First of all, what constitutes trauma? Trauma is both a mental and a physical experience. How the body responds to a threat or being really badly hurt, is physical trauma. How the mind processes trauma that brings intense emotions that are literally painful or thoughts that are scary, is the mental trauma. Trauma can also change the behavior patterns of the victims from normal responses to a lack of emotions, a loss of concentration, sleeplessness, being very irritable and aggressive to having a hyper-vigilance which is a strong fear of a repeat of the trauma. Flashbacks plague the survivor with repeated images of the traumatic event.
Those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder have an overwhelming fear that someone they love may be killed or badly hurt. Studies have found that the more involved the person is in the horrific experience, the more they will be damaged. This does not mean that someone who is a witness to a horrific event will not be traumatized by the experience. Even hearing about a death can be traumatic for some individuals.
When a person is confronted by a very frightening experience they will have the “fight or flight” reaction, like the hunter who is suddenly face to face with a bear. When fear happens, the body responds by releasing “adrenaline”. Adrenaline will trigger or cause the heart to beat faster and the pressure of the blood to be increased while the muscles will get an increased amount of “glucose”. This is where the super-human abilities come into play and the person affected is now able to “run like the wind” until the danger of the moment has passed or at least the fear of it.
Once the fear has passed, be it real or imagined, the body will begin to return itself to its normal state by releasing another “hormone” which is called “cortisol”. If, however, your body does not produce enough cortisol to stop the response your body had to the fearful situation, the effects of the adrenaline may continue.
In individuals who suffer from PTSD, the body has developed an extra amount of hormones that will cause higher or over stimulating responses. These hormones are called “catecholamines” and are present in the suffer of the disorder all the time rather than just in cases of extreme fear. Any time the sufferer remembers the trauma, these hormones will come into play.
When these hormones do come into play, the rate the heart beats is increased. Over some time, with the body reacting in this manner, physical changes will take place like intensified hearing. One physical change will lead to another creating a chain of changes. In this case, the sooner the person is treated professionally for post-traumatic stress disorder the quicker this chain of physical changes can be stopped.