What is trauma?

To understand how to heal from trauma we must first understand the definition of trauma and the way it impacts us. Trauma is any event that leaves a negative lasting effect, whether it was experienced physically or emotionally . A traumatic experience can be one that you personally experience, such as an accident, illness attack (including sexual abuse and domestic violence), neglect, living through a global pandemic, and/or living in an unsafe environment with safety and food insecurity issues. Trauma can also present itself in an emotional form such as losing a loved one to death, emotional abuse, the end of an important relationship and/or experiencing an embarrassing situation where one feels humiliation and shame in front of others.

How do we know that we are experiencing trauma? 

Physically we might feel tension, fatigue, we might have difficulties sleeping or concentrating, we might feel irritation towards others, and/or feel as if we’re on edge. Emotionally we might feel confused, sad, hopeless, shameful, anxious, angry and/or scared. 

How do we begin to heal from trauma?

The first step in healing from trauma is to notice you are experiencing some of the above signs and recognize that you are suffering and need help. We often overlook our own symptoms because we’re either too busy caring for others or don’t feel our needs should take priority. Just like when you board an airplane and the flight attendant tells you that in the case of an emergency and the air masks deploy from the cabin ceiling, you are to put it on yourself before helping anyone you’re traveling with, we need to prioritize our own mental health first. We do this so we can take care of ourselves and, ostensibly, be better caretakers to those we love.

After we recognize that we are experiencing trauma and that it is important to our loved ones that we get help, we are ready to take action to heal ourselves. Reach out to a therapist today to set up a session to discuss the trauma you’ve experienced and its lasting effects. We can help to identify solutions to help you move through and heal from trauma.