The understanding of trauma and its effects on us has advanced tremendously in recent decades.
The leading trauma researchers are making breakthrough discoveries, proven through neuroscientific research and practically validated through the treatment of those affected by traumatic experiences.
We now know that trauma imprints itself in the body and changes how our brains and nervous systems function. It follows that the healing of the effects of trauma takes more than just talk therapy or counselling alone.
Single or repeated traumatic events, when our safety or even our lives are seriously threatened, can leave profound consequences in us.
We carry some memories of traumatic events consciously, but we might repress others. Some are too extreme, or take place when we are very young, even before birth. Repeated events from which we cannot escape can cause particularly severe mental health problems. The trauma becomes engraved in us so deeply that we constantly relive it with various triggers.
Not everything that affects us emotionally is a traumatic experience.
Psychological trauma is defined by how an individual experiences an event (or events), in which his or her life, physical integrity or sanity are threatened, and which is impossible to emotionally process and integrate at time. The individual's vulnerability plays a big role in this, which is why traumatic experiences in childhood have a particularly strong impact.
If you want to learn more about trauma: Judith Herman, Bessel van der Kolk, Stephen Porges, Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, Richard Schwartz, Janina Fisher, Ruth Lanius, are among the world's most important trauma researchers. More popular knowledge is collected by Gabor Mate, who combines the research of others in his work and presents it in a reader-friendly way.
Their body of work can be accessed by reading books, reviewing articles, and watching their many educational videos uploaded to free platforms.
The development of psychological trauma depends on each individual and their vulnerability. Roughly speaking, these are the events in which our safety or life is at risk and over which we have no influence. Trauma can be caused by a single event or repeated, long-term exposure to traumatic events.
Below are the most common single events that can cause trauma:
• Physical or sexual assault
• Serious traffic accident
• Sudden death of a loved one
• Natural disaster
• Witnessing difficult events
Long-term exposure to traumatic events causes even more serious consequences:
• Repeated verbal, physical or sexual violence (within or outside the family)
• Severe natural disasters with long-term consequences
• Life-threatening illness or long-term hospitalization
• Danger to the life of a loved one
• War - as a victim or a soldier
• Kidnapping
Childhood trauma leaves the most dire consequences. It is particularly traumatic for a child if he or she doesn’t receive safety from parents or guardians, who represent the only possible source of safety:
• Intimidating parents (threats, cruel punishments, ...)
• Exposure to domestic violence, witnessing violence
• Parents neglect or abandon the child
• Frightened parents (anxious parents who cannot ensure safety)
• Parental divorce
• Parental mental illness
• Death of a parent or a guardian
In adulthood, single and repeated traumatic events have a greater impact on those who did not develop a secure attachment with their parents in childhood, because they are therefore more vulnerable. Thus, severe psychological trauma can develop regardless of age.
Recently, there is more and more talk about transgenerational trauma, where the consequences of traumatic experiences are passed on from generation to generation. This means that traumatized parents pass on the consequences of their own traumatization to their children, and they pass it on to their children,...
By working on ourselves, we can stop the course of transgenerational trauma and ensure that we do not pass our suffering on to others.
THE MOST COMMON ISSUES OF TRAUMATIZED PERSONS:
In response to traumatic events, we sometimes develop defence mechanisms, also called adaptations, to help us survive. Over time, these adaptations can lose their primary role and begin to do us harm.
HOW MANY OF THE LISTED ISSUES DO YOU RECOGNIZE IN YOURSELF?
We may be aware of a past traumatic experience and remember the events well, or it can be hidden deep within us. It often manifests as a body memory, especially if the traumatic experience affected us in early childhood (perhaps even before we were born), when the brain was not yet fully developed, or the events were so extreme that there was a temporary interruption between the brain centres responsible for the formation of memories. Early trauma can leave us with particularly dire consequences.
Our organism is always trying to return to homeostasis, to internal balance. We even carry mechanisms in us that are in charge of self-healing. If we are severely psychologically damaged due to difficult experiences, these mechanisms can be weakened or disabled. Therefore, it is not surprising that our organism develops a wide variety of adaptations in the struggle for its survival.
Unfortunately, these adaptations can get us into trouble, because these are the very effects of the trauma we are talking about. Fortunately, we now understand that even such severe problems arose as adaptations or defence mechanisms that helped us survive in the past, so at least we can see their inner purpose in a positive light.
In the healing process, we use various techniques to explore our inner experience - everything from thoughts and emotions to less obvious bodily feelings, impulses and hard-to-describe sensations. We develop the ability to feel and at the same time be aware of what we feel, thereby taking more control over our inner experience, which is of utmost importance in the healing process.
We devote a lot of attention to understanding our own defence mechanisms (adaptations) and the value they held for us in the past. We learn to distinguish between real danger and triggers that come from past experiences; we get closer to ourselves and slowly develop a more positive attitude towards ourselves.
Healing can take a long time and is sometimes painful, but it can bring curiosity, self-compassion, gratitude, self-respect and light into our lives.
Most problems can be dealt with in counselling, but some require the knowledge of other experts. If I assume that the client's life is in danger or that the client might need medical, psychiatric or psychotherapeutic treatment, we refer him or her accordingly.