Direct trauma is the simplest of all the different types of trauma. That means it happened directly to you, either experiencing it physically or witnessing it.

An example of a direct trauma is if someone experienced abuse, neglect, natural disasters or war.

Indirect trauma is a little different in that you don't experience it physically, you don't physically witness it, but it still has a significant impact on you. One example we can have is 9/11. Many people watched 9/11 on TV and were not physically there. However, there was a collective felt trauma response for many people.

Indirect trauma can be identified as secondary trauma (witnessing a trauma against someone else such as a child witnessing domestic violence) and vicarious trauma (which generally can occur to individuals in helping professions who often hear about or view the effects of the trauma.