Exposure to a single traumatic event, and certainly repeated exposure to trauma, can create serious mental health challenges. Trauma-specialized care is linked to improved mental health and quality of life.
Key points
- Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) tend to respond well to treatment.
- PTSD describes an acute emotional reaction to trauma or a long-term condition characterized by significant distress.
- Untreated trauma can have long-term effects on your mental and physical health.
- Trauma-informed care including CBT, IFS, and EMDR can help children people across the lifespan heal and move forward with their lives.
In this article...
Overview
Trauma occurs from experiencing something unbearable and feeling unsupported or unequipped to deal with the experience. Trauma can result from a terrifying one-time event such as an assault, vehicle accident, or natural disaster, or it can result from repetitive “minor” offenses, such as frequent verbal mistreatment by primary caregivers early on. For others, trauma is the result of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse that happened over the course of time.
Trauma affects different people in different ways, and what one person might barely consider to be traumatic might affect someone else for years to come. Rather than casting judgment on how traumatic a particular event or experience is, it’s more helpful to consider trauma in the context of your individual experience and how it affects your life today.
Some issues that can often be traced back to trauma (although they might also be caused by something else) include mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, overthinking, difficulty making decisions, sleep disturbances, low energy, low motivation, being easily irritated, difficulty forming healthy relationships or maintaining employment, or an overarching sense of struggling in life without understanding what’s wrong or how to resolve it.
Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Symptoms
Not being able to function well in everyday life
Trauma disrupts your capacity to learn and process information, as you instinctively switch to survival mode when you feel your sense of safety is threatened. While you’re trying to survive, your thought process shifts gears to keep you safe. But when you’re finally out of harm’s way, it can be hard to heal the way your brain has learned to protect you. This creates patterns that make it difficult to function day-to-day.
Mental health challenges
Trauma is also strongly connected to mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, phobias, and ADHD. The effects of trauma interfere with executive functioning skills, like your ability to prioritize, manage your time, stick to a healthy routine, and keep a job.
Trauma encourages unhealthy behaviors
Psychological research confirms the connection between exposure to trauma and the development of dysfunctional and uncontrolled behaviors.
“Dysfunctional Avoidance” occurs when someone tries to escape from uncomfortable experiences or memories associated with trauma. While this avoidance is a natural response, it can lead to harmful coping methods, including substance use, risky behaviors, self-harm, or thoughts of suicide.
If you struggle with unhealthy compulsions or behaviors relating to food, sex, substances, or technology, unresolved trauma might play a significant role in your struggle. Fortunately, working to heal your trauma very often also heals the source of your behaviors, which makes it much easier to start changing them.
Physical health ramifications of trauma
In addition to lifestyle and behavioral challenges, poor physical health is often a result of trauma. Interpersonal trauma exposure is strongly associated with deteriorating physical health.
Children exposed to trauma are at increased risk of developing cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, obesity, stroke, and substance use disorders, in addition to mental health issues.
Causes and risk factors
The chances of developing PTSD or other problematic responses to trauma may be affected by:
- Hereditary and environmental variables.
- Repeated exposure to traumatic events.
- Feeling helpless during traumatic events.
Treatment for trauma
Fortunately, there are multiple effective treatments for trauma available for adults and children. Trauma-informed therapy can be an important part of recovery.
Your therapist may suggest:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) teaches individuals alternative ways of thinking, responding, and reacting to situations in order to reduce anxiety and fear. CBT has been extensively researched for children, adolescents, and adults.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps individuals process traumatic memories by focusing on them while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation like eye movements or sounds that move left and right. EMDR can reduce the emotional intensity of negative memories and help people focus on the present.
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) A form of therapy that helps you understand and heal different parts of your psyche using what is called the “Core Self” to help you make changes.
- Exposure therapy is a CBT technique for the treatment of anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy focuses on tackling the worries underlying an anxiety condition in order to assist individuals in engaging in activities they have been avoiding. Sometimes, exposure treatment is combined with relaxation exercises.
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) uses mindfulness, goal-setting, and other strategies to alleviate discomfort and anxiety.
- Brainspotting is a therapeutic technique that uses a person’s fixed eye position to locate, access, and process deeply stored trauma and emotional pain within the brain.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive treatment that combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with mindfulness practices to help people regulate their emotions.
- Mindfulness-Based Therapies and Guided Imagery
- Medication Management With the Right Psychiatrist Certain medications can help with nightmares, flashbacks, feeling anxious, sleeplessness and with the depression that can result from being a trauma survivor.
Healing from trauma is possible
Trauma and PTSD can deeply impact your mental and physical health, but specialized therapy can help you heal and regain control. BIMPOC, women, disabled, and LGBTQIA folks are often more at risk of experiencing trauma. With the right support, you can process past experiences, develop healthier coping mechanisms, and rebuild a sense of safety.
We suggest you visit YouTube for sample EMDR or trauma processing demonstrations.
Start your healing journey today – Whether through EMDR, IFS, CBT, DBT, ACT, Brainspotting, or other trauma-informed therapies, you don’t have to navigate this alone. Book a free consultation to take the first step toward recovery.
Related information
Briere, J., Hodges, M., & Godbout, N. (2010). Traumatic stress, affect dysregulation, and dysfunctional avoidance: a structural equation model. Journal of traumatic stress, 23 6, 767-74
Dimopoulou, I., Anthi, A., Mastora, Z., Theodorakopoulou, M., Konstandinidis, A., Evangelou, E., Mandragos, K.E., & Roussos, C. (2004). Health-Related Quality of Life and Disability in Survivors of Multiple Trauma One Year After Intensive Care Unit Discharge. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 83, 171-176.
López-Martínez, A., Serrano-Ibáñez, E.R., Ruíz-Párraga, G.T., Gómez-Pérez, L., Ramírez‐Maestre, C., & Esteve, R. (2018). Physical Health Consequences of Interpersonal Trauma: A Systematic Review of the Role of Psychological Variables. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 19, 305 – 322.
Sanderud, K., Murphy, S., & Elklit, A. (2016). Child maltreatment and ADHD symptoms in a sample of young adults. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 7.
Schnurr, P.P., & Green, B.L. (2004). Understanding relationships among trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and health outcomes. Advances in mind-body medicine, 20 1, 18-29
