Psychological trauma develops as a result of exposure to severe stressful situations. The load on the psyche is so strong that the consequences remain for a long time. The causes of psychological trauma can be very different: emotional and physical violence, loss of loved ones, stress caused by man-made disasters, negative experiences with people, representatives of the animal world, etc. We may not remember that we were adversely affected, but our mental state damage has been caused that affects all aspects of life. Research by psychologists, psychiatrists, and doctors shows that the prevalence of psychological trauma is quite high. Depression, neuroses, some mental illnesses, and psychosomatic illnesses are often the result of traumatic experiences. HOW TO UNDERSTAND IF THERE WAS PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA The following signs will help suggest that there has previously been psychological trauma. It is especially worth paying attention to the presence of several phenomena and symptoms. 1. Scary, exciting memories of the past. Flashbacks can pop up suddenly and cause an attack of panic, excitement, and vivid experiences. 2. You often get sick for no apparent reason. There are suggestions that your ailment has a psychosomatic nature. 3. Fears, phobias for no apparent reason. You are afraid of some animals, air travel, communication with people, weather phenomena. 4. Difficulties in communicating with people and building personal relationships. The trauma could be associated with improper upbringing or childhood violence. The reason could also be a failed, toxic or abusive relationship. Traumatic experiences cause you to stay away from people. You are afraid to let others into your personal boundaries; you do not want to start close relationships. 5. Sudden panic attacks occur, panic attacks are detected. The trigger can be anything: being in a confined space, a large crowd of people, an upcoming performance, an animal you are afraid of, meeting a person from the past with whom negative memories are associated. Sometimes the trigger is unclear and not identified, or panic occurs for a variety of unexpected reasons. 6. You are in constant anticipation of something bad, scary, the level of anxiety is increased, it is difficult to cope with it. 7. You do not know how to experience joy, feelings seem to be muffled or negative emotions predominate. It seems to you that if you show positivity and enjoy good events, then something bad will certainly happen. 8. There is a fact of abuse of alcohol and prohibited substances. 9. You suffer from various types of addictions: gambling addiction, alcoholism, shopaholism, etc. 10. There are problems with sleep. You often have nightmares where you are running away and being attacked. You wake up at night, anxious thoughts that cannot be calmed down prevent you from falling asleep. In the morning you wake up exhausted, as if you never rested. 11. Emotional instability is observed. You are easily susceptible to irritability, outbursts of anger, and resentment. The mood changes quickly and without reason. 12. Memories of a specific situation cause you to have a panic attack, fear that everything will happen again. A person often experiences psychological trauma alone. For example, with emotional and physical abuse in childhood, the aggressor warns that you cannot tell anyone about the situation that happened. The child withdraws into himself; he cannot ask for help, because he is sure that even greater punishment will follow. If there are people nearby who can protect you, the injury may not be as severe. A survivor of a traumatic experience often does not want to share with anyone what happened to him. He is scared, ashamed, and doesn’t want to remember. But this is precisely what fixes the injury, makes it deeper and more dangerous. WHAT TO DO IF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA IS IDENTIFIED? Psychological trauma does not disappear on its own. You can forget events, shove them deep into the subconscious, but they will still influence life, relationships with