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Psychological trauma is an experience of something that is sudden, unexpected and out of the ordinary. It is also an experience which disrupts a person’s way of seeing the world and exceeds their sense of being able to cope. For many people the effects of a traumatic experience lessens and passes overtime, for other people problems may persist.

It is important to remember that we are all different, we have had different life experiences. This means if several people witness the same traumatic event they may all have different experiences. When something difficult and out of the ordinary happens it can be normal to feel thrown off balance for a few days, and perhaps shocked even when you are not directly involved. There is no ‘you should feel this’, ‘you should think that’ or ‘you should behave like that’. It can be good to take a little extra care of yourself and your friends.

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