Building Hope Counseling Services

Life is tough. There’s no way around it. Sometimes when life is exceptionally difficult, our ability to cope with the stress is compromised. We refer to this as trauma.

Sometimes when I say trauma, people think of military deployments. This is absolutely trauma, but it’s not the only form of trauma. This is often where our minds go because the research around trauma and trauma related symptoms happened during the fallout of World War I, when men were coming home physically and mentally injured. At the time, this was referred to as being “shell shocked”.

As time continues, so does our understanding of what can cause a person trauma. War is traumatic. And so are a lot of other things. (Research around trauma actually started with Sigmund Freud and female victims of sexual assault in the 1800s, but he threw away his research when he got backlash from the community. Typical. Comment if you want the tea on this because it gets me HEATED.)

Today we’re going to explore what trauma is and how it impacts the body. Make sure you check back next week for more on how healing is possible through EMDR.

What is Trauma?

Trauma is anything that overwhelms your brain and body’s ability to cope. By this definition, can you think of any moments in your life that you might recategorize as traumatic?

Trauma can include lengthy separation from caregivers as a child, complications when giving or being birthed, being raised in a chaotic or violent home, physical and sexual assault, bullying, and so much more.

Trauma can come in the form of “Big T”, like rape, or “Small t”, like passing street harassment. Remember, death by blunt force and death by a thousand paper cuts is still death. Your trauma is still valid and still trauma, even if you didn’t go to war for your country. What is overwhelming to one person may not be traumatic to another – this is typically trauma. Events that are overwhelming to anyone and everyone are Trauma, generally speaking.

Not all difficult experiences are trauma, but if you find yourself struggling to manage your emotions or behavior as the result of a negative life experience, consider that this event could have been a traumatic experience for you.

How Does Trauma Impact the Body?

Our bodies have natural physical responses to experiencing trauma. We often refer to this response as “fight or flight”. What happens if you do not have the ability to fight or to flight during a traumatic experience? Maybe you are a little tiny human and you’re experiencing medical trauma, or your caregivers are the ones causing your trauma – You literally, physically, cannot fight or run away. The response gets stuck in your body! More specifically, it gets stuck in your nervous system.

When we cannot finish a physical trauma response, the response turns cognitive, sometimes referred to as “fawn, freeze, or fold”. Trauma responses may look like anger (fight), leaving a relationship or your job when something doesn’t go your way (flight), indecision or your mind going blank (freeze), people pleasing (fawn), or low motivation (fold). Your body needs to finish the fight or flight response. When it does not, we call these (totally normal and reasonable) reactions to stress Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

Trauma impacts the production of chemicals in your brain (neurotransmitters), changes the physical structure of your brain (goodbye decision-making center, hello fear processing center), and creates a host of behaviors in an attempt to heal itself and to keep you safe.

If any of this is resonating with you so far… There’s nothing wrong with you. You are reacting just how bodies reach when bad things happen to them.

Final Thoughts

Trauma can show up in a lot of ways, big and small, throughout the course of your life. If you find that your mind is chaotic and that your behavior follows that chaos, it may be time to check in with a mental health professional (hiiii, Massachusetts).

But there is hope! Just not in this post, because that would have made it too long! Check back next week to learn about how EMDR can help you to heal and live your best life.

Take care of yourself, today and always. If you like this post and want to see more like it, please comment, like, and subscribe to Notes on Mental Health. It means the world to me.

Happy Healing!

Resources:

The information provided here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please reach out to the National Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.

For longer-term mental health care, you can find therapists in your area on psychologytoday.com or EMDRIA.org.

If you are in Massachusetts and seeking therapeutic services, please fill out the contact form on buildinghopema.com or reach out to me directly at mikaela@buildinghopema.com.

Remember, seeking help is a sign of strength, and you don’t have to face challenges alone.