Traumatizations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process or act of causing psychological injury or distress through shocking or distressing events
2. The impact of exposure to traumatic experiences that can lead to lasting emotional turmoil
3. A series of occurrences or situations that inflict significant harm on an individual's mental well-being

Etymology: The word is built from "traumatize" plus the suffix "-ation", which turns a verb into a noun for the act or process. "Traumatize" came into English through French: it was borrowed from the French "traumatiser", which itself was formed from the medical term "traumatisme", a word that goes back to Greek "trauma", meaning "wound". The Greek root "trauma" was used for physical injury, and English still uses it that way in medicine. The verb "traumatize" in its emotional sense is much more recent than the Greek wound it descends from. Its figurative use, meaning to injure the mind or emotions, developed in the modern era, when psychologists began applying the term to lasting mental harm. The noun "traumatization" follows the same pattern, naming the process by which a person is injured in this way.

Synonyms: traumas, distress, shock

Antonyms: healing, recovery