Trauma

Traumatic events and extreme stress can have a long-lasting effect on your mental and emotional health. When trauma disrupts your ability to fully function and enjoy life, it’s time to seek help at NYC Psychiatric Associates in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. They have helped children, teens, and adults overcome trauma with personalized therapy, medication management, and holistic care supporting the mind and body. Schedule an appointment today by calling the office or clicking the online booking feature.

What is trauma?

Trauma is a frightening, life-threatening, or emotionally damaging event. Psychological trauma occurs when significantly stressful events cause intense and distressing emotions, memories, and behaviors.

Trauma arises from many possible events. In many cases, people experience one traumatic event, but trauma also develops from ongoing stressors like:

• Experiencing repeated bullying
• Living in a high-crime neighborhood
• Struggling with an illness
• Living with domestic violence
• Being subjected to prejudice, discrimination, and oppression

You don’t have to experience the event. You could end up with psychological trauma after watching TV news covering a school shooting or violence against Black or LGBTQ people.

Trauma of any type overwhelms your brain and threatens your emotional well-being. Your brain tries to protect you by sending the memories into your subconscious, but then you can’t process the experience.

When you don’t work through the traumatic experience and acknowledge its effect, you stay on edge and face long-lasting and difficult emotions and behaviors.

What are trauma and stressor-related disorders?

The following psychiatric disorders are directly caused by trauma and stress:

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

PTSD affects people of all ages, causing symptoms lasting more than one month after they experience a shocking, frightening, or dangerous event.

Acute stress disorder

Your provider may diagnose you with acute stress disorder if you struggle with intense emotions in the first month after a traumatic event.

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)

Children with RAD don’t interact with or seem interested in others, seldom show emotions, and are fearful of social interactions.

Disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED)

Children with DSED are overly friendly, walking up to strangers and letting strangers hug or feed them.

Adjustment disorder

An adjustment disorder is an intense emotional reaction to the stress of a life transition, such as losing a job, ending a relationship, and going away to school. 

How is trauma treated?

The psychiatric specialists offer diagnostic evaluations in-office and through an online telemedicine platform to assess symptoms and confirm a trauma diagnosis. 

Though trauma can cause profound and long-lasting symptoms ranging from anxiety, guilt, and shame to anger, aggression, and flashbacks, the caring providers at NYC Psychiatric Associates specialize in several therapies proven to help people of all ages overcome trauma.

Your provider may also recommend medication management or advanced treatments for depression, like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). 

The team also offers holistic care, including nutritional counseling or complementary therapies like mindfulness meditation and yoga.

Call NYC Psychiatric Associates today or book an appointment online. They can guide you through trauma and restore your mental health.