Putting the Pieces Back Together: Dealing with Trauma
Many of us experience trauma sometime in our lives. This experience can impact you physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. The definition of psychological trauma is more detailed. A reading by Straussner and Calnan referred to psychological trauma as an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or appalling, and one that often has long-term negative mental, physical and neurological consequences. This definition seems to appropriately explain trauma; however it should be noted that trauma is always a personal experience.
In Trauma and Recovery Judith Herman states that some features of those affected by trauma are hypervigilance, anxiety, avoidance and agitation. She also discusses some physical symptoms such as insomnia, headaches, abdominal pain, gastrointestinal disturbances, tremors, rapid heartbeat, etc. While Herman explains the effects of trauma that linger in the body, the actual events of the experienced trauma may be difficult for you to remember.
Trauma can impact your brain’s ability to store memories. While your memories are difficult to recall, your body is also sending out other signals in response to the traumatic event such as increased levels or cortisol (the stress hormone). This increased level of stress hormones can damage the area of the brain associated with memory, hippocampus. This causes reduced volume in the hippocampus in individuals who have experienced trauma, thus resulting in difficulty recalling the trauma clearly.
Treating trauma includes learning coping skills to help manage your symptoms and learning ways to manage your emotions. Here are some coping skills that could help you deal with the symptoms of your experience of trauma:
Journaling
Meditation
Exercise
Connecting with family and friends
Talking to someone you trust
Trauma can be difficult to manage and treat alone. Finding a therapist to support you in your journey to putting the pieces back together can be transformative.
