Psychology, psychopathology, and trauma - An overview

By: Tom Cloyd

(Reviewed: 2025-07-02:1215 Pacific Time (USA))

Psychology as a field embraces a wide range of topics - physiological, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive. Along a different dimension, we look at the exceptional, the normal, and subnormal, and the pathological - psychopathology. While most psychopathology does not deal with or relate to psychological trauma, for about 10 percent of the general population trauma is a matter of serious concern.

• Psychology of trauma
  • Threat detection can be an automatic, unconscious brain activity - Managing this is particularly important in trauma and dissociation disorders
  • Memories of trauma are unique because of how brains and bodies respond to threat - A traumatic memory can be nearly impossible to shake
  • PTSD in sexual assault victims differs from that in combat veterans - Our picture of PTSD is inaccurate due to an overwhelming focus on PTSD in combat veterans
• Trauma and dissociation disorders and their causes
  
  • Childhood influences adulthood - It matters more than you may think
  • Verbal abuse of children has serious life-long impacts - Negatively affected are mental health, relationships, and multiple brain processes
  • Childhood adversity is a ‘cause of causes’ of adult illnesses and mental health problems - This public health hazard hides in plain sight
  • Complex post-traumatic stress disorder explained - Many experts recognize that complex PTSD is a disorder in its own right
  • Dissociation and dissociative disorders: Trauma, controversy, and clarifying evidence - R. J. Loewenstein's "Dissociation debates…" article

 

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