When The Past Haunts You: Explaining What Trauma Is And The Symptoms Behind It
In very simple terms, trauma is our body and mind’s lingering responses to pain. The word “trauma” comes from the Greek word for “wound” - trauma is anything that wounds us, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Most often, we think of trauma as a response to dangerous, life-altering situations and experiences. When dealing with trauma people often experience feelings of powerlessness, anxiety, and irritability—but it also impacts our bodies. It can make itself known through nausea, sleeplessness, changes in our energy levels, difficulty focusing, hypervigilence, and trouble in our relationships. Trauma lives in the body as well as the mind.
Trauma is our brain’s stress response and gets stored differently in the brain and body than non-traumatic memories, as a way to protect us in the future from similar threats.
Three Types of Trauma
It’s important to know that trauma doesn’t always come from a single terrible event. Trauma can occur when something is too much, too soon, too fast, or too little - when our brains and bodies are overwhelmed. It can also form after repeated exposure to a stressful or unhealthy situation, or as the result of enduring a series of highly traumatic events. Try thinking of a traumatic event as someone slamming a door shut. Sometimes one heavy slam can damage the hinges. Other times, damage builds up as the result of heavy wear and tear. In other cases, it’s the cumulative damage caused when the door is repeatedly slammed shut.
The brain and body responds the same, no matter what circumstance is causing the trauma. Whether a person’s trauma comes from a harmful sexual encounter, a neglectful or abusive relationship, negative messages about sex and your body, the loss of a loved one, or any other event, the result is often the same: loss of security and loss of self.
Acute Trauma
This type of trauma results from a single impactful event. As with most types of trauma, what’s being damaged is your sense of physical and emotional security. Acute Trauma boils down to a single traumatic moment that causes changes in your perspective and behaviors. This might be a sexual assault or rape, a serious injury, car accident, or witnessing a violent event.
Chronic Trauma
Chronic Trauma builds up over time. It’s the accumulation of wear and tear from a stressful, dangerous, or unhealthy environment. It’s the negative impact of being bullied, neglected, or mistreated, over long periods of time. Stressful environments, unhappy marriages, toxic work environments, and unstable finances can all contribute to this sort of trauma. This type of trauma might be less obvious on the surface- it’s often relational (involving other people) and emotional, and might easily be written off as “normal” in one’s family or group culture.
Complex Trauma
Whereas Acute Trauma stems from a single traumatic event, and Chronic Trauma builds up as the result of long-term stresses, Complex Trauma is the result of a series of catastrophic events and traumas, usually of a varied nature. Incidents of domestic violence, discovery of affairs, or even sudden and unexpected illnesses can form Complex Trauma.
How Trauma Impacts Your Mind
There are several ways trauma can impact your mind. Because trauma results in a lost sense of security and self, it often develops into isolation, anxiety, and depression. Other signs include feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness, and irritability, as well as sudden flashes of anger, flashbacks, and difficulty concentrating on tasks.
Left unmanaged, trauma can slowly begin to affect all areas of your life and it can lead to avoidance - of people, places, topics, behaviors, etc. This may seem helpful at first, but avoidance isn’t a coping strategy meant to be used in isolation, and there’s some things that are unavoidable, like returning to work.
How Trauma Impacts Your Body
An array of physical symptoms accompany trauma, including nausea, fatigue, stress, and recurring headaches. Built up stress can result in body aches, gastrointestional distress, tension in the shoulders and joints, and sleeplessness, which sometimes leads to poor performance at work, depression, anxiety, feeling isolated, sexual dysfunction, and distant from your loved ones.
Depending on the source of your trauma, it can play out in unexpected ways. You may recoil at a show of affection or suddenly feel gloomy in happy moments. It's important to honor those feelings and explore where they’re coming from.
Knowing When to Seek Help
Time does not heal all wounds. Many of our trauma responses are physiological and instinctual. It’s not entirely unlike when a child burns their hand on a hot stove. Pain teaches us to be careful, but trauma has a tendency to hang on. It’s commonly (and incorrectly) said that “time heals all wounds” and that’s not the case with trauma. Let's connect soon so we can help you leave the past behind you with trauma therapy.
Sea Glass Counseling and Consultation is an EMDR therapy practice in Dublin, Ohio. Our compassionate, skilled therapists use evidence-based techniques grounded in the neurobiology of stress, trauma, and relationships to make sure your treatment is personalized and effective. Sea Glass therapists provide telehealth counseling in Ohio for individuals and couples. We’re best known for providing Intensive EMDR therapy, anxiety treatment, and sex therapy for Christians. Interested in working together? Contact us today to get started with a Certified EMDR therapist in Ohio.