Trauma

LIFE AFTER SUFFERING TRAUMA?

Psychological trauma can be started by a single event, such as an accident or natural catastrophe such as an earth quake or tsunami, a rape or physical attack, just the threat of violence can be trau- matising and can in some instances end up having a detrimental lifelong effect on a person’s life. Trauma can also develop from experiencing long term unrelenting anxiety and stress, such as trying to cope with constantly intimidating situations such as bullying or coping with a violent relationship and childhood verbal physical and sexual abuse, in fact any long term or short term situation that is emotionally damaging fearful or threatening can lead to that person suffering from the effects of trauma.

The effects of trauma are life changing

Any event or experience that is unexpected or overwhelming can develop into many kinds of post trauma life changing psychological problems. All these traumatic events have one thing in common, the huge emotional impact that is felt can be psychologically devastating to that individual person, or indeed to any number of people who are directly involved or have only witnessed the scene.

Post traumatic effects

The problems that develop later on is not trauma but the post trau- matic effects of the incident, This can lead on to the people involved developing further problems as time goes on. The trauma may have passed but the experience has gone through a psychological transformation and may have been distorted into a dis- order or emotional problem to be experienced as disorder, such as panic disorder and other problematic anxiety driven responses.

PTSD is mostly still a mystery

As people we are all complex and unique individuals and we all have different strengths and weaknesses, that means we will react to events and situations in our own way. Why one person seems to be affected by a traumatic experience when another does not show any long term issues is mostly still a mystery. Any trauma is always a past experience that is now manifesting and developing into your present day and future life with any emotional problems becoming more apparent as time goes on.

Recovering from the effects of trauma.

Recovering from a traumatic experience will take time, you cannot rush the healing process, trying to do so may make it much worse now or in the future. Just being able to talk about your thoughts and anxieties in a respectful and safe thera- peutic environment can make a big difference to your recovery time.

Therapy can be a very important step

You will need time to understand how the trauma has affected you, maybe you will start showing signs of post-traumatic stress or start to experience feelings depression or notice other ways that the trauma is being expressed emotionally. Therapy can be a very important step towards starting or continuing the healing process and help to uncover the best way forward, which may include tackling the anxiety responses with breathing exercises or meditation or hypnosis and re- framing among other choices.

Discover for yourself what is possible for you

This can be a time full of worry and anxiety and there are some ways we can help the healing process by talking and ex- ploring the events when you are ready to do so, there are techniques that can help when you are ready to take that step. Some times just talking about the event can lead to episodes of clarity and cathartic moments or eventually finding ac- ceptance. I have been witness to such remarkable moments in therapy and I know what is possible, the only way to find out is to take that first step and discover for yourself what is possible for you. Try a free session and find out.

The past intrudes on the here and now

Some may succeed in pushing or distracting their mind from the emotional distress and have some success in suppressing the event. There maybe a very good reason for doing so at the time, in some situations having to look after someone who is injured, needing to protect loved ones or having to focus on immediate survival can take priority. but the problem is that the past event is not the actual problem any more, the problem is how the trauma from the past event manifests its presence in the present day, and future life. what consequences follow on from that will depend on the person and severity of the symptoms.

Pushing it all away

Trying to ignore or suppress the issues may work in the short term, but PTSD can have a life of its own. You cannot hide from this forever because it will keep working away in the back ground creating flashbacks and any manner of problems such as depression. but tackling it, facing it, can be a big step to take, as a therapist who has helped many clients with trauma I un- derstand that a lot of care and support is needed. When people try to distract themselves from the inner emotional turmoil it can make matters much worse.

How trauma can manifest itself.

• Increased consumption of alcohol or drugs • Increased risk taking such as gambling or driving to fast • An increase or decrease in sexual needs • Depression • Suicidal thoughts • Out bursts of anger and constant angry responses • Isolating themselves from friends and family • Anxiety and panic attacks • Over or under eating • Feelings of helplessness or hopelessness • Low self-esteem and confidence • Self-destructive behaviour • Loss of focus and poor memory