What are the 3 types of trauma?

Trauma informed practice is becoming more commonplace in health settings and there are other industries such as education that are looking to have more staff attend Trauma informed training like those offered by www.tidaltraining.co.uk/mental-health-courses/trauma-informed-practice-training to help staff members feel confident in supporting people who have experience trauma and may be displaying some of the behaviours that are associated with this. These behaviours can range from anxiety and depression through to self harming behaviours, dissociation and flashbacks. These latter issues tend to occur when the individual has been triggered into remembering, usually through body sensations, how the trauma first occurred.

There are essentially three forms of trauma and these are:

• Acute trauma – this usually occurs as a result of a single incident such as an accident or an injury. It could also occur from witnessing the death of a loved one.

• Chronic trauma – this is where the trauma is repeated and occurs over a prolonged period of time. This most often occurs in abuse and domestic violence situations. This could also include psychological and emotional abuse.

• Complex trauma – this is when there has been an exposure to a number of traumatic events over a period of time. This can differ from one another and they are often of an invasive nature. This could include accidents, illnesses and abuse situations.

Understanding the type of trauma that has been experienced can then help with understand behaviours that may occur and ways in which to support the individual.