A Fresh Start: Life After Trauma

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Have you experienced a very upsetting, frightening, or traumatic event at some point in your life? When this sort of thing happens, the emotions that come after can be intense, confusing, and scary. It can be difficult to move past these feelings on your own. Disturbing thoughts and symptoms may also develop years later, when you think the trauma is buried in the past.

Living with Traumatic Memories

Trauma can result in extreme emotional reactions generated by something scary, unexpected, or uncontrollable. The memories arising from such experiences may not get processed in the typical fashion because the logical, reasoning part of the brain is incapacitated during traumatic experiences. You act now and think later. However, whether the trauma happened many years ago or very recently, its profound effect on your psyche may last longer than expected.

The emotional toll from a traumatic event is not exclusive to the people who directly experience it. Every day, mass media bombards the general public with horrific news and vivid images of natural disasters, violent crimes, and tragic accidents in many parts of the world. Viewing these images repeatedly can weaken your sense of security, especially with human-caused events such as terrorist attacks.

People have different responses to experiences. What may be traumatic to you may not bother others at all. When you’re a survivor, an eyewitness or live in continuous exposure to distressing events, it is understandable to feel anxious, angry, afraid, and uncertain. If an experience leaves you feeling powerless and hopeless about the future, you can take steps to recover and start living life again.

When Painful Emotions Take Over

If you have unresolved trauma, you may begin to experience intrusive symptoms. These symptoms can make relationships complicated. Childhood trauma may make it difficult for you to trust or open up to people around you. Or, if you have survived an abusive relationship, you may become overly cautious or the reverse, emotionally numb.

You may feel physical aches, pains, and muscle tension as flashbacks and nightmares of the traumatic event torment you. In an attempt to distance yourself from the upsetting memories, you may bury yourself in work, but unresolved trauma can leave you exhausted from shock, anger, and guilt.

The good news is that you can work through these difficult feelings. With the help of a competent trauma therapist, you can achieve healing and wellness without feeling that painful memories are controlling you.

Knowing When to Seek Treatment

Most intense feelings following a disaster or traumatic event are temporary and usually start to go away within a short period of time. If your symptoms are persistent to the extent that it significantly disrupts your ability to function, the help of a professional may benefit you.

If you experience the following, it may be time to take action:

  • Regular nightmares with horrifying images or recounts of the traumatic event
  • Continuous reexperiencing of the event or flashbacks as if the event is happening all over again
  • Difficulty in maintaining relationships
  • Self-harming thoughts and behavior
  • Avoidance of things that remind you of the traumatic event
  • Unsettling feelings, such as anger, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, that persist for longer than six weeks after the experience

Moving Forward After Trauma

Nobody needs to live in a world of unprocessed traumatic memories. If you have unresolved trauma, whether from a major or minor experience, you are certainly not alone. Professional help from a counselor might be what you need to get out of fight-or-flight mode. Getting early help allows you the best chance to recover from the effects of trauma and move forward with your life.

The treatment you need depends on the kind of trauma you’re experiencing and your personality. The key is in finding a professional who can tailor therapy to best meet your unique needs. Consider seeing a trauma specialist independently contracted with Carolina Counseling Services – Fuquay-Varina, NC.

You deserve to move forward after trauma. You cannot control what happens to you, but you can decide what to do after. Call CCS today to schedule your first appointment.

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