In this paper, we sought to understand the effects of trauma through a biological lens so that we could better learn how all the different expressions of mental unwellness, as a result of trauma, affect our everyday lives. Previous research has predicted that the symptomatic consequences of trauma can be identified and affected by variables such as platelet serotonin concentrations, substance addiction, and cortisol levels. For our correlational study, we tested the strength of these relationships by examining naturalistic daily changes in their variables over a one-week period. We measured substance addiction by how many alcoholic drinks were consumed each day, inferred cortisol levels by levels of water retention of the wrist each day, serotonin concentrations by rating tiredness each day using a subjective scale, and inferred traumatic symptoms by heart rate each day. Data pooled across participants in our correlational study showed that alcohol intake, but not serotonin or cortisol levels, was significantly correlated with our physiological measurement of trauma levels. Though a minute finding, this information may be able to offer guidance and aid to future psychologists and healthcare providers in both the furthering of their research and in the betterment of treatment plans for those who have undergone trauma. These findings could also motivate councillors and therapists to inaugurate more resources for combatting addiction into their practices.
