by Eden A
Trauma refers to psychological and emotional stress to a specific event that may be triggering. It’s characterized by fear and can range from a traumatic event. When an individual is going through trauma it can impact thoughts and behaviors. There are many types of trauma, for example, Acute trauma refers to a single traumatic event like a car accident. Chronic trauma is involved in repeated actions such as ongoing abuse. The third type of trauma is complex trauma meaning there are multiple events that are repeated in often relationship contexts such as neglect. Common symptoms relating to trauma include intrusive thoughts or memories such as flashbacks, intense fear, anxiety, and avoidance of a certain place, event or person, and anger. Treatment with trauma involves psychotherapy approaches CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) or EMDR therapy (eye movement desensitizing and reprocessing therapy).
Childhood Trauma impacts adulthood based on memories. Very Well Health states, “your brain processes and stores memories. Overtime, the brain can push through these events allowing someone to cope, but the memories remain tough to avoid.” Trauma can be caused by memory issues through dissociation, denial and issues forgetting events. It’s important when going through trauma over the years to process it in a safe environment with professionals or people who deeply care about you.
Psychology Today shares how adult survivors of complex childhood trauma struggle to this day with their processing and at times it may damage some relationships in older ages from past trauma. But, a lot of people are still able to heal from the damage and the ways to know if you or a loved one is healing are from common signs. Decreased in self-doubt is a common one for survivors of violence, changes in body by taking care of the self more, not having conversations in the head or hallucinating, being able to get help when needed by asking for support, recognized triggers of what has happened before and acknowledge anything that doesn’t seem right.
During the early years of the traumatic event, it’s normal to feel confused with reactions and how others coped. When a person re-experiences trauma normally the feelings replay in the person’s mind. Everyone is different, but many people tend to have nightmares based on the event that they experienced. Some experiences actually tend to feel like a nightmare. Flashbacks happen when the memory is repositioned and bring back the event or memory associated with a setting or person. Many emotions are associated with trauma for instance anger represents feeling angry over a person who caused the negative thoughts, or we feel they are responsible for how we are reacting and feeling. Sadness shows the path of healing and wanting a way out from a black hole.
If trauma isn’t worked through, such as with healthcare professionals, a person may feel guilty that we didn’t prevent it in some way or responsible at all. It’s important to help yourself by avoiding people or events related to the experience, blaming self, seeking self as weak, criticizing yourself for how you acted, and if anything gets worse talk to a professional.
