When You Should Get Help For Trauma
Trauma is any event that causes an unusually high level of emotional stress, which has a long-lasting negative effect upon the person. The definition of “a trauma” is subjective because it is the emotional experience of the person that deems whether the experience is traumatic, rather than the experience itself meeting certain objective criteria. Therefore, any experience that is overwhelming, and causes the individual to have emotional stress or unable to cope as usual, could be referred to as traumatic. PTSD can occur when someone experiences a really shocking, distressing, or blindsiding experience.
Trauma can be categorized as big “T” traumas and small “t” traumas. Big “T” traumas may include events or experiences that involve physical harm, threat to life, or physical safety. Experiences such as child abuse, domestic violence, sexual or physical assault, may be referred to as big “T” traumas. However small “t” traumas, or a collection of small “t” traumas may cause lasting emotional wounds that are as significant and as long lasting as a big “T” trauma. To that person, they do not feel small. Those experiences may be more common experiences that are also overwhelming, painful and upsetting, and can have a long-lasting negative effect in their life.
Childhood Emotional Neglect
Trauma can come in the form of an absence of events, rather than the presence of a traumatic event. Childhood emotional neglect can be described as a parent’s failure to respond to, notice, or appreciate a child’s emotional needs. This form of trauma could be described as invisible, but it has a deep and lasting psychological and emotional wounds for a growing child, and for the subsequent adult. Children who experience emotional neglect may have felt invalidated emotionally and can have difficulty identifying and trusting their own emotional experience as an adult. They may have difficulty understanding the emotional experience of others around them. They may suffer from feelings of shame, self-criticism, and may have a deep belief that they are unworthy. They may describe themselves as feeling empty and disconnected from others, and may experience difficulty trusting others. “What’s wrong with me?” is a common question from a person who has experienced childhood emotional neglect. We assist individuals to appreciate how their past may have positively or negatively impacted them. Our past, both good and bad, has a role in shaping how we show up in this world, how we interact in relationships, how we think, feel, and behave in life. In our experience, adults who have not felt safe, secure, seen or soothed during their childhood, may resonate with some of these themes.
Can I heal from the effects of trauma?
In normal circumstances, the brain does not need help with the processing of memories and experiences. However, when a person experiences a traumatic experience (this includes the absence of an event), the information (what we see, hear, think, feel) is passed straight to our “smoke alarm” in the brain (the amygdala). This initiates a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response, and causes the brain to react in the same way that it would if we were under an actual physical threat. For example, a traumatic event, painful experience or bereavement can cause the same stress response as a person being threatened by a tiger. Rather than the brain processing this traumatic event, the memory, along with the images, emotions, body sensations, negative beliefs associated with the memory, are not processed like a regular memory. They are encapsulated along with the memory, and can replay in the present. A current trigger that reminds the person of the past can replay in the present, and can activate these past memories causing the person to relive the original trauma in the present. Individuals who have experienced trauma in their lives, especially early trauma, are prone to experiencing a dysregulated nervous system, especially during stressful times. A dysregulated nervous system is associated with challenges such as depression, anxiety, emotional dysregulation/ outbursts, and other mental and physical challenges.
Trauma processing techniques such as EMDR, ART, and Somatic Experiencing Therapy, allow those painful and unprocessed memories to be reprocessed so that they are no longer replaying in the present. In using Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), individuals can experience a more regulated nervous system so that the person no longer feels trapped in fight/ flight (sympathetic activation), or shutdown (dorsal vagal activation), or a heightened emotional response associated with this past experience. The traumatic experience now feels as if it is in the past, and their memories surrounding the event are less emotionally charged. The person will feel less distress associated with that past memory, they will experience a significant decrease in negative thoughts, body sensations, and negative emotions associated with the experience(s).
Trauma processing techniques do not take away the memory of what has happened, but the person feels differently about the experience(s). Those negative memories are no longer overwhelming. Trauma processing techniques also assist individuals to “re-write the narrative” so that they are no longer living through the old narratives of their past. Their body feels like it can relax and feel safe in the present moment.
Trauma is treatable.
Please contact our team to discuss how we may assist you to heal from your past traumatic experiences and start to live life as your true authentic self.
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