Recovering from trauma takes time, and everyone heals at their own pace. But if months have passed and your symptoms aren't letting up, you may need professional help from a trauma expert. Seek help for trauma if you're: Having trouble functioning at home or work.
Practice self-care
Activities like yoga or exercise have been shown to be beneficial in healing from (or at least alleviating) the effects of trauma. Taking on hobbies you're interested in, such as painting, boxing, a dance class or just going for daily walks, can also be part of self-care.
From our experience, it is unlikely that a person can fully recovery without treatment. When we refer to recovery from addiction, we do not mean simply stopping the use of drugs or alcohol. There are people who have simply stopped, some for long periods of time.
If the trauma is left untreated, one can experience nightmares, insomnia, anxiety, depression, phobias, substance abuse, panic attacks, anger, irritability, or hopelessness. The individual might also begin to have physical symptoms such as gastrointestinal distress, rapid heartbeat, or extreme fatigue.
Traumatic experiences
It is normal to have strong emotional or physical reactions following a distressing event. On most occasions though, these reactions subside as a part of the body's natural healing and recovery process. There are many things you can do to help cope with and recover from such an experience.
Treatment for PTSD is essential—this is not a condition that will resolve on its own. People with PTSD require professional support, especially therapy, to see improvements.
Not everyone who has experienced a traumatic event needs therapy, according to Dr. Galovski, but she says that for some people, a traumatic event can be life-altering. “Some people may go on to experience depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD),” she says.
After practicing TRE® people often use the words 'grounded', 'relaxed' and 'calmer' to describe their feelings. After a period of several months people have reported relief from illnesses such as Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Eczema and IBS.
Denial of trauma is a defense mechanism that protects you from emotional pain. Sometimes, however, healing is on the other side of it. Healing from all types of trauma is possible, even if it takes some time. For some people, the first step toward that recovery may be the most difficult one, though.
Treatment for trauma
By concentrating on what's happening in your body, you can release pent-up trauma-related energy through shaking, crying, and other forms of physical release.
Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Most responses are normal in that they affect most survivors and are socially acceptable, psychologically effective, and self-limited.
Fear and anxiety are also frequently stored in this area, particularly as a physical response to danger (as the neck is a vulnerable area) or strange environments.
The findings imply that in response to traumatic stress, some individuals, instead of activating the glutamate system to store memories, activate the extra-synaptic GABA system and form inaccessible traumatic memories.
vivid flashbacks (feeling like the trauma is happening right now) intrusive thoughts or images. nightmares. intense distress at real or symbolic reminders of the trauma.
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.
Signs that you've been traumatized can vary from typical symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, to a vague sense that your feelings of fear or anger seem exaggerated. Something to ask yourself is, does your level of fear or anger seem larger, more dramatic than seems appropriate to the situation.
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.
It's quite another to commit to discussing it with someone else. The truth about trauma therapy is that it may make you feel worse at times. Trauma shatters a person's sense of safety, so it's vital to find a mental health professional you feel comfortable sharing with and trust to lead you through the healing process.