What is Trauma?
There are many definitions of trauma but the most common theme is that trauma is any event which overwhelms a person’s ability to cope with it. Trauma affects your mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health and can make it difficult to live your life as you did before the trauma came into your life.
Common Symptoms of Trauma
It’s important to know that the symptoms that you may be experiencing following trauma exposure are actually a very normal and natural response to a very abnormal situation. Some of these symptoms include:
PSYCHOLOGICAL + EMOTIONAL
- Anxiety, fear, and panic attacks
- Depression and feelings of hopelessness
- Shock, denial, or disbelief
- Confusion, difficulty concentrating
- Mood swings, anger, and irritability
- Shame, guilt, and self-blame
- Hypervigilance, or a feeling of always being on edge
- Feelings of numbness or dissociation
- Social isolation and relational issues
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
- Difficulty sleeping or nightmares
- Feeling overly tired or easily fatigued
- Heightened startle response
- Difficulty concentrating on normal tasks
- Racing heartbeat or heart palpatations
- Bodily aches and pains
- Muscle tension
How Can Trauma Therapy Help
Trauma therapy helps by giving you a place to freely process the hardship and stress of your life in a safe and confidential space. This allows clients to gain a deeper understanding of how the trauma affected them and why the traumatic stress persists. Although we cannot take away the traumatic experience, we can help clients overcome the after-effect of traumatic stress through post-traumatic stress disorder treatment.
Trauma-focused therapy can be very difficult, and sometimes people begin to feel worse at the beginning of treatment. Much like engaging in physical therapy for a back injury, this is an important part of the healing process. Once the trauma can be processed and properly understood, trauma survivors are able to regain a sense of normalcy and wellness