Explains what trauma is and how it affects your mental health, including how you can help yourself, what treatments are available and how to overcome barriers to getting the right support. Also includes tips for people who want to support someone who has gone through trauma.
Trauma can cause strong feelings and difficult experiences. While it can take time and support to be able to cope, there are things you can try that might help with what's happening right now.
Different things work at different times for different people, so try to be kind to yourself if some things don't help. Over time, you might develop your own tips too.
What you could do to get through it:
See our page on self-care for PTSD for more tips.
What you could do to get through it:
See our page on panic attacks for more tips.
What you could do to get through it:
See our page on self-care for dissociative disorders for more tips.
"Certain smells trigger me, such as alcohol or a certain colour. So for sensory grounding I make sure that I use non-triggering things."
What you could do to get through it:
See our page on self-care for anxiety for more tips.
What you could do to get through it:
See our page on self-care for depression for more tips.
"Keeping a note of the positive things that happen each day in a notebook [helps], even if I've had a bad day."
What you could do to get through it:
See our page on helping yourself cope with self-harm for more tips.
"Music always helps me. Lying down with my headphones on and blocking out the world is the best way [for me] to stop panic/overthinking."
You can find more examples of tips and suggestions on the First Person Plural and Cwm Taf websites.
The One in Four website has some self-care tips which are particularly aimed at people who have been raped or sexually abused, and may also be helpful for coping with other types of trauma.
Watch Lewis, Polly, Faisal, Shelley and Brian talk about what it's like to have a panic attack and what has helped them cope in this video.
"Journalling helps me process stuff when my hands let me. [...] You can choose what to do with it later, shred it, burn it safely... whatever feels right in the moment."
This information was published in January 2020. We will revise it in 2022.
References and bibliography available on request.
If you want to reproduce this content, see our permissions and licensing page.