this was sent to me and we wanted to share with you here.

From "Trauma and Recovery" by Dr Judith Lewis Herman

"Psychological trauma is an affliction of the powerless. At the moment of trauma, the victim is rendered helpless by overwhelming force. Traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary symptoms of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning.
Certain experiences increase the likelihood of harm.
1. Being taken by surprise
2. Being trapped
3. Being at the point of exhaustion
4. Being physically violated or injured
5. Being exposed to physical violence
6. Witnessing grotesque deaths
Trauma occurs when action is of no avail--when neither resistance nor escape is possible.
The traumatized individual may experience intense emotion but without clear memory of the event--or may remember everything in detail but without emotion. Traumatic symptoms have a tendency to become disconnected from their source and to take on a life of their own. (Dissociation)
The Main Categories of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
1. Hyperarousal: Persistent expectation of danger2. Intrusion: The indelible imprint of the traumatic even returning unbidden.3. Constriction: The numbing response of surrender
In Hyperarousal
The system of self preservation goes into permanent alert as if the danger could return at any moment. (Symptoms: Startle easily, reacts irritably to small provocations, sleeps poorly). It is the constant arousal of the autonomic nervous system.
In Intrusion
Long after the danger is past, traumatized people relive the event as though it were continually recurring in the present. The trauma interrupts daily life. (Symptoms: Flashbacks during waking; nightmares during sleeping)
Traumatic memories lack verbal narrative and context; rather they are encoded in the form of vivid sensations and images. They resemble the memories of young children.
Traumatized people find themselves reenacting some aspect of the trauma scene in disguised form without realizing what they're doing (e.g., putting themselves in dangerous situations this time to make the end come out differently (a version of the repetition compulsion).
Seen as a possible attempt at integration--to relive and master the overwhelming feelings of the traumatic moment(s).
Attempts to avoid reliving the trauma too often result in a narrowing of consciousness or withdrawal from engagement with others and an impoverished life.
In Constriction (numbing)
The system of self esteem shuts down completely (a state of surrender). The helpless person escapes not by action, but by altering her/his state of consciousness.
Events continue to register in awareness but its as though these events have been disconnected from their ordinary meaning (similar to trance states).
Those who cannot dissociate may turn to drugs or alcohol for their numbing effects.
Adaptive during the trauma, numbing becomes maladaptive once the danger is past.
In an attempt to crease some sense of safety, traumatized people restrict their lives.
In avoiding any situation reminiscent of the past trauma or any initiative that might involve future planning and risk, traumatized people deprive themselves of those new opportunities for successful coping that might mitigate the effect of the traumatic experience.
Because post traumatic symptoms are so persistent and widespread, they may be mistaken for enduring characteristics of the victim's personality.
Disconnection
Traumatic events breach the attachments of family, friendship, love, and community. They shatter the construction of the self that is formed and sustained in relation to others. They undermine the belief system that gives meaning to human experience. They violate the victim's faith in a natural or divine order and cast the victim into a state of existential crisis. It is a shattering of "basic trust." A sense of alienation, disconnection pervades every relationship.
Damaged Self
Trauma forces the survivor to relive all earlier struggles over autonomy, initiative, competence, identity, and intimacy.
The developing child's positive sense of self depends upon a caretaker's benign use of power.
Traumatic events violate the autonomy of the person at the level of basic bodily integrity (Body ego -> first sense of "I")
The belief in a meaningful world is formed in relation to others and begins earliest life. Basic trust, acquired in the primary intimate relationship is the foundation of faith. Trauma creates a crisis of faith.
Damage to the survivor's faith and sense of community is particularly severe when the event themselves involve the betrayal of important relationships.
Survivors oscillate between:
Uncontrollable outbursts of anger and intolerance of rage in any form.
Seeking intimacy desperately and totally withdrawing from it.
Self esteem is assaulted by experiences of humiliation, guilt, and helplessness.
Vulnerability and Resilience
Individual personality characteristics count for little in the face of overwhelming events. With severe enough experience, no person is immune.

http://www.uic.edu/classes/psych/psych270/PTSD.htm