What is trauma?

Trauma is often used to describe experiences that feel frightening, overwhelming, or difficult to process.

These experiences can happen at any stage of life. Some people notice the impact straight away, while for others it may take time before the effects become clear.

What feels traumatic is personal. Two people may go through similar situations and be affected very differently.

How trauma can affect you

Sometimes, current situations can trigger earlier experiences, making things feel more intense or harder to manage than expected.

Trauma can relate to a single event, repeated experiences, or living in environments where you felt unsafe, under threat, or without control.

It can also include experiences where you felt humiliated, rejected, abandoned, or exposed to harm, whether directly or indirectly.

How the body responds

When we feel under threat, the body responds automatically.

This can show up in different ways, such as:

• reacting quickly or becoming angry
• withdrawing or shutting down
• avoiding situations
• feeling frozen or unable to act
• trying to keep others calm or safe

At the time, these responses are there to protect you.

When these responses continue

Even when the original situation has passed, these responses can continue to show up in everyday life.

This might include:

• feeling constantly on edge or alert
• difficulty relaxing or sleeping
• avoiding certain situations or people
• strong emotional reactions that feel hard to control
• memories or experiences that resurface unexpectedly

These responses are not random, they are often linked to how your system has learned to respond over time.

How therapy can help

In therapy, we begin with what is happening for you now.

From there, we work to understand how these responses have developed, how they are affecting you in the present, and when they first began to take shape. Understanding them allows the development of a more manageable way of responding in your day-to-day life.