Welcome back, everyone. This week, I thought we could discuss how trauma manifests in the body. If you are anything like me, you will notice how your body carries tension occasionally. However, most of us rarely ever see the trauma we have in our bodies or how that trauma affects the overall function of our bodies.
According to experts, trauma is not always physically held in the muscles or bones. However, this trauma triggers the body to protect itself from perceived threats stored in the memory and emotional centers of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala. This activates the body whenever a situation reminds the person of the traumatic events.
Learning to recognize such trauma and then knowing how to deal with it is critical to your overall health and well-being. If you are interested in learning about this subject, please stick with me as I take this next step toward becoming positively improved.
How is trauma caused?
Many of us are traumatized by life events or situations for various reasons. However, not many seek an understanding of what caused the trauma. For those of you who are curious about this, trauma is caused by exposure to traumatic events, such as physical abuse or losing someone you love.
It can be caused by having a severe illness, watching someone you love deal with a serious illness, or being caught up in a natural disaster. However, it should be no secret that some of the worst trauma done is by watching or becoming subject to war or sexual, mental, or emotional abuse.
If you are the one with the trauma, there are questions to ask, such as: what is the source of my trauma? What are the symptoms? What are triggers? And what will help me to heal? When you can answer these questions, you will be on your way toward recovery.
How unprocessed trauma manifests in the body
So, now that you understand what causes trauma let’s take a look at how it affects the body. As you probably know, in this day and age, stress hurts the body in various ways. The same could be said about trauma. However, trauma can be the source of some pretty severe issues taking place within the body, for example. It can include exhaustion, confusion, depression, anxiety, agitation, emotional numbness, dissociation, confusion, or physical arousal.
There can even be There are physical manifestations as well, such as cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure, stroke, or heart attacks. There has even been research to connect trauma to fibromyalgia and general inflammation in the body, which can lead to autoimmune disorders and organ fibrosis.
Thus, trauma should always be taken seriously, and even more importantly, it has to be recognized, dealt with, and healed before you can ever navigate your body back to optimum health.
Steps you take to process the trauma and begin healing
Now that you hopefully understand that unresolved trauma can cause even more problems for you. Let’s now change direction a bit and look at ways you can go about healing from this trauma. You must understand that you can not undo your past. You might never completely forget about this part of your life experience, but you can embrace it and accept it for what it is. A tool in which to learn how to navigate life a bit better and to help shape for the better.
In most cases, people allow their trauma to define them, but it should not be what caused the trauma that should define you but the action you took to resolve the trauma that should be used to define you. In taking action, you tell yourself and the world that you are not a victim and must make the active choice to heal.
Now, one of the first and most important steps you can take to begin the healing process. Below is a list of other thing you can do to aid in the healing process.
- Yoga
- Regular exercises
- Working on your shadow self
- Practicing meditation or stillness
- Journaling
- Doing extraordinary little things for yourself, you do any kind of self-care
- Practice alternative therapies such as EFT, REBT, Sound therapy, or TF-CBT
Methods to keep on the path of improved health
One of the keys is to maintain yourself. You must have a support base to stay connected through the good and bad times. It is also just as important to have things you can do that will help you through challenging moments that are your go-to methods. Things such as finding a quiet spot and allowing yourself to be still and breathe there are mental chaos and emotional distress. Or take some time and do some journal writing to help you work through the situation and see how you can safely and positively move forward.
It could be having a friend that you could stop and talk to about your challenge or situation. Sometimes, facing the issues head-on will help you stay on the right track, or you might find it more helpful to talk to a professional. Whatever it is, it all comes down to what works for you. Everyone is different; therefore, what works for one person only sometimes works for someone else. You must find what works for you and stick to it. By doing so, you can remain on a healthy and productive path.
Final Thoughts
So here we are again, at the closing of yet another weekly newsletter. My greatest hope is that you understand trauma a bit better and, more importantly, you understand how trauma affects the body, along with the steps to get you started on the healing process. If you have been deeply traumatized throughout your life, I strongly encourage you to seek out professional help to begin navigating this process toward healing.
If you know someone who might benefit from this information, I invite you to share this knowledge with them. If you would like to discuss this topic in a bit more detail or share some of your thoughts, I encourage you to do so in the section below.
As always, I am so grateful that you shared your time to take this step toward becoming positively improved with me. I hope you will be back next week and bring a friend who might want to join us in our journal toward self-discovery and self-improvement. Until next week, namaste.
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