Overcoming emotional trauma is a long process, but it is possible. If you are suffering from after-effects of emotional trauma or PTSD, know that recovering from your trauma is possible.
Emotional healing is possible
But, its true, not everyone returns to emotional health. Some people continue to experience deep emotional pain, repeat unhealthy behaviors and relationships, and struggle with negative, distorted thoughts.
New pathways can be created in lots of ways, through therapeutic techniques (like CBT or EMDR), changes to environment and neuro processes such as Neurofeedback. Reversing the effects of trauma may not be something that is fixed quickly, but with time and effort and help from specialists in the field, it can be done.
Some traumatized people may feel permanently damaged when trauma symptoms do not go away and they do not believe their situation will improve. This can lead to feelings of despair, transient paranoid ideation, loss of self-esteem, profound emptiness, suicidality, and frequently, depression.
The most important thing to remember is that whether you do it with the support of friends and family or the support of a mental health therapist, it is 100% possible to completely heal from trauma and continue on to live a meaningful life. Your life doesn't need to end with a traumatic event.
The normal healing and recovery process involves the body coming down out of heightened arousal. The internal alarms can turn off, the high levels of energy subside, and the body can re-set itself to a normal state of balance and equilibrium. Typically, this should occur within approximately one month of the event.
But post-injury emotional changes don't usually lead to a true personality disorder. Instead, they're from symptoms that will go away if you get the right treatment. Undergoing these emotional changes or watching your loved one suffer through them is really hard.
Exposure to trauma can be life-changing – and researchers are learning more about how traumatic events may physically change our brains. But these changes are not happening because of physical injury, rather our brain appears to rewire itself after these experiences.
Many may often ask themselves, “Will I feel this way forever?” The answer to this is both simple and complex. The effects of trauma that evolve into ost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will never entirely go away. However, they can be managed with proper treatment to make them less severe to live a normal life.
Many people will be able to recover after a traumatic event with support from family, friends and their workplace. Even when you have recovered from a traumatic event, you probably won't forget about it. You might still feel negative emotions about it or find it upsetting to think about from time to time.
Regaining a sense of safety may take days to weeks with acutely traumatized individuals or months to years with individuals who have experienced ongoing/chronic abuse.
Talk to someone
One way to heal those emotional scars is to talk to someone about them. Letting out those feelings and some of the pain by talking to someone you trust is a good way to start moving beyond your heartache.
Cognitive Signs of Unhealed Trauma
You may experience nightmares or flashbacks that take you back to the traumatic event. Furthermore, you may struggle with mood swings, as well as disorientation and confusion, which can make it challenging to perform daily tasks.
The symptoms of unresolved trauma may include, among many others, addictive behaviors, an inability to deal with conflict, anxiety, confusion, depression or an innate belief that we have no value.
The majority who recover are the lucky ones, of course. There are sadly still many who remain scarred for life, despite the very best therapy, because of the intensity of their experiences and what else is happening in their lives.
Pharmacological (e.g., antidepressant medications) and nonpharmacological interventions (cognitive-behavioral therapy, exercise) may reverse stress-induced damage in the brain.
Is traumatic brain injury permanent? A TBI can cause significant changes to a person's cognitive, physical, and emotional functions. While damage to the brain cannot be reversed, functions affected by TBI can be recovered thanks to the brain's natural ability to rewire itself.
Can the brain heal after being injured? Most studies suggest that once brain cells are destroyed or damaged, for the most part, they do not regenerate. However, recovery after brain injury can take place, especially in younger people, as, in some cases, other areas of the brain make up for the injured tissue.
Studies suggest that trauma could make you more vulnerable to developing physical health problems, including long-term or chronic illnesses. This might be because trauma can affect your body as well as your mind, which can have a long-term impact on your physical health.
The Healing Process
It might seem like trauma does irreversible damage to your brain--that's not true. Our brains are extremely adaptable. Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to form new connections, explains why we can rewire our brains to reverse trauma's damaging effects.
Intrusive memories
Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event. Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks) Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event. Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of the traumatic event.
Research has found that in addition to being self-soothing, shedding emotional tears releases oxytocin and endorphins. These chemicals make people feel good and may also ease both physical and emotional pain. In this way, crying can help reduce pain and promote a sense of well-being.
Emotional damages can be the mental repercussions of physical wounds such as a brain trauma that leads to forgetfulness, or insecurities caused by permanent scars, or physical reactions that stem from emotionally charged scenarios.
Smiling when discussing trauma is a way to minimize the traumatic experience. It communicates the notion that what happened “wasn't so bad.” This is a common strategy that trauma survivors use in an attempt to maintain a connection to caretakers who were their perpetrators.