what is trauma and do i have it?

an explanation

Trauma is one of the most misunderstood topics in the world, yet we all suffer from it. In our society, we associate trauma with physical injury and PTSD with war, but it’s far deeper and multilayered than that. The types of trauma are as varied as there are people. There is disaster trauma, group, individual or interpersonal trauma, developmental trauma and political trauma (1), and more, all of which affect our mental state and the way we live our lives.

Trauma has two main characteristics: physical and emotional, also known as interpersonal trauma and environmental trauma. Physical trauma is a visible injury, while emotional trauma is a rupture of physical or emotional safety. While you may recover from physical trauma, recovery from emotional trauma depends on each individual and how secure they are in their personal life (2). Most trauma is on the inside, making it harder to detect and heal.

Unhealed trauma leads to Complex PTSD, a more severe form of PTSD. This when you suffer abuse from verbal, emotional, spiritual and/or physical levels from growing up in abuse environments (3). When the abuse is serious enough, this is when Cptsd develops, resulting in troublesome traits such as emotional flashbacks, toxic shame, self-abandonment, social anxiety and a vicious inner critic (4). This is all part of your emotional trauma.

Emotional trauma is an invisible battle within you, constantly nagging over your shoulder and affecting everything you do. The traits from unhealed emotional trauma will eventually be categorized into culturally accepted terms such as “stress”, “anxiety” or “depression”. These are all ways society will mask what is truly going on inside you, making each person think that there is something “wrong” with them, rather than understanding they suffered a traumatic incident and simply need the proper guidance and tools to heal.

Trauma happens in an instant, but it takes a lot longer to heal due to the scarce resources. Because of the taboo nature of trauma, our fears of not wanting to exaggerate, be accused of wanting attention or misunderstood, we’ll actually downplay our trauma as the usual stress of everyday life. Something that is “normal”, and we should just shut up and deal with it.

Well, guess what? Living with trauma is not normal. We shouldn’t have to experience a traumatic incident in an instant then and then live with it for the rest of our lives. It also shouldn't take a moment or two to be traumatized, then several decades to be un-traumatized because no one really understands what’s going on. Trauma is a learned disorder, and anything that is learned can also be un-learned.

According to acclaimed scientist Dr. Joe Dispenza, living with unhealed trauma conditions your body to be in a constant state of fear, living in survival and preparing for the worst possible outcome (5). This state, often referred to as “fight or flight” mode, results in unpredictable and uncontrollable panic attacks. These attacks are a programmed response and part of your biological reaction to situations 24/7.

Panic attacks happen because your body is the unconscious mind. It doesn’t know the difference between a traumatic experience and the emotions behind an experience. For example, you may slam on your brakes at a stoplight, triggering your fight or flight response. The response is fleeting, but if you are living with unhealed trauma, your body remains in a panicked state, unable to revert back to the stability of homeostasis.

Unhealed trauma not only affects your response to stressful situations but your physical state as well. Dr. Kerry Ressler, a psychiatry professor at Harvard, states that there are undeniable correlations between major stressors in life and your physical health (6). Unhealed trauma from our past increases the risk of immune disease, cardiovascular and neurotransmitter changes. However, studies show that when we start talking about our past, your health improves, you become less susceptible to sickness and better able to experience positive physical and psychological effects (7).

Trauma is generational and can be passed down to others. When you carry unhealed trauma, you live in a state of fear, hurt, sadness and anger, and you want others to feel the pain you suffer. That is when trauma becomes dangerous, as you end up hurting others the way you were hurt. Hurt people hurt people, while healed people heal people. The sooner you start to heal your trauma, the sooner you can break the cycle of hurt on others and the sooner you can be free to live the life you truly want.

Talking about your experiences from trauma is the first step towards healing and changing your life. When you acknowledge that trauma occurred and you begin a dialog about, that when you begin to heal the wounds from your past.

Nothing in trauma is permanent. You can heal your life and transform your post-traumatic stress to post-traumatic growth. That’s what I’m here for.

For more information about what I do, see this post.

References:

Trauma-Informed Care: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207203/
Understanding the Impact of Trauma: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/
Walker, P. Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, 2
Walker, P. Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving, 3
Stress response from trauma: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzqtwxnHh2u/
Past Trauma May Haunt Future Health https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/past-trauma-may-haunt-your-future-health
Turning Trauma into Story: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-babble/201208/turning-trauma-story-the-benefits-journaling