Reminders of Trauma

People, places, things and situations can all be reminders of a traumatic experience. Reminders can cause the adolescent to re-experience the feelings associated with the trauma. Sometimes the adolescent is aware of his/her reaction to these reminders, but many times he/she does not realize the cause or understand his/her feelings. As a result, it is important to be aware that due to the reminders adolescents may:

take more unhealthy risks
begin using drugs or alcohol
isolate themselves from situations, people and places to avoid the reminders
experience feelings of fear or fear that they are “going crazy”
be unable to talk about the traumatic event

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