What is Trauma?

Trauma is any event that overwhelm a person’s ability to process what is happening and stay present. Sometimes this is an outwardly severe event, like a car accident or sexual assault. And sometimes it is an internal experience that may go unnoticed to an outside observer, such as betrayal, neglect, chronic instability or lack of safety.

Common symptoms of trauma include:

• Flashbacks

• Panic Attacks

• Dissociation

• Memory Problems

• Difficulty with Relationships

• Nightmares

• Distressing Feelings

• However, trauma can also present in less common and less overt ways.

Symptoms of trauma can surface immediately after an event. But it is also common for signs of trauma to begin months or even years after a trauma.

Who Has Trauma?

Many people we see do not initially define themselves as trauma survivors. Our brains are built to compare and contrast, so many trauma survivors think: “What happened to me wasn’t great, but it’s not as bad as what happened to so and so…”

But our nervous system doesn’t care how bad someone else had it. Our bodies are built to register threat and respond with fight, flight, or freeze response. It knows when we feel unsafe, even when we think it should be “no big deal.”

Ultimately, the only person who can say for sure if what you experienced was a trauma is you. But sometimes we need help assessing the impact of an event in our lives.

It is helpful to stop and consider:

How did what happened feel to me at the time?

And how might it still be affecting me in the here and now?

What Heals Trauma?

Remember how we defined trauma as an event that could not be processed as it was happening because it was too overwhelming? In order to recover from trauma, we need to find a way to process the experience after-the-fact. In therapy, we try to create a space where this is possible.

Each person’s traumatic experience is unique, so there is no cookie cutter approach to how it is best processed. This is something we discover in therapy as we work together.

However, there are some common elements of recovery for many trauma survivors. Meeting for therapy once or twice a week is how we start. Healing takes time, and often includes:

• Talking through what happened

• Reconnecting with related emotions

• Learning tools to help regulate those feelings (with mindfulness practices, breathing exercises, restorative somatic practices, resource building)

• Placing the story of what happened into a bigger and more hopeful narrative