Trauma
Do you feel stuck in life?
So often in life, our past experiences – both positive and negative – dictate our present, even when we don’t realize it. Feeling anxious, irritable or on edge can deplete us of energy and make it difficult to concentrate, socialize or maintain healthy relationships. Traumatic memories can overwhelm us and make us feel anxious, depressed, or overly emotional. As much as we want to “just get over” what we’ve been through in the past and “let it go,” we can find relief from these symptoms by working through trauma and learning to experience our emotions in ways that feel more tolerable.
Feeling stuck or powerless in relationships, experiencing a range of emotions, and embodying stress is common after experiencing trauma. Nightmares, lack of sleep, chronic pain, or a constant desire to escape are common after trauma, even years after the trauma is over.
Everyone experiences a traumatic event at some point in their life. The symptoms experienced after trauma are the direct result of our survival brain doing its job: keeping us alive. The human brain is hardwired to adapt and survive, and our autonomic nervous system helps get our bodies into gear to escape, fight, or neutralize what it perceives as threatening. Often, the traumatic experience that cued our bodies to go into survival mode gets “stuck” in our nervous system, which is why the symptoms can linger years after a traumatic experience.
Don’t worry, you do not have to live this way forever. With the right kind of help, you can move past the worst of these symptoms. Recipients of trauma-informed, whole-brain treatment approaches can start to feel a sense of relief almost immediately. Learn more about these approaches in the therapy section of this website.
Trauma Is Universal
