Counseling for Trauma

As humans, we experience different emotions and feelings in our daily lives. Some experiences are good others are bad. There are some painful experiences that are hard to forget, and they linger with us throughout our lives, it seems irreversible to detach yourself from that feeling or emotion. When any memory or feeling severely and negatively affects us without our conscious focus, and we are not able to let go of that, it becomes a trauma. It doesn’t always need to be a physical experience, anything that severely affects your emotions negatively can be traumatic. The immediate responses to this include denial or shock. Its long-term consequences include flashbacks, unwanted and uncomfortable emotions, strained relationships, trust issues, etc. It can also have a physical impact on an individual. It alters your way of thinking and behaving.  

Psychological trauma is an emotional response to some horrible life experiences. They shatter the sense of security of an individual and make them vulnerable, so they easily get affected by even a minor bad incident. Although trauma is considered to be a normal response to any unwanted bad experience, its consequences are damaging for some people. It hinders one’s ability to live a normal life and carry out daily life routines. Every person has different responses to different damaging events. The same event can be traumatic for one person but cannot be a big deal for another. It depends on the individual’s coping strategies and inner strength, that is how they overcome the situation.

Causes of Psychological Trauma:

-        any severe accident, injury, rape

-        any natural disaster

-        loss of a loved one

-        physical or emotional abuse, childhood bullying, or neglect

-        domestic violence

There are certain situations where you are not primarily or physically involved but they impact your mental health seriously. For example, you may not be present at the site of an earthquake but watching pictures of the victims online can emotionally affect you and disturb your mental health.

How Trauma Affects you?

Trauma has a different impact on different people.

Body’s Response to trauma:

During a stressful situation, our body releases the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. They prepare the body to fight any danger and it is an automated response.

-        body becomes paralyzed or numb

-        trying to fight or protest

-        trying to hide from everyone around

-        seeking the pleasure of the oppressor

Effects on mental health:

Some effects on mental health are:

-        reliving that incident as if it’s happening right now 

-        having panic attacks

-        feeling disassociated with people around, feeling like the world around is unreal

-        insomnia, nightmares

-        devaluing yourself, low self-esteem, self-blame

-        having suicidal thoughts, harming yourself

Impacts on physical health:

Scientific research has suggested that traumatic event makes you vulnerable to developing certain physical problems and can lead to chronic diseases. It can weaken your immune response and delay your natural healing process.

A psychological disorder can impact the mind and body at the same time making you more anxious and stressed. It further delays the coping process.

How can you Heal? 

Every person has different experiences with healing from trauma. Different people use different approaches. Here are a few options that can be used to heal.

Physical Movement/ Exercise:

Traumatic conditions impact the natural equilibrium of your body. Staying physically active can help you restore the momentum and nervous system. Exercising for a few minutes a day help improves your mood and physical well-being. You can take a slow start with 10-15 minutes then expand it to an hour. It helps strengthen your physical and spiritual muscles. Stay mindful while doing the exercise. Try to do an exercise that uses both arms and legs. It will help you move your focus from negative thoughts and shift your attention toward your growth and healing.

Stay in Touch:

Staying in connection is also an important point in the healing process. Don’t isolate yourself in a room, it will make you more negative and hopeless. Go out, meet people, and have fun. Spend more time with nature. Volunteer in activities that divert your thoughts from the stressful event. Try to participate in social activities. Helping others will make you happy. You can also join a support group of people struggling with trauma. It will motivate you and encourage you to fight the situation.

 Ask for Help:

If anything is continuously affecting your mental peace and health, don’t sit back, ask for help from OakLawnCounselors.com. If you feel uncomfortable sharing your thoughts with family or friends, you can share them with your counselor. An Oak Lawn Counselor will listen to you and understand your situation without judging you. They can help you have a better outlook on your situation and help you find a way out of it.

No matter what the cause of the trauma is and no matter how long it happened in your life, there is always a way of healing and moving on with your life.