Psychological trauma

Emotional response caused by severe distressing events

Psychological trauma (also known as mental trauma, psychiatric trauma, emotional damage, or psychotrauma) is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as bodily injury, sexual violence, or other threats to the life of the subject or their loved ones; indirect exposure, such as from watching television news, may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response, but does not always produce trauma. Examples of distressing events include exposure to violence, sexual assault or rape, childhood abuse, the death of a loved one, or mass casualty events such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Short-term reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial typically follow.

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