This psychoeducational handout provides clear, compassionate information about common reactions to trauma. It can be used with clients or shared with families and loved ones to increase understanding about common post-traumatic responses.
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
An editable Microsoft PowerPoint version of the resource.
The Reactions To Trauma resource is a psychoeducational tool designed to normalize a range of common trauma responses. It outlines typical emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological reactions that may follow a traumatic experience, including re-experiencing, avoidance, heightened arousal, and changes in beliefs or emotions.
Written in accessible language, this handout is suitable for use in early therapy sessions or as a standalone educational resource. It can also be shared with family members or carers to enhance understanding and includes practical, trauma-informed suggestions for offering support. The resource is intended to foster compassion and increase understanding of post-trauma experiences.
Understanding trauma responses is an important part of psychoeducation and trauma-informed care. This resource:
Who are beginning trauma-focused therapy.
Seeking to understand their own responses.
Supporting a loved one through recovery.
Providing psychoeducation in early sessions.
Use in early therapy sessions to support psychoeducation and reduce fear or shame around symptoms.
Explore which reactions resonate most with the client and how they’ve experienced them.
Use the beliefs and emotions section to gently open conversations about meaning-making or shifts in beliefs.
Offer as a handout for family members or carers to increase understanding and foster supportive communication.
This resource reflects core principles from cognitive-behavioural models of post-traumatic stress (PTSD). It is grounded in the understanding that trauma responses are not signs of pathology, but adaptive responses to perceived threat, shaped by the brain and body’s attempt to ensure survival.
The reactions listed in this handout - such as hyperarousal, avoidance, intrusive thoughts, and shifts in beliefs - are characteristic of how the nervous system responds to traumatic experiences. From a psychological perspective, these symptoms arise when traumatic memories are not fully integrated, and the mind continues to perceive danger even in the absence of immediate threat.
The resource also recognises the profound cognitive and emotional shifts that can occur after trauma. These include changes in how individuals see themselves, others, and the world, often accompanied by guilt, shame, or fear. By offering a compassionate and accessible framework for understanding these experiences, the handout can reduce stigma and support early stages of meaning-making.
This tool may complement a range of therapeutic approaches — including trauma-focused CBT and EMDR — by enhancing psychoeducation and helping clients name and normalise their experiences in a supported way.
