How to Identify Trauma: Personal Effects

The personal effects of trauma can be sneakier than we might like to give them credit for. When these effects are discussed in the workplace, the discussion focuses largely on the loud, noticeable expressions, from trauma bonding to flashbacks. The vast majority of trauma signs, however, are difficult for others to notice and may be misinterpreted as laziness or carelessness. Here are a few signs to notice if you suspect a traumatizing incident has left a lasting impact on you, so that you can know when it is time to ask for help.

Trauma’s Effect on Empathy

Trauma is essentially an overload of harmful information on the brain, which can cause a traumatized employee to lose the access to and/or the normalcy of their typical range of emotions. Empathy, a key player in this spectrum, exerts a significant portion of emotional energy to take on the emotions of others. Thus, as the brain conserves emotional energy to process the trauma, the individual may notice an increased difficulty with empathizing.

This may display itself through a shorter temper, difficulty understanding others, or feeling lonely and misunderstood. Because of workplace professionalism, however, these difficulties may never be as impactful or noticeable to coworkers as it is to the person experiencing it, and will likely not be identified for the trauma-induced change that it is.

By noticing and keeping tabs on abrupt changes in emotional energy expenditures like empathy, the individual can begin to face their trauma with more intentionality and practice.

Prolonged Stress

Traumatic incidents can create within the mind a recurring source of stress and fear, the effects of which may not be noticeable to the outside observer. Prolonged stress can result in a number of negative responses within the traumatized employee’s mind, including the following:

• Dysfunctional Sleep Schedule, as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can cause recurring nightmares and insomnia.
• Loss of Trust, a self protection measure to ensure the trauma does not repeat itself.
• Reduced Efficacy, or the brain conserving energy in order to put more towards processing the trauma.
• Intrusive Thoughts, or unsettling “what if” scenarios replaying in the mind as it attempts to prepare itself for another trauma.
• Startle Responses and Numbing, when the mind may be more easily startled due to hypervigilance, or oppositely become distanced or disconnected from reality as a self-defense mechanism.

Burning Out

“Burnout” refers to a feeling of hopelessness or overwhelm following maintained stress or trauma. Often, it displays itself through a perceived inability to do activities or work that was once enjoyable or easy. An employee experiencing burnout may find their work decreasing in quality, or piling up before deadlines. They may become more forgetful or easily exhausted by small amounts of effort.

Burnout can occur during a normal work schedule if stress is maintained for too long, but may be more difficult to overcome when caused by a workplace trauma. If you notice burnout shortly following a traumatic event, it may be time to talk to someone about the resources available to address it.

Solutions

• Be Aware of Available Resources: Your workplace likely has numerous resources for dealing with the personal effects of trauma, such as workplace counselors. Make use of them!
• Seek Peer Support: Forming peer support groups or finding safe coworkers to develop a safe dialogue with can cause vast improvements in trust and teamwork in a trauma impacted workplace.
• Seek Supervisor Support: Supervisors are knowledgeable on available resources and can help to personalize your work life to make trauma more manageable and less difficult in the workplace, but they can’t help if they don’t know!

If you would like to become a psychologically safe workplace, check out Barb Carr’s Psychology of Improvement Track at the 2025 TapRooT® Summit.

For more information about traumatic incidents in the workplace, check out our podcast video, How Near Misses Impact Workers Emotionally.

To know how to develop a more trauma-informed environment, visit Whitney Marris’ Workplace Toolkit.

To read more about how workplace incidents impact employee psychology, read our blog on The Psychological Impact of Near Misses.