Trauma and PTSD
In professional counseling, the American Counseling Association (ACA) aligns with the DSM-5-TR to define Trauma as an individual’s emotional and psychological response to an event or series of events that are deeply distressing or life-threatening. While trauma is the experience itself, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is the specific clinical diagnosis that may follow when a person has difficulty recovering. To meet the approved criteria for PTSD, an individual must have been exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, resulting in persistent symptoms across four clusters: intrusive memories (flashbacks), avoidance of reminders, negative changes in thoughts and mood, and heightened arousal or reactivity (hypervigilance).
