Trauma

Psychological trauma is a response to an event that a person finds highly stressful. Examples include being in a war zone, a natural disaster, or an accident. Trauma can cause a wide range of physical and emotional symptoms (Medical News Today).

  • You can experience trauma symptoms in response to any event you find to be physically or emotionally threatening or harmful.

  • Not everyone who experiences a stressful event will develop “trauma”.

  • There are various types of trauma (not just PTSD).

  • Duration of symptoms vary - some can resolve after a few days to weeks, while others will feel more long-term or chronic.

Types of trauma:

  • Acute trauma: From a single stressful event.

  • Chronic trauma: From repeated exposure to highly stressful events. Examples include cases of child abuse, bullying, or domestic violence.

  • Complex trauma: From exposure to multiple traumatic events over the lifespan.

Symptoms you may experience:

  • Hyperawareness of surroundings (“feeling jumpy” and paranoid)

  • Fear

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Irritability

  • Anger

  • Hopelessness

  • Guilt

  • Shame

  • Intrusive thoughts or memories (flashbacks, nightmares)

  • Avoidance of people, places or things that remind you of the trauma

  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Panic attacks

  • Physical symptoms: increased heart rate, fatigue, headaches, poor digestion, excessive sweating

Window of Tolerance

One understanding of our body’s response to trauma is through Polyvagal Theory, and thinking of our reactions as it relates to our window of tolerance. Our Window of Tolerance is our “comfort zone” or zone where we are most able to function most effectively and responsively to our surroundings. When we leave this window, we enter Fight, Flight or Freeze mode. Our nervous system, as a way to protect us, will enter these modes in reaction to what we perceive to be danger in our environments. This is adaptive and useful ONLY when there is real danger in our environments. When we have experienced trauma in our lives, our brains and bodies may believe at times that we are back reliving these traumatic experiences, or be in a chronic state of protection in fear that this trauma will return to threaten us again. When we are in Fight or Flight mode, we may experience severe anxiety, paranoia, racing thoughts, panic attacks, impulsiveness and more. When we enter Freeze mode, our bodies as a result may experience dissociation, lethargy, fatigue and more. The aim is to learn ways to return the body to it’s window of tolerance as much as possible to achieve more nervous system regulation. Learning to identify moments where your memories of trauma are intruding, and reminding yourself of when you are safe with the right supports and coping tools can help you recover from chronic symptoms bringing you out of your window due to your trauma history.

window of tolerance.jpg

Through therapy, we can work together to identify and face the root cause of your trauma and then find ways to better manage and gradually relieve your symptoms.

I now offer EMDR therapy as a treatment for trauma.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy treatment that was designed to alleviate distress from traumatic memories. It uses bilateral stimulation to access and re-process traumatic memories and bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR therapy, emotional distress is relieved, negative cognitions are reformulated, and trauma response in the body is reduced (Read more - https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/).

trauma+not+a+life+sentence.jpg