The Body's Alarm
This tiny, almond-shaped part of the brain acts as the body's smoke detector, constantly scanning the environment for danger and triggering the fight-or-flight response.
What is the amygdala?
This painful emotion involves blaming oneself for a traumatic event, even when there was absolutely nothing they could have done to prevent it.
What is guilt (or self-blame)?
This very common behavioral reaction involves changing your routine, routes, or social habits to strictly keep away from people, places, or conversations that remind you of the painful event.
What is avoidance?
This simple grounding exercise asks you to name 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, and 1 you can taste to bring your mind back to the present.
What is the 5-4-3-2-1 technique?
T/F: Trauma only happens to people who have experienced extreme, life-threatening events like war or natural disasters.
What is False? (Trauma can result from any event that overwhelms a person's ability to cope, including sudden loss, medical emergencies, divorce, or chronic emotional neglect.)
This physical state of high alert causes a person to be hyper-aware of their surroundings, startle easily at loud noises, and constantly look out for potential threats.
What is hypervigilance (or being on high alert)?
T/F: Feeling intense anger or irritability after experiencing a traumatic event means you are becoming a bad or violent person.
What is False? (Anger is a incredibly common, normal protective reaction used by the brain to shield more vulnerable emotions like fear, grief, and helplessness.)
People surviving trauma might turn to this behavior—such as overusing alcohol, substances, or doom-scrolling—to temporarily drown out painful thoughts or feelings.
What is self-medicating (or coping mechanisms/substance use)?
This type of slow, deliberate breathing—where you focus on making your exhales longer than your inhales—directly signals the brain to calm down and relax the nervous system.
What is deep diaphragmatic breathing (or belly breathing)?
This term describes the positive psychological changes, deeper relationships, and increased personal appreciation that some individuals experience after working through a difficult life crisis.
What is Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG)?
T/F: Emotional trauma can cause physical symptoms like chronic fatigue, headaches, stomach aches, and muscle tension.
What is True? (The body stores stress, often translating emotional pain into physical symptoms, sometimes called somatic symptoms.)
This mental coping mechanism involves feeling completely detached from reality, your surroundings, or even your own identity during or after a stressful event.
What is dissociation (or feeling "spaced out")?
This behavioral change involves pulling away from friends, family, and social activities, often because socializing feels too exhausting or unsafe.
What is social withdrawal (or isolation)?
T/F: Practicing self-care and setting boundaries after a trauma is selfish.
What is False? (Setting boundaries and taking care of your mental health is necessary for healing and allows you to show up better for others.)
If you still struggle with memories of an event years later, it means you are mentally weak or not trying hard enough to get over it.
What is False? (Healing is not linear, and trauma physically alters brain chemistry; recovery requires time, tools, and often professional support, not just "willpower.")
This biological survival response occurs when the brain decides fight or flight is impossible, leaving a person feeling physically numb, heavy, or disconnected from their body.
What is the freeze response?
Trauma can warp our core beliefs. A person who has experienced trauma might struggle with this cognitive shift, believing that "no one can be trusted" and "nowhere is safe."
What is loss of safety (or cognitive distortion)?
This sudden, involuntary sensory experience makes a person feel as though they are actively re-living their past trauma in the present moment.
What is a flashback?
This therapeutic concept involves writing down or talking about a traumatic memory in a safe, controlled environment to help the brain properly file the memory away in the past.
What is processing (or narrative therapy/expressive writing)?
While PTSD is widely known, this newer term is used to describe the psychological impacts of ongoing, long-term trauma that occurs over months or years (such as childhood neglect or long-term domestic situations).
What is Complex PTSD (or C-PTSD)?
When a past trauma is triggered, this physiological event can cause a racing heart, shortness of breath, and an overwhelming feeling of terror, often mimicking a heart attack.
What is a panic attack?
This term describes the inability to feel positive emotions, like joy, excitement, or love, which often makes survivors feel emotionally "flat" or dead inside.
What is emotional numbing (or anhedonia)?
When trauma disrupts the sleep cycle, it can lead to this chronic condition, leaving a person physically and mentally exhausted during the day.
What is insomnia (or sleep disturbances)?
This physical practice helps release tension built up in the body by slowly squeezing and then fully releasing different muscle groups one by one.
What is Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)?
This fundamental rule of trauma-informed care shifts the question we ask survivors from "What is wrong with you?" to this much more compassionate question.
Answer: What is "What happened to you?"