We have often heard of the word trauma in our everyday conversations. Sometimes we describe something as having been very traumatising, but what does the word really mean?
And then there are a host of other clinical words too to add to the confusion, like PTSD(Post Traumatic stress disorder), childhood trauma, complex trauma.
Lets unbox this word for better understanding.
Trauma is the experience wherein we experience a disruption of a protective barrier in our mind, which protects us from harmful and painful excessive stimulation. Thus when something painful occurs and it goes beyond our threshold of toleration, then that experience becomes traumatic. This can happen in response to one off event or in response eg being robbed at gun point (which is an example of PTSD) or it can be a long standing history of host of traumatic experiences.(Which is a form of Complex Trauma)
The word is almost synonymous with something felt to be unbearable. There is a massive disruption in functioning, amounting to a kind of breakdown. It is a breakdown of an established way of going about one's life, of established beliefs about the predictability of the world, and trust in the fundamental goodness of life is shattered.
As an experience it doesn't always lend itself into neatly packaged diagnostic categories and might take the form of unexplained panic attacks, bouts of low mood, recurring nightmares, flashbacks of the event, or something more longstanding like unexplained forms of self jeopardizing patterns which hampers one’s relationship.
Additionally the effects of trauma are not necessarily well contained within a particular timeline and something eg that might have happened in your childhood can continue to impact your life as an adult or there can be a delayed response. That’s why its not surprising at all that when one comes to therapy, one has a hunch or inclination to talk about something that had happened a long time back.
Its effect on us can be far reaching and deep, in terms of deeply affecting how we view the world, how safe we find it to be, how much we are able to hold onto a sense of hope in face of more challenging scenarios.
How might therapy help with something this deep seeded one may ask. Well think of it this way, the therapist at the beginning works as an apparatus and contains everything within oneself what the person isnt able to tolerate in himself. For a while the therapist holds hope for the both of them, and slowly helps the person to find words to describe what happened, help them make sense of these painful experiences for it to become more digestible. This sort of supportive space is invaluable in making the person feel contained and helps in restoring one’s functionality, one’s capacity to think and gradually feel like a whole person who feels safe and in charge of their life. It can be a slow process, for the changes that come about are substantial and thus take time.
If therapy is something you feel you might not be ready for at this point, there are still few things you can do which are helpful to make sense of any emotionally jarring experience. The idea is to start looking within oneself to take note of what we are experiencing. Journaling can be very helpful with that, for its a form of self dialogue,it gives us a concrete outlet for what otherwise feels like vague hard to understand feelings.
Mindfulness based practices also help immensely to step out of unhelpful thought loops or overwhelming feelings and be able to view these from a distance. Its easier to make sense of what we are going through, when we are not caught up in the midst of it. The idea behind these practices is to establish a reflective space within oneself and these practices are not necessarily a “Quick fix”.
Some of these helpful tools are attached below:
(Attack sitting meditation pdf
Please also attach any journaling pdf if you have)
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