Understanding Trauma

Physical trauma is obvious. You get a bruise or scrape, and you know you have suffered physical trauma. But other forms of trauma, like mental and emotional abuse, are not as obvious – rendering them harder to escape. Even though they don’t leave physical scars, they can leave mental, emotional, and spiritual scars.

Within the field of mental health care and addiction recovery centers, there has been a shift to provide “trauma-informed treatment,” recognizing that most people, especially people who have been impoverished and/or addicted, have likely developed many trauma-related triggers. But even though trauma is so wide-spread, there is still a relative scarcity of mental health practitioners who know how to properly address it.

The overarching problem with trauma is that it reduces a person’s physiological ability to cope with the ups and downs of life. According to Dr. Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychiatry, everyone is born with a unique window of tolerance. The upper ledge is a state of hyperarousal, in which the stress response activates because the individual’s limit has been reached. The lower ledge is a state of hypo-arousal, characterized by apathy, lethargy, and boredom. Ideally, people exist within the widow of tolerance, where they feel motivated, moderately aroused, and in control. But according to Dr. Siegel, trauma begins to close the window of tolerance. So while a young child may have a wide open window, by the time the child becomes an adult, he or she is much less tolerant of environmental stimuli, entering into a state of hyper-arousal at every slight raindrop or bend in the road of life. When this happens, we may develop certain coping mechanisms to avoid being triggered..

Below are a list of mental states associated with trauma.

Mental States Associated with Trauma

Survivor Mentality 

There are two ways to respond to trauma: a survivor mentality or a victim mentality. The survivor mentality is kind of like the glass half-full response. For instance, if a woman undergoes a mastectomy to treat breast cancer, she can choose to respond resiliently, happy proclaiming to the world that she beat breast cancer. Or she can choose to feel like cancer’s victim. Both are understandable reactions in the face of trauma, but one (the survivor mentality) is more conducive to mental and physical wellbeing. Another face of survivor mentality is the tendency to want to control the environment. People who have survived extreme trauma tend to want to protect themselves at all cost, ensuring that what happened to them before won’t happen again. They primarily act out of fear. Many people who are Type A go-getters are actually acting out of fear resulting from past trauma.

Numbing

This response goes hand-in-hand with depression. People who experience repeated trauma tend to shut off all feelings to avoid pain. They reach their limit of hyper-arousal and become numb.

Stress Resilience

Resilience is an individual’s ability to adapt and respond in a healthy way to life’s challenges and adversities. At its heart, resilience is a recognition that life is not “fair,” and that we each must make the best of the cards we have been dealt. Instead of focusing on weaknesses, people who have developed resilience leverage their strengths. Resilience shields the body and mind from the negative effects of stress and trauma. Developing resilience is a powerful step for recovering from trauma. Resilience factors include:

1. Making realistic plans and executing them
2. Controlling strong impulses and emotions
3. Developing communication and problem-solving skills
4. Having realistic self-confidence and self-esteem

The following protective factors help children develop resilience:

• Cultural identity
• Meeting basic physiological needs (like stable housing and access to healthy food)
• Social support Trauma Addiction People who have experienced repeated trauma are accustomed to hyper-arousal – their normal state. They may not remember any other way of being. Trauma becomes their norm, and they develop a “compulsion to repeat.” For instance, a woman who was sexually abused might become a prostitute for a violent pimp.

Stockholm Syndrome/Cycle of Abuse

People who have been abused may develop positive feelings toward their abuser, especially if they are kept in captivity, as may also happen in a controlling relationship. These positive feelings can perpetuate the cycle of abuse. Less than ten percent of people in captivity exhibit this tendency (referred to as Stockholm Syndrome).

Dissociation/Depersonalization A person who experiences trauma may begin to dissociate (or detach from his or her surroundings) or depersonalize (detach from other people or even from oneself). Clinically, this is termed emotional numbing, one of the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Possible traumatic events include, but are not limited to: 

• Birth

• Abuse (Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, Physical, Mental, and Emotional)

• Death of Loved One

• Prolonged Caretaking

• Chronic, Unmanaged High Levels of Stress

• Seeing Violent Behaviors (Domestic Violence, Physical Fights, War, Abuse, Media)

• Accidents (House Fire, Fall, Auto Accident)

• Natural Disasters

• Serious Injury

• Bullying

• War

• Fired or Laid Off From Job

• Poverty or Changing Socioeconomic Status

• Hospitalization or Surgery

• Separation from Loved Ones

• Neglect

• Ending of a Relationship

• Humiliating or Deeply Embarrassing Situation

• Diagnosis of Illness or Condition

• Life Changes Due to Illness or Condition

Keep in mind that mental, physical, and emotional symptoms of trauma can occur immediately after the trauma (immediate onset) or a while after the trauma (delayed onset). 

Researchers have long understood that positive emotions boost immunity and speed healing from wounds, injuries, and illnesses. In contrast, negative emotions exhaust the immune system and slow proper healing. If you feel that you have been affected by past traumatic events, take this Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire to see if you may have been affected by traumatic events.

Below is a list of Physiological and Psychological Symptoms Related to Trauma, If you feel that any of the symptoms you are feeling are a result of trauma, then maybe you would want to join the STEW Project’s Safe Place Mailing List where I send bi-weekly tips and stories to help you heal. You can sign up for that here. I hope this helped.

In Good Health,

Amber Stew