Has there ever been any incident at your workplace that has left you traumatized? Do you feel the incident has left you so scared and conscious that you cannot focus on work and that your productivity and efficiency have been affected? You might be suffering from workplace trauma.
Workplace trauma is real. Incidents like a serious workplace injury, the death of a coworker, workplace discrimination, racism, or sexual or physical assault can leave you traumatized and can come in the way of your productivity and mental health.
This blog post talks about what workplace trauma is, what causes it, and how it can affect you.
Understanding Workplace Trauma
Workplace trauma is very similar to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It’s a result of a traumatic event that has occurred at the workplace. Workplace trauma can lead to anxiety, stress, depression, and grief, influencing your mood, overall well-being, and workplace efficiency.
Other workplace trauma symptoms include irritability, poor sense of safety and security, difficulty falling asleep, distracted attitude, and avoidant behaviors. All of these result from a traumatic incident at the workplace that you just can’t get out of your mind. If you don’t do something about it, it’ll only worsen your mental health, and you may end up harming yourself further by overworking yourself to keep your mind off the trauma or, worse, drinking and drugs.
How Workplace Trauma Affects You?
Workplace trauma affects you in more ways than you can imagine. In fact, you may not even realize what you’re experiencing is because of the traumatic event at work. Some of the ways workplace trauma affects you include:
· Poor concentration
· Poor productivity and efficiency
· Temperament issues
· Absent-mindedness
· Constant sense of being unsafe at work
How Can You Cope with Workplace Trauma?
If you don’t do something about workplace trauma, it’ll soon get better of you. You’ll get deeper into trauma, and your mental health will get severely affected. If you’re suffering workplace trauma and are finding it hard to cope with it, here are a few things that can help:
Talk to Your Supervisor Openly
Try talking to your supervisor about how you feel. Tell them that constantly being in the same environment makes it harder for them to recover, and you could use some time off. You can’t expect your supervisor to understand your situation if you don’t tell them about it. Being away from your workplace for a few days will help you put the trauma behind you.
Look for Emotional Support
Finding the right emotional support in times like these is very important. It could be your friends or partner. Don’t let your emotions build up. It’ll only result in the worsening of your condition. If you aren’t comfortable talking to people you know, seek professional trauma therapy.
Workplace trauma is real; you shouldn’t let anybody undermine your feelings and emotions. If you think something that happened at work is affecting you, you’ve got to seek help immediately before you get traumatized.