Everybody’s experience with trauma is different, as just like that, the way one copes with these experiences varies from person to person. However, there are different kinds of trauma one can experience, in this blog we will describe the different types of trauma as well as what can cause it and the symptoms you may exhibit when suffering from them.

Acute trauma

Following a single traumatic event, you may experience acute trauma, or type 1 trauma. For example, acute trauma may occur after a burglary attempt or a car accident. In the face of such an overwhelming event, our autonomic nervous system – a branch of the nervous system responsible for survival – was forced to go into survival mode. The symptoms of acute trauma may last from 3 days to 1 month. Acute trauma may also be triggered by: childbirth, natural disasters and physical violence.

Chronic trauma

Abuse, bullying, and domestic violence are all examples of stressful life experiences that can lead to trauma. But it doesn’t just stop there — world events may have a great impact, too. When a person experiences multiple, long-term, and/or prolonged distressing, traumatic events over a long period of time, the condition occurs. In addition to a long-term serious illness, sexual abuse, domestic violence, bullying, and exposure to extreme situations, such as war, chronic trauma can also result from long-term serious illness.

Complex trauma

Symptoms of complex trauma usually occur after exposure to multiple traumatic events over a long period of time. Trauma of this type is thought to occur as a result of ongoing stress in involuntary situations, such as being kept captive or experiencing abuse repeatedly during childhood.

There is a strong connection between complex post-traumatic stress disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), which is becoming more widely recognized in the mental health community as a separate subtype of PTSD.

Vicarious trauma

It is in our nature to empathize. We can adopt some of the feelings and symptoms of someone who has experienced trauma when we are in close contact with them. Mental health professionals and first responders, or those who witness a loved one going through trauma, may also develop symptoms that resemble PTSD