Trauma Recovery

 
 

It’s true that we all have baggage,

but don’t wait until you can’t fit yours into the overhead bin
before you get help.

 
 

There are good reasons why you would hesitate to seek help
if you’ve experienced trauma.

 

Avoidance Is Intuitive

 

For starters, by its very nature, traumatic experiences are something we don’t want to talk about.  Because unprocessed trauma is so emotionally and personally disruptive, we avoid even thinking about it.  The problem comes when we, eventually, start avoiding those situations, activities, persons and even thoughts that might trigger memories, physical sensations or feelings associated with the trauma. 

 
 

Trauma’s Impact Discriminates

 

What one person experiences as traumatic, another may not.  Variables like personality, childhood experience, previous trauma, coping resources, general mental health and more will significantly influence the way you experience and process a difficult event.  So, its understandable - though not necessarily accurate -to find yourself thinking that if your sibling or your neighbor or the person in the article you just read, got through the same thing that you suffered with grit and determination, then so will you.  You may even be able to “power through” without help for a season.  However, powering thru trauma is like trying to hold back a river with a dam… it’s just a matter of time before things come apart.

 
 

Trauma is Trendy

 

 In 2022, burgeoning clinical insights into trauma converged with the stress of COVID to result in an increased public conversation about the topic.  Understanding of the prevalence of trauma was growing as use of the term in the public generalized.  People began referring to common daily hassles as “traumatic”.  A quick google search of the phrase ‘How do people feel about the word trauma’, produces an endless buffet of articles, op-ed’s, and Reddit posts ready to tell you how trauma is either used too much, or not enough.  On the one hand, this increased understanding of trauma and the destigmatization of discussing it, opened the door for persons previously hesitant to seek help.  On the other hand, colloquial use of the clinical term understandably raised suspicion that trauma is just another excuse for weakness or a lack of resilience.  While this is certainly true in some situations, the problem lies in a misunderstanding and mis-use of the term, “trauma”, and not in a lack of validity to the reality of its destructive presence when left unaddressed. 

 
 

What’s the difference between a Hard experience and a
Traumatic experience?

Three Types of Trauma

 

Traumatic events can be acute -a single, brief and unexpected event, like a car accident or an assault.  Although the experience may be brief, post-traumatic stress develops when the duration of the distress is extended and your mind stays locked in a heightened state of arousal.  

Traumatic events can also be chronic - a repeated and prolonged exposure to physically and/or emotionally distressing incidents.  Examples of chronic traumatic experiences might be child abuse, bullying, and poverty.  These lesser, but repeated, events are like a “death by a thousand cuts” and can occur on a spectrum from overtly violent to subtle and emotional. 

Trauma is considered complex when multiple and varied traumatic experiences - chronic and/or acute - are experienced across a prolonged period of time.  This is often the case in impoverished or conflict-ridden environments.
 

Understanding Trauma

 

Because of the unexpected and emotionally jarring nature of potentially traumatic events, our mind holds or stores the event differently than it would other daily experiences.  This altered psychological state puts the body into flight or fight  mode and sensitizes us to a broad array of triggers associated with the traumatic experience.  This psychological hyperarousal is of benefit if you are a soldier on the battlefield or if you are still living in an unsafe ucircumstance.  However, when come off of the battlefield or find your way to safety AND the mind fails to recognize this, then you  are now experiencing what psychology would call post traumatic stress.  The body stays locked in fight-or-flight mode; the memory is not moved into long-term storage.  This prolonged state of arousal has a cascading impact on our cognitive, emotional, relational and behavioral functioning that is disruptive to daily life and destructive to our physical, mental and relational health.  To cope, we begin actively avoiding situations which trigger thoughts, feelings and impulses associated with the trauma.
 

The Numbers and Trauma

 

  • 70% of adults will experience at least one traumatic event in their life.

  • 34.8 million American children are exposed to early childhood trauma at some point.  

  • The report for trauma is higher than Anxiety Disorders (19.1%) and Depression (7.2%)

 

Time heals a lot of things,
but it rarely heals trauma.
In fact, the impact of trauma only grows across time. 

 

When trauma is unaddressed, the impact on the mind and body across time is substantial,
particularly for children whose minds and bodies are still developing.

 
 

When trauma is left unaddressed, a CHILD can experience…

  • High release of stress hormones, increased heart rates and breathing, constricted blood vessels, activated sympathetic nervous system

  • Release of hormones that physically alter developing brain structure and function

  • Adverse impact on the developing immune system and hormonal systems

  • More time in life spent in fight-or-flight, making building healthy relationships, success at school, and future opportunities difficult

The impact of untreated trauma in ADULTS includes…

  • Feeling emotions in extremes - either too much (overwhelmed) or too little (shutdown)

  • Sleep disorders

  • Anxiety and panic attacks, irritability, detachment, depression, guilt, emotional reactivity, withdrawing from family, friends, and enjoyable activities

  • Extreme exhaustion, altered eating patterns, becoming hypervigilant and edgy, becoming easily startled 

  • Living in survival mode

  • Change to the DNA that transmits certain symptoms to the next generation

  • Mistrust of others and a felt sense that the world is unsafe

 
 

You CAN move through your trauma and find healing.

There is no way to erase the trauma you have experienced or eradicate it’s impact on your life.  We are broken people living in a fallen (and unsafe) world; for Christians, we expect that we will not know perfect peace, love and healing until we see Jesus face-to-face in the next life.  However, there is healing available to us in this life.  Jesus calls those who are weary and burdened to come to him.  Further, there are absolutely things that you can do - even today - to move your body out of fight-or-flight mode, to establish greater emotional stability and to begin processing the traumatic experiences you suffered.


 
 

Trauma Recovery Therapy 

With the help of a therapist trained in treating trauma you can learn how to better regulate the intense and disruptive emotional reactions to trauma triggers.  If your trauma(s) are chronic or complex - and if they occurred in your childhood - developing emotional resilience and mindfulness will take more time than if you suffered a single trauma as an adult.  Either way, a skilled therapist can help you develop resources to better manage the intense post-traumatic emotions and coach you in establishing supportive relationships. 

Once you’ve established that emotional stability, then you can begin
to work through and process the traumatic experiences and memories themselves.
  

A good therapist will educate you about the various therapeutic interventions that can accelerate this process and help you choose the most appropriate strategy for you.  Although trauma recovery therapy is hard work, you can rebuild trust and find a sense of safety in the world.  You can improve your relationships with others, strengthen your own family and disrupt the generational nature of trauma. 

You will experience greater physical health and find a healthy sense of empowerment.

 

 

Here are some things you can do now
to work toward healing and recovery

 
 

1.

 

Get Educated

The science of psychology has gained tremendous insights into the impact of trauma across the past 15 years.  As a result, there are many rich resources available to you.  Here are a few to get you started…

The Body Keeps The Score, Bessell VanDerKolk

Wounded Heart, Dan Allender

Suffering and The Heart of God, Diane Langberg

Mindsight, Dan Siegel

Headspace (phone app)

Calm (phone app)

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazzero

 
 

2.

Work on Emotional Regulation

Using one of the above resources, begin trying to regulate your emotional reactions better.  When you get emotionally flooded strive to calm your body again.  Slow down your breathing. Breathe in to a count of 4, hold to a count of 4, breathe out to a count of 4, hold to a count of 4; repeat.  Scan your body from head to toe for muscle tension and try to relax it.  When you find muscle groups that are tight, briefly clamp down tighter and then relax them.  Put in ear buds and focus on the music.  Picture yourself in a relaxing place (on a beach, in the mountains, etc.) and notice what you would see, hear, smell and feel in that place.  

3.

Practice Daily Meditation

For 10 - 20 minutes each day, use a phone app (Calm, Headspace) to learn how to meditate.  This type of meditation is somewhat different from Christian meditation where you focus on a biblical truth or passage of scripture.  This meditation is focused on relaxing your mind and learning to become a better student - and manager - of it.

4.

Begin Processing The Traumatic Event(s) (Maybe)

Before you attempt any of the following exercises, keep in mind that it is critical that you are in a safe place and able to hold a relatively calm emotional state - neither numbed out nor flooded - when you reflect on your trauma. Only after you’ve gotten good at managing your emotional reactions, can you begin processing your trauma.  This can be done through a variety of means including, writing it out, telling the story to a trusted person, drawing/sketching the trauma or expressing it through some creative or artistic expression.  These activities all help your mind come to understand the trauma in a new way and, as a result, begin moving the experience into long term memory where it will be less disruptive to your daily life. 

Meet the Authors

 
 
 

Stacey Foster

MA, LAPC

Stacey completed her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Richmont Graduate University, learning how to be the helper while Christ is being the Healer.  Stacey believes our souls long for harmony through a healthy balance of our mind, body, and spirit.  As such, she takes a holistic approach in her clinical work.  Believing we all have a story that matters, she focuses on helping people find what they need by understanding and owning their life story.  Stacey specializes in treating trauma and has received training in Somatic Experiencing.  Utilizing somatic, emotion focused, and cognitive awareness, Stacey walks with others to help them understand themselves and their story in a new way.  Through the power of self-awareness, healing relationships, and the truth of one’s identity in Christ, restoration can be found.

 
 
 
 
 

Jeff Pipe

PsyD, Psychologist

Jeff completed his PsyD in Clinical Psychology at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology and his MA in Biblical Counseling at Colorado Christian University.  Jeff has been working with couples and men struggling with sexual compulsivity since 1994.  He now specializes in treating relational traumas and has extensive experience working with affair recovery.  Jeff is certified in EMDR and has received training in Internal Family Systems, Emotion-Focused Therapy and a variety of other techniques relevant to treating trauma and dissociation.