Karen W. Arenson
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Trauma is the Greek word for "wound". Although the Greeks used the term only for physical injuries, nowadays trauma is just as likely to refer to emotional wounds. We now know that a traumatic event can leave psychological symptoms long after any physical injuries have healed. The psychological reaction to severe emotional trauma now has an established name: post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It usually occurs after an extremely stressful event, such as wartime combat, a natural disaster, or sexual or physical abuse; its symptoms include depression, anxiety, flashbacks, and recurring nightmares.
Examples of trauma in a Sentence
Harriette Cole, The Mercury News, 12 Nov. 2024
Oz is the Penguin now — like everyone in Batman’s Rogues Gallery, a caricature of his own trauma, drawn to criminal means of false liberation.
—Andy Andersen, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
After White’s body was found, an autopsy ruled the cause of her death as homicide with evidence of strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head, according to police.
—Alaa Elassar, CNN, 5 Nov. 2024
Its narrative turns on an investigation into the ritual murder of a young girl that causes a mass psychosis in a nearby small town that experienced a similar trauma six years earlier.
—Jamie Lang, Variety, 5 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Trauma.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trauma. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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Medical Definition
M. R. Eichelberger
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