Traumatische

Traumatische is the attributive form of the German adjective traumatisch, meaning relating to or resulting from trauma. The term derives from Trauma, borrowed from Greek, and has long been used in medical and psychological language to describe injuries or experiences caused by physical or psychological harm.

In medical contexts, traumatisch or traumatisch describes physical injuries resulting from external forces, such as traumatische Verletzung or traumatische Hirnverletzung (traumatic brain injury). In psychology and psychiatry, the adjective refers to experiences, reactions, or processes associated with psychological trauma, for example eine traumatische Erfahrung or traumatische Belastung. A well-known fixed term is traumatische Belastungsstörung, which corresponds to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Grammatically, traumatische is the feminine singular and neuter form used after a definite article or in certain declensions, as in die traumatische Erfahrung or das traumatische Erlebnis, and also appears in other feminine or plural forms depending on context. The word is mainly employed in formal, clinical, or academic writing, though it can appear in general usage to describe distressing events or injuries with clear links to trauma.

See also: Trauma, Traumata, Traumatisierung, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Traumatische differs from everyday senses of dream-related language, as its meaning centers on injury or psychological harm rather than dream states.