Trauma has been defined as “a stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one's physical integrity; or witnessing an event that involves death, injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of another person; or learning about unexpected or violent death, serious harm, or threat of death or injury experienced by a family member or other close associate”. While many victims of trauma recover in the ensuing months, for a significant number of victims the symptoms persist and may develop into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Some symptoms of PTSD include repeated and unwanted re-experiencing of the event, hyperarousal, emotional numbing and avoidance of stimuli (including thoughts) which could serve as reminders for the event.

The aftermath of trauma may result in a range of problems which can manifest in a range of disruptive manners that impact on normal, day-to-day functioning. This in mind, several therapeutic interventions for treating PTSD have arisen in recent years.

Some theories have looked at the relationship between memory and attention with PTSD occurrence, that is, why some people are biased towards remembering or attending to traumatic events. Additional theories have investigated the relationship between a person’s beliefs about the event and PTSD. The results from such research studies suggest that the increases in negative beliefs about the self, others, and the world are more common among PTSD victims compared to victims of a traumatic event not suffering from PTSD.

If you have experienced a trauma and feel that you would benefit from additional support, please contact us for a confidential discussion to discuss the type of support we would be able to offer you on 9704 9500.