What’s Your Trauma?
Ongoing research has led to new classifications for the severity and frequency of traumatic experiences.
As the previous blog post mentioned, individuals may experience common symptoms after a traumatic event, regardless of its nature. Continued research has led to additional classifications to describe their severity and frequency.
Traumatic events were traditionally classified as "big T" or "little t" traumas. "Big T" events were considered sudden and intense, resulting in immediate and severe psychological distress. In contrast, "little t" trauma was seen as less intense but still distressing enough to disrupt an individual's daily life and overall sense of well-being.
As research has brought additional insight into trauma and its resulting symptoms, clinicians now specify trauma types in three general categories below (Leonard, 2025):
Which type of trauma could this be?
Three Trauma Categories
Acute Trauma: Results from a single traumatic event, such as a car accident or natural disaster
Chronic Trauma: Results from prolonged exposure to distressing events, such as ongoing abuse or living in a war zone.
Complex Trauma: Involves various traumatic events, often in interpersonal relationships, such as childhood abuse.
Experiencing any of these types of types can lead to symptoms including anxiety, intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, emotional numbness, feelings of hopelessness, chronic health issues, trust issues, distorted self-image, and intense emotional responses.
Understanding different forms of trauma helps therapists provide practical support and empathy for those affected.