Understanding and Managing Trauma

We often talk about traumatic events, but trauma isn't necessarily defined by the event, but by the aftermath. 

Trauma can be a memory that got stuck and can be triggered by something very small. Sometimes it can trigger flashbacks that feel like it's still happening now. That doesn't mean you are damaged or broken or stuck with it forever, but processing and working through it can take time and a lot of hard work. 

Triggers can create hypervigilance, where it feels you are on high alert and this is your mind looking for a threat that might not be there. Depending on the trigger, this can take 10 minutes, or a lot longer. Your body might create a lot of stress hormones called cortisol to make sure you can deal with the potential threat it perceives. 

Often after a period of hypervigilance, our body and mind compensate and drop. Our bodies have to compensate for all the cortisol levels (stress hormones) it created and this can create a shutdown state, which is often described as feeling low. 

Some people describe feeling hot, some of the coping strategies from anxiety might help here. 
Some people feel cold and some of the coping strategies around low mood might help here.
There isn't a right or wrong way to feel here and a lot depends on you and the trauma you experienced.  

Trauma can disturb sleep and create nightmares or night terrors and while this might not be permanent, it can be difficult to cope with. Some coping strategies around sleep can help. 

With trauma it can feel like none of the mindfulness or exercises is making a difference, especially if it just gets triggered again, but the exercises are designed to make small changes, so they might need to be repeated a lot.

Often trauma is caused by a situation where someone felt powerless or alone in a difficult situation and afterwards they might struggle to connect with other people as it feels the world moves on, while they're stuck in the trauma. 

Reaching out to supportive people and still working on connecting with people can help realise you are not alone. 

To help with the powerlessness, mindfulness can help you notice what is going on in your brain and realise you have autonomy back again afterwards. 

Sometimes trauma can get stuck in our bodies, and especially when dealing with childhood trauma, this can affect the development of motor skills. Something like yoga or gentle movement can help you feel your way through your body and get back in tune with it. 

Things you can try to help when in shutdown: 

• Wrap yourself in a warm blanket
• Treat yourself to a hot drink 
• Shock yourself with cold water
• Create a daily achievement list of everything you achieved that day
• Try a 2-minute power pose, like superman

Things that may help when you feel triggered or anxious: 

• Dance to your favourite song 
• Walk in nature
• Shower
• Be creative
• Do a logic puzzle 
• Journalling in any form: Nature/art or writing 
• Talk to someone else 
• Eat something sour
• Breathe
• Watch or read a horror/comedy (this can help shift your mood/emotion to disgust or happy from laughing) 

You can't change the past, but you can change how you deal with it.

Within the therapy room, I won't ask you to relive the trauma. Instead our work would focus on how it affects you now and making sense of the feelings, triggers and patterns around it.

What's next? 

Once you recognise the trauma triggers, you can develop coping strategies to help. 
 
If you’d like help understanding your trauma or trauma triggers, I’m here to help you find a path forward. 
If you’re ready to explore how counselling might help, please get in touch