Psychology of Trauma: PTSD Across Development and Lifespan

Introduction to Developmental and Lifespan Trauma

People who are strong, intelligent, and suffering no physical illness may still suffer from traumatic stress. Roni and her family are a typical example. It is evident that it is impossible to fully shield oneself from a traumatic experience. Roni was exposed to trauma during her teenage years and continues to suffer as a result. The fact that Roni is experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is not unusual — it is widely accepted that approximately 8% of the population will suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives.

The problems Roni is experiencing are not strange; the symptoms she exhibits are normal for anyone exposed to a traumatic situation. These symptoms cannot be labeled as signs of weakness or instability, because they represent a normal human response to abnormal events. Those who have had traumatic experiences would exhibit similar symptoms. However, gaining a better understanding of what is happening to her will help Roni manage her fears and the symptoms she is experiencing.

A person who understands the symptoms of trauma is better positioned to make the decision to seek treatment. When trauma is experienced by a young person, the consequences — especially in the form of PTSD — tend to be greater than for those who experience trauma as mature adults. An older person will have developed cognitive and social behavior in ways that allow for better psychological adjustment following trauma. More severe PTSD and lower subjective well-being are more commonly associated with those who suffered trauma in childhood, such as Roni. Her case demonstrates that a traumatic experience can have detrimental effects even many years after it occurred.

She is now married and sees her life as meaningful, yet she still experiences fear and emotional numbness and worries about danger in her surroundings. The effect of trauma thus depends greatly on the age of the person when it occurred. The developmental phase during which trauma is experienced has produced discrepant results regarding how it heightens a person's negative outcomes and feelings of helplessness (Ogle, Rubin, & Siegler, 2013).

Anxiety, Depression, and Anger Reactions

When a traumatic experience occurs, the feelings that emerge include fear, worry, sadness, and detachment. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is recognized when these feelings do not dissipate and the individual constantly grapples with a sense of danger and anxiety. The person becomes stuck in memories of the event and experiences ongoing pain and a fear that the memory will remain with them for life.

However, PTSD can be overcome when a person seeks help through treatment, learns coping skills, and receives support from others. In Roni's case, the event that occurred in her teenage years has had lasting effects on both her mind and body, which continue to experience a state of shock. It is normal for a person suffering from PTSD to experience nightmares, persistent fear, and repeated recollection of the traumatic event. For most people who experience these feelings, the emotions subside over time. PTSD is diagnosed when these symptoms persist and the body does not return to its normal state (Smith, Robinson, & Segal, 2015).

According to Erikson (1963), a person begins forming a coherent life story and progressing in identity development beginning at puberty. These two factors are central to the way a person adjusts psychologically after a traumatic event. Because cognitive and social developments occur during adolescence, a traumatic experience during this period will substantially shape a person's identity formation.

Certain post-traumatic outcomes, such as depression and PTSD, can be predicted when a traumatic occurrence has contributed to a person's identity formation. The centrality of an event is understood to heighten the likelihood of severe PTSD because it intensifies the encoding and re-experiencing of the trauma, increasing its vividness, ease of recall, and psychological impact over time. Some consequences in adult life include health-risk behaviors and the onset of depression. Researchers have studied the harmful effects of childhood trauma on individuals across their young, middle, and older adult years (Chapman et al., 2004).

Physical and Somatic Problems

Somatic symptoms that are poorly defined or medically unexplained can indicate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is the case with Roni. Health anxiety (hypochondriasis), medically unexplained symptoms, and chronic pain are among these indicators — all of which Roni presents. These can be classified as somatic symptoms.

In conditions involving PTSD and depression, it is common to present somatic symptoms alongside cognitive distortion, excessive emotional reactions, and distorted behavior patterns — all of which relate to the unexplained physical symptoms the person experiences. For example, a war veteran may present physical pain that cannot be medically explained. Such individuals may perceive themselves as having a serious medical problem, devoting considerable time to thinking about and trying to resolve it through behavioral changes. These symptoms cause significant anxiety and should not be dismissed as imaginary. In such cases, it is difficult to establish where the physical ends and the psychological begins. Nevertheless, when cognitive difficulties, behavioral symptoms, and emotional excess are present together, it is prudent to conduct a mental health assessment of the patient.

One disorder that is not commonly diagnosed is somatization disorder. Its symptoms include anxiety, depression, and manic behavior, as well as PTSD with dissociation, severe depression accompanied by loss of interest in sex, and the presence of medically unexplained symptoms. Roni demonstrates a clear association between her adolescent trauma and somatization, as there is a recognized connection between somatic disorder and childhood trauma (Tucker & Foote, 2007).