Various injuries
Different types of trauma could be seen as different types of injuries. The ‘type’ of trauma tells you something specific about:
- The nature and cause: what happened, how was it caused?
- How often something has happened: once, several times, or over a long period of time?
- When Has it happened: in (early) childhood, or afterwards?
There are many different terms used when talking about trauma. We list the most commonly used ones and explain them briefly.
Types of trauma that refer to the nature and cause of the injury
- War trauma: a consequence of war experiences.
- Sexual trauma: a consequence of one or more bad sexual experiences.
- Interpersonal or relational trauma: a result of negative experiences with other people, such as abuse or mistreatment.
- Attachment trauma: arises when a child's basic needs are not met and/or are violated by a parent/caregiver, among other things, due to proximity and safety.
- Intergenerational trauma: trauma that is passed down from generation to generation.
- Shock trauma: caused by a shocking experience, such as a natural disaster or accident.
- Moral trauma: caused by experiences in which moral expectations and beliefs are violated. For example, when you cannot save someone, unintentionally hurt someone else, or have to hurt someone else.
- Collective trauma: affects groups of people who have shared traumatic experiences, such as war or a natural disaster.
- Secondary traumaoccurs through exposure to the traumatic experiences of others, for example by often reporting on them as a helper, journalist, or family member.
Book recommendation
How do we survive - Francine Oomen
A graphic novel about intergenerational trauma and healing
Types of trauma that indicate the frequency of the traumatic experience
- Single trauma: a one-time traumatic experience.
- Multiple trauma: multiple isolated traumatic experiences, for example an accident and a violent assault.
- Complex trauma: persistent and repeated exposure to traumatic experiences over a long period, such as abuse, sexual abuse or neglect. Complex trauma It often develops in childhood, but can also occur at a later age in complex and long-term stressful circumstances.
Types of trauma that refer to when a traumatic experience occurred
- Prenatal traumaBefore birth, for example, medical complications during pregnancy, or the mother's use of drugs, alcohol, or other harmful substances.
- Preverbal traumaBefore ± the 3rd year of life, when language has not yet developed and you cannot yet speak (pre-verbal).
- Development trauma: Traumatic experiences in childhood (0 – ±10 years), when you are in full development. This is a form of complex trauma.
- Early childhood trauma: This is also what is referred to as a developmental trauma.
- Childhood trauma: during childhood or adolescence.
Book recommendation
Healing trauma development - Dr. Laurence Heller
The influence of early trauma on self-regulation, self-image, and the capacity for relationships
For everyone, trauma means something different
A specific type of trauma tells you something about certain characteristics of the injury and it can be useful to distinguish between them, but you should remain aware that trauma means different things for everyone: in what happened, in the consequences it has, and also in what someone needs.Â
So I don’t just look for similarities, but also always for individual differences.Â
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