Do you associate the word trauma with a horrific upbringing? If you do, you aren’t the only one who does. Prior trading my path as a therapist I thought that trauma was only experienced by people who had been in a mass catastrophe, raped, been to war or who was in a car accident. On the contrary trauma extends way beyond a horrific childhood experience.

what is trauma

Trauma is not the actual event that you experience, it is a physiological response to the disturbing event. If your body, mind and cellular system are not able to deal with the stressful event, then your entire nervous system can become dysregulated. Sometime time individuals get stuck in survival mode of flight, fight or freeze. For instance, if you are involved in a car accident and two weeks later you find that whenever you are in your car you have intense anxiety, chances are that your body’s equilibrium is off balance.

what are the symptoms of trauma?

Trauma throws our nervous system off balance, it also causes the brain to malfunction; our brain will do what is necessary during the actual disturbing event to help us survive and keep us safe. The problem is, this reorganization of our brain function often results in symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress. Some people may notice that they you begin to have heart palpitations, anxiety, depression, rage, digestive issues, insomnia, nightmares flashbacks, severe fear, emotionally numbness, racing health problems after experiencing the disturbing event.

4 ways to recover from trauma

• Trauma Releasing Exercises
• EMDR Therapy
• Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping for Trauma
• Brainspotting
• Seek Professional Help