of individuals developing mental health challenges. Without intervention, many are at high-risk for developing trauma-related disorders.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder. It develops in response to a traumatic event. The body responds to trauma by releasing adrenaline, the stress hormone that triggers “fight or flight” mode. That adrenaline stimulates the amygdala, the part of the brain that plays a significant role in emotions, behavior, and fear processing. This system overreacts with out-of-proportion fear responses to ordinary situations[i]. While the symptoms of traumatic stress and PTSD look similar immediately following the event, they progress differently. With PTSD, your mind stays in a state of psychological shock – instead of feeling a bit better each day, your symptoms stick with you and interfere with your normal functioning.

There are three main types of symptoms:

• Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive flashbacks and/or nightmares
• Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that remind you of the trauma
• Heightened arousal, including trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, feeling jumpy, and/or irritability