The invisible scars of trauma

Do you often feel like you are trapped and stuck in a cage that you cannot get out of? Do you find yourself relieving a disturbing childhood or adult experience with unpleasant feelings that you are unable to shake off? You may be experiencing the after-effects of trauma.

Did you know that most trauma occurs as we go through life without any awareness of it happening? The majority of people believe that trauma only happens as a result of tragic events that happen at a certain point in time. When we hear the word trauma, we are likely to think of veterans return from war with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our brain will also automatically shift to images of the 911 terrorist attack, major hurricanes, sexual assault, mass shootings, and other mass tragedies.

However, any event that causes a major disruption in our functioning is traumatic. For example, a major surgery, a diagnosis, death, parental childhood neglect, discovering an affair, emotional abuse as a child, divorce, loss of a job, car accidents, etc. All these events have potential to create major trauma. Post-traumatic stress can even be acquired from witnessing or watching the coverage of traumatic events on the media.

Types of Trauma
There are three main types of trauma that people experience: acute, chronic, or complex.

• Acute trauma results from a single incident. This could be like a sexual or physical assault, natural disasters like hurricanes, terrorist attacks or mass shootings or possibly a car wreck.

• Chronic trauma is repeated and prolonged such as domestic violence, neglect, or on-going abuse. In this case, the trauma happens over and over again, one may experience multiple traumatic events.

• Complex trauma is exposure to varied and multiple traumatic events, often , interpersonal in nature. Childhood abuse and neglect is a common cause.

Symptoms of Trauma
All trauma if left untreated can cause a major disruption in our functioning. You may experience significant sadness, anxiety, or anger. You may find that you are unable to regulate your emotions which can result in being unpredictable or having explosive anger. You may have trouble concentrating and sleeping and may find yourself continually thinking about what happened.

Some signs that you may need professional help include:

• Worrying a lot or feeling very anxious, sad, or fearful

• Crying often

• Having trouble thinking clearly

• Having frightening thoughts, relieving the experience

• Feeling angry

• Having nightmares or difficulty sleeping

• Avoiding places or people that bring back disturbing memories and responses.

• Difficulty in inter-personal relaitonships

• Children may be extremely clingy, afraid, have trouble sleeping, and may have increased separation anxiety.

Physical responses to trauma may also mean that an individual needs help. Physical symptoms may include:

• Headaches

• Stomach pain and digestive issues

• Feeling tired

• Racing heart and sweating

• Being very jumpy and easily startled

You should seek professional help if symptoms persist and interfere with day-to-day activities, school or work performance, or personal relationships.

Healing Streams Counseling and Wellness Center provides trauma therapy using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)y and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior therapy (TF-CBT) to help you heal from past or present trauma, depression, anxiety, or mood disorders. EMDR is one of the most effective treatment for trauma, negative emotions, resistant depression, and disturbing memories. To date, EMDR therapy has helped millions of people of all ages relief many types of psychological stress.

Call us at 314-643-7444 for a free consultation.

By Damaris Karanja, MA, MEd, LPC, RDN, a licensed Mental Health Professional Counselor and Registered Dietitian at Healing Streams Counseling.

Reference:
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml