Trauma is anything bad that has happened or is happening to you. It may be just one thing that happened or it may be many things over time. No one else can determine for you how serious this trauma is and how much it is affecting your life.
If you are experiencing things like anxiety, despair, alternating high and low moods, hearing voices, seeing things that are not there, delusions, paranoia, phobias, nightmares, night terrors, dissociation, or low self-esteem, they may be a result of trauma in your life. It might be trauma that you remember, or trauma that you don’t remember.
In either case, it is hard to deal with. It disrupts your life. It keeps you from being the kind of person you want to be and doing the things you want to do. Sometimes feels like the trauma “spoils everything”. In any case, it is HARD to deal with.
Learn More in WRAP for the Effects of Trauma
Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD, developed Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) with a group of people with lived experience who were attending a mental health recovery workshop in 1997. She is the original author of the WRAP Red Book, as well as dozens of other WRAP books and materials. She has dedicated the last 30 years of her life to learning from people who have mental health issues; discovering the simple, safe, non-invasive ways they get well, stay well, and move forward in their lives; and then sharing what she has learned with others through keynote addresses, trainings, and the development of books, curriculums, and other resources. Now that she is retired, and that, as she intended, others are continuing to share what she has learned, she continues to learn from those who have mental health issues and those who support them. She is a frequent contributor to this site.