Trauma
Trauma can leave lasting physical, emotional, and psychological effects including:
Physical – disruptions in sleep or eating patterns, difficulty being touched or touching others, increased illness and chronic pain conditions.
Emotional – increased fear or feelings of hopelessness, difficulty trusting and having healthy relationships, numbness and disconnection, intimacy problems, increased isolation, difficulty controlling emotional responses like anger or sadness
Psychological – nightmares, re-experiencing the trauma through physical sensations or images/memories of the trauma often referred to as flashbacks, easily reminded of the trauma referred to as triggers.
Why?
As our bodies and brains are wired to survive, when our brain registers a threat to our survival whether it’s emotional or physical, our fight, flight, or freeze response kicks into gear to help us survive the threat. Humans have evolved to react this way and it has helped our species survive but the problem is that once the threat has passed (if it actually has, see below regarding prolonged abuse/complex trauma) our nervous system can still be stuck in survival mode making trauma survivors more sensitive to stimuli, which we see in triggers, flashbacks, easily startled, increased fear and anxiety, as well as disconnection and numbness. Survivors can also go back and forth between overly stimulated (fight or flight) and numb or disconnected from the present (freeze response).
For survivors of repeated and long lasting trauma (often referred to as complex trauma) as if often the case with physical/sexual/emotional child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, and community violence, the effects can be even more profound and long lasting, affecting nearly every facet of her/his life.
How can therapy help?
Trauma informed/focused therapy helps a survivor:
calm the nervous system with relaxation techniques,
understand trauma symptoms and how the brain and body and spirit are affected by trauma which helps her/him understand what they are experiencing
process the trauma memories so that they can become more like typical memories that the brain knows how to “file away” which then leads to a decrease in flashbacks, nightmares, and triggers
rebuild or build for the first time, a sense of self-identity and safety and connection to others