Trauma Therapy
How do you respond to hearing or reading the word, trauma?
What thoughts do you notice?
How does your body respond?
What comes up emotionally for you?
For many of us, trauma can be a heavy word to take in. It can feel loaded. It’s also become a bit of a buzzword and can feel complicated.
Take a moment just to notice your initial response. Do you feel constriction or openness in your body? How is your breath? Do you notice any thoughts trying to tell you that your experiences in life don’t “count” as trauma? That other people have had it worse? Just notice your response with gentle curiosity.
If we want relief from anxiety, depression, overwhelm, chronic stress, and feeling “stuck”, it may be helpful to expand our definition of what it means to experience trauma so we have more options of working with the symptoms.
“Trauma is a fact of life. But, it does not have to be a life sentence. ”
— Dr. Peter A Levine
Trauma can be defined as anything that overwhelms our nervous system’s ability to cope. Any experience that is too much, too soon, or too fast, can be registered as trauma in our system. As well as, not enough for too long. This can be confusing for many people because it isn’t actually about the event itself. It’s not limited to people who have experienced abuse, war, and natural disasters. Anything that sends your system into fight, flight, or freeze responses can get “stuck” and have a lasting impact on your physical, mental, and emotional health. Trauma can result from an acute stress or as a product of cumulative stress. Both types of stress can impair a person’s ability to thrive in the world.
How are you doing so far reading this?
Maybe take a moment to pause. And just notice how it feels to read this. Notice your reactions. It’s valid.
Next trauma statement…
Trauma is not a competition.
How does that land for you?
There absolutely are different types of trauma, and there are experiences that are more intense than others. Trauma definitely occurs on a spectrum. AND, just because someone else “had it worse” than you, doesn’t mean that you don’t still deserve to have the opportunity to process your pain and heal from your experiences. I often find that people try to minimize their pain or try to talk themselves out of their pain because someone else experienced something more traumatic. But by choosing to not work through your own pain, it doesn’t benefit the person you think had it worse. Healing from trauma is not reserved for the top percent of people who had the “worst trauma”. We all deserve to heal and individual healing can help support collective healing. And I think that’s something we can all agree would make this world a kinder and more welcoming place to be.
If you’ve found yourself struggling, but told yourself that the experience wasn’t “bad enough”, it might be worth exploring with a trauma specialist. This person can validate your experience and help you to understand why an event may have “seemed minor” but is causing a lot of distress for you. Experiences of past trauma can show up in the present moment as anxiety, difficulty sleeping, chronic physical pain, low self-esteem, feeling chronically overwhelmed, hopelessness, and perfectionism.
There are many ways to work with trauma. There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution to healing. I offer a body-centered approach to therapy and healing, informed by neuroscience. The trauma modalities I offer include Somatic Experiencing, Trauma-Informed Yoga, and EMDR in conjunction with traditional talk therapy. If you are curious if these approaches might help you, schedule a free consultation to learn more.