Health Matters: Trauma and PTSD

If you’re suffering under the weight of a traumatic experience, you’re far from alone. University Medical Center has resources that can help.

UMC’s Dr. James Reeves said trauma develops over time.

“A lot of times people say when things are traumatic it could mean all sorts of different things,” he said. ” ‘I experienced this movie. It was so bad. It traumatized me.’ But when we think of trauma in terms of mental health, in terms of post traumatic stress or something along those lines, we think of a trauma that seriously impacted someone to the point that they were worried about their safety, the safety of others or those around them, where they experienced potential loss of life or potential severe injury or something along those lines.”

Trauma can affect anyone, he said.

“I was in places like Iraq with the Marine Corps,” Reeves said. “That becomes a big issue or a potential for trauma, but in the U.S. we see it in a lot of different ways. For women or men who experience sexual assault, it is very traumatizing. For kids, physical or sexual abuse is another way people experience the kind of severe trauma that we think about that causes disability or problems down the road.”

For all your primary health care needs, visit University Medical Center, with locations in Tuscaloosa, Northport, Demopolis, Fayette, Carrollton and Livingston.