What us the difference between trauma and just being sad
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You must not be a native english speaker. “Trauma” implies an event with horrible consequences or effects, so a “traumatic injury” could be something like breaking several bones or losing a limb. You probably wouldn’t call a single broken bone “traumatic” in most cases. It lacks the severity. “Emotional trauma” would be a similar kind of damage, but done on a psychological level, like rape.
“Just being sad” couldn’t be further from “emotional trauma.” You might as well ask what’s the difference between a broken bone and a paper cut.
Think of it as the difference between being cut and being scarred.
Sadness is an emotional state. It happens to everyone and can triggered by anything from losing your phone to the death of a TV character.
Trauma is a recurring pain. Something severe enough has happened that will cause the trauma victim to remember the pain. The death of a family member may be very sad, but might not be traumatic. However, if they died because it was the fault of the individual in question (such as them drink-driving and causing an accident), they are almost certainly going to remember that they caused the death and experience the pain of doing so each time they think of their loved one, drive a car, drink, etc.
Trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless.
Sadness can range anywhere from mild disappointment to anguish and despair. A movie theater being sold out will cause one to feel a little disappointed; it’s easy to recover from, though.
A loved one close to you suddenly dying, bullying, abuse, profoundly disappointing or embarrassing situations can cause one to be traumatized. They may also cause profound sadness.
Something may cause profound sadness but not necessarily cause trauma. It is normal to take some time to deal with sadness of any kind, and there is no standard process or length which is “normal”. Eventually, the sadness dissipates. For some people, however, the sadness does not go away, becomes worse, and could interfere with one’s life. If the psychological or emotional pain does not go away it could be trauma.
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