What is Trauma in Mental Health & Can Therapy Help?

Trauma is most accurately defined as not being about an event or experience itself, but instead by the body’s chemical reaction to an event or experience. The brain doesn’t know the difference between a big trauma or a little trauma – and it also can’t tell the difference between then and now when a similar situation feels like it arises. It’s also important to note that two people can experience the same event and one can have the chemical response while the other does not. Having this physical chemical response to an event is what constitutes having a trauma.

What are Traumatic Experiences?

Traumatic experiences often involve a physical threat to life or safety but any situation that leaves a person feeling isolated, helpless, and overwhelmed can result in Trauma. Traumatic events include accidents, abuse, bullying, neglect, breakups, humiliation, chronic illness, or the sudden death or loss of a loved one.

Big T’s (Big Traumas) would be natural disasters, war, accidents, or personal assaults – these can result in PTSD.

Little T’s (Little Traumas) would be a stressful move, a layoff, a non-life-threatening injury, chronic pain, working for a difficult boss, teasing from friends/coworkers…. anything that causes that chemical response in the brain no matter how small!

How does the Brain Process Memories vs Traumatic Experiences?

When we experience normal, everday things, the brain doesn’t just make one “memory file”. Different parts of the brain handle different aspects of an experience:

Amygdala → tags the memory with emotion, especially fear or threat.

Hippocampus → organizes the memory into a timeline and context (this happened then, in that place).

Prefrontal cortex → helps us make sense of the memory, decide if we’re safe now, and calm the emotional response.

Normal Experiences:
Normally, these systems work together (often during REM sleep, when the brain is especially active in sorting and consolidating memories). That’s how a difficult event becomes “just a memory”, something we can recall without reliving.

Traumatic Experience:
When something overwhelming or traumatic happens, the brain doesn’t always get the chance to fully process the memory. Instead of being stored as a past event, the memory can stay “raw”, like an open wound in the nervous system. The amygdala (the part of the brain that handles threat detection) keeps firing as if the danger is happening right now, while the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (the parts that normally file the memory into the past and help us feel safe) can’t finish their job.

This neurobiological response is trauma, the brain’s natural processing system being disrupted.

What are the Symptoms of Trauma?

Trauma can often manifest in destructive behaviors such as substance abuse, self-harm, and codependency. An individual struggling with past traumas can experience insomnia, irritability, aches and pains, fear, anxiety, and hopelessness. Trauma can affect work performance and relationships, cause one to withdraw and isolate from others, and potentially resort to using drugs or self-harm in order to cope with the intense emotions.

Can Counseling Help with Trauma?

Whatever the cause of the trauma – and whether it happened recently or in childhood – therapy can help. A therapist can use a variety of modalities including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Talk Therapy, and Mindfulness techniques to help reprogram and heal the traumatic memories so a healthier, happier life can be realized.