ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the meaning of trauma and explains a possible classification of traumatic events that have an impact on individual functioning. It deals with a description of trauma to offer a general understanding of the term, before looking at possible causes, various kinds of trauma, its dynamics, its mechanisms, and the diverse areas of functioning that trauma potentially has an impact on. The chapter also looks at the consequences of trauma and the relevance of these in resilience, with a brief discussion about post traumatic stress disorder. It provides explorations of what the term trauma means in general and in psychoanalysis. The chapter discusses causes, consequences, dynamics, and mechanisms of psychological trauma, and provides refugees’ experience of trauma, since the clinical data are from refugee patients. The most common problems and symptoms of a typical, unresolved psychological trauma of refugees with increased sensitivity or arousal fits into three categories: physical, emotional and cognitive.
