From the author: the article is addressed to those who have experience of psychotrauma. Traumatic experience is a state of complete helplessness over events, actions over which there is no power. Helplessness against forces that are stronger than oneself: natural disasters, violence, aggression, accidents that cause danger to bodily integrity and/or personal integrity, danger to existence. Helplessness can shake our faith in the continuation of life, in the right of our own existence. Something completely unexpected, unforeseen happens, something for which you are completely unprepared, interrupts your usual way of life, this causes the collapse of a person’s defense systems, and development is inhibited. The world turns upside down, becomes completely alien. A person who has experienced trauma is in a state of constant tension - “readiness for battle”, self-defense, inexplicable fears appear, which can manifest themselves in nightmares, difficulty sleeping. In dreams, a traumatic event, pictures of destruction, death, and battle are often reproduced. Behavior shows signs of avoidance: a person limits his life and contacts in order to feel control over it, wants to avoid situations that could lead him to repeated trauma, reduces initiative in all areas of life (work, study, personal relationships). Any trauma has blocked aggression. Normally, a sufficient level of aggression is a manifestation of active energy, which is realized in achieving certain results in social activities (career, sports, creativity, sex). Aggression in a traumatized person comes from an unconscious feeling of guilt for events in which he could not control the situation and is therefore blocked and directed towards himself (self-destructiveness), blocked, i.e. it is not allowed to react externally (talking through experiences). At the same time, some of this energy still “leaks out” in the form of passive-aggressive manifestations - sarcasm, defiant behavior, emphasizing one’s independence. A person, as it were, puts on a protective mask behind which he hides his wound; subsequently, the “mask” can become a mask - a stable characteristic of the personality, a person lives as if on a stage, life turns into an endless theater. It is necessary to give the opportunity to exit, respond to blocked aggression, pronouncing feelings of guilt and all the resulting experiences of anger, contempt, helplessness, weakness... Any trauma is a loss. Something is lost: the illusion of one’s own omnipotence, security, a “bright future”, faith in God, trust in people, old habits, way of life, sometimes a part of the Ego or a part of the body. Like any loss, this loss must be mourned, grieved and experienced. The period of “grieving” can be different for everyone, from several months to several years; in the latter case, the trauma is most harmful, since there is a high probability of repression (forgetting) into the unconscious, however, if a person finds the resources to develop the ability to create himself anew, overcoming own limitations, compensation (compensation) for damage caused by injury is possible. Such resources can be new values: new activities (social, professional), interests, hobbies, self-development (personal, professional), expansion of awareness (understanding the positive significance of the traumatic experience) and contacts (friends, personal relationships, family), new meanings of existence in the world of people. Life after trauma is possible if you have something to live for. Share your impressions of what you read in the comments, associations, feelings, reflections. What does “psychotrauma” mean to you? What helped you cope with depressing experiences and continue living? Thank you!