traumatize
Inflict lasting damage
To traumatize is to cause lasting psychological damage through a deeply distressing experience.
The word comes from medicine—physical trauma is severe bodily injury—but now primarily describes emotional wounds: The accident traumatized her for years.
In casual speech, traumatize is often hyperbolic: That movie traumatized me may just mean it was disturbing or unpleasant.
Cause intense revulsion
unnerve · disturb · unsettle · startle · shatter · rattle · upend · blindside
Physical or psychological harm
damage · bruise · scar · disfigure · mutilate · batter · abuse · assault
Severe anxiety or suffering
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
despair · heartache · pain · sorrow · devastate · overwhelm · shatter · haunt
Involuntary vivid memory episodes
- therapyCurative mental treatment
- counselingProfessional guidance for problems
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
triggered · survivor · victim · psychotherapy · hypervigilance · nightmares · intrusive · coping
horrify
Cause intense revulsion
shake · unnerve · disturb · unsettle · startle · shatter · rattle · upend · blindside · destabilize
injury
Physical or psychological harm
maim · damage · bruise · scar · disfigure · mutilate · batter · abuse · assault · violence
distress
Severe anxiety or suffering
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
grief · despair · heartache · pain · sorrow · devastate · overwhelm · shatter · haunt · scarred
flashbacks
Involuntary vivid memory episodes
- therapyCurative mental treatment
- counselingProfessional guidance for problems
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
repression · triggered · survivor · victim · psychotherapy · hypervigilance · nightmares · intrusive · coping · healing
traumatizeheal
Restore to wellness
rehabilitate · restore · cure · mend · nurture
- post-traumatic stressLasting distress after trauma
- traumatic memoryDistressing event recall
- post-traumatic stress disorderLasting distress from trauma
- traumatic stressAnxiety following overwhelming events
- traumatic brain injuryBrain damage from external force
- post traumatic stress
traumatic, traumatized, traumatically, traumatizing, traumatise, traumatised, traumatizes, traumatises, traumatising