Many Causes of Trauma & PTSD

     Individuals vary in their sensitivity (vs resilience) to trauma. There's a much wider variety of possible sources of trauma than most of us suspect.

     “While some people are able to recover from trauma on their own, many individuals do not. 
     Tens of thousands of soldiers are experiencing the extreme stress and horror of war. Then too, there are the devastating occurrences of rape, sexual abuse and assault. 
     Many of us, however, have been overwhelmed by much more ‘ordinary’ events such as surgeries or invasive medical procedures. Orthopedic patients in a recent study, for example, showed a 52% occurrence of being diagnosed with full-on PTSD following surgery. 
     Other traumas include falls, serious illnesses, abandonment, receiving shocking or tragic news, witnessing violence and getting into an auto accident; all can lead to PTSD. 
     These and many other fairly common experiences are all potentially traumatizing. The inability to rebound from such events, or to be helped adequately to recover by professionals, can subject us to PTSD – along with a myriad of physical and emotional symptoms.”

       Levine PA. "In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness." North Atlantic Books, 2010. 

The Scream by Edvard Munch