psychological trauma

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 per se. Examples of distressing events include violence, rape, or a terrorist attack.

Short-term reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial typically follow. Long-term reactions and effects include flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia, nightmare disorder, difficulties with interpersonal relationships, emotional dysregulation, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and brief psychotic disorder. Physical symptoms including migraines, hyperventilation, hyperhidrosis, and nausea are often associated with or made worse by trauma.