Overcoming trauma & emotional healing
Trauma knows no bounds, and overcoming trauma is no easy feat. It can effect anyone from any background, any socioeconomic standing, any lifestyle, any upbringing. Trauma can impact people in childhood, adulthood, or even as a senior. The impact of trauma can leave long lasting scars if not dealt with in life. Often times these emotional scars are compartmentalized for survival and can then lead into disease process.
Emotional healing is required to overcome trauma. Yet sometimes the process of healing can be uncomfortable preventing people from moving forward with their healing. Even still, some healing modalities can re-traumatize a person, bringing them back to the memories from the past that are unresolved. Historically, trauma and trauma responses can be depicted as explosive, reactive, and unpredictable. Those that are not familiar with the impact of trauma can see these behaviors as irrational.
Trauma informed care involves a gentle touch. Working with someone who has experienced trauma can require a skilled professional. Healing through trauma although uncomfortable should not set you backwards in your process. The first step to healing is about emotional stabilization. This includes acknowledging that you are safe so that your conscious mind can relax. Learning to emotionally feel safe again allows the body to begin to settle down. The body becomes deeply impacted based on the continued trauma response. Stress hormones generating through the body can create long lasting endocrine as well as neurological difficulties.
Acknowledging your triggers as they arise and connecting with your breath can begin to slow the stress hormone responses. This is the second step of healing from trauma. Telling yourself you are safe then connecting with your breath can help the subconscious mind to connect with the conscious mind so that you are not stuck in a hyper vigilant state.
Step three is to down regulate the stress response in your mind, so that you are not in a hyper vigilant state. A hyper vigilant state can prevent a person from sleeping well, because the mind believes it is in a constant stress response. To begin to be less stressed is a weird experience for those who have gone through trauma. It can seem boring when there is not so much chaos happening all at once. This is an adjustment period for people who have lived through trauma. After they stop creating more drama in their lives, they then stop feeding or being around drama in their lives.
Anyone who has experienced trauma is capable of healing if they are determined. It requires patience with self and a lot of forgiveness both of self and the situation that created the trauma. Remember forgiveness and moving on does not mean that it did not occur, it simply means that you are no longer allowing the situation or event to control you anymore. If you or someone you know needs help processing through trauma and getting on the other side of things, please reach out for a consult below.