Life After Trauma

THE PAST

Trauma is one of the most dangerous occurrences to the human body.

Trauma occurs when stress hormones fail to mobilize the body over a prolonged period of time. Trauma does not only include an extremely visceral experience such as a car crash, rape, physical abuse, or fighting a war. In fact, research shows that continuous stress over a long duration of time such as childhood bullying, neglect from a parent, or an abusive relationship can equally count as a traumatic experience.

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Trauma also shows up on societal, cultural, and institutional levels. Groups of people who are marginalized and oppressed can suffer every-day trauma that can have emotional distress and psychological disruption (increased cognitive distortion, self-criticism).

In particular, racial trauma is ever-present in the Black, African American, and People of Color (POC) communities throughout the United States. From the historical level, slavery, post-reconstruction, and modern refugee experiences create generational & biological effects of trauma. From a contemporary level, every-day racial trauma shows up through personal experiences of racism, discrimination, and micro-aggressions. 

Whether it is physical, emotional, mental, or cultural trauma, the grave truth about trauma is its ability to live fragmented throughout your entire body and brain. When a traumatic experience occurs, parts of our brain go offline. During this time, the part of the brain that is responsible for making sense of time (creating a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end) shuts down. It’s this occurrence that allows our bodies to be triggered by isolated senses such as sound, smell, sight, movements, etc. 

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Even though traumatic experiences are in the past, their fragmented memories that live in the brain and body continue to affect the present.

THE PRESENT

The original and/or traumatic first instance of fight, flight, and freeze came from a real, visceral external threat. People who struggle with overcoming trauma remain triggered by any number of things. It’s in these moments that our nervous system produces stress hormones which cause us to go into fight, flight, or freeze mode in the present moment.

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Many marginalized and oppressed communities are constantly being exposed to present moment triggers. Especially people in Black, Brown, & Indigenous communities that suffer due to racism & discrimination continue to experience trauma in the present moment while simultaneously trying to heal past trauma. Racial trauma symptoms can show up as distrust, guilt, shame, hopelessness, and anger. 

Trauma is originally sourced as an external threat, but as trauma continues to grow and left unhealed, we start to turn flight, fight, and freeze into internal perceived threats. A fight response could represent anger, disgust, or anxiety. A flight response means avoidance and numbing. Lastly, freeze or collapse response can show up as ruminations and overthinking.

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The truth about experiencing the triggering of a past trauma requires an understanding of the body and the mind. During these triggering moments, our body does not know and cannot tell the difference between the past and the present. When we cannot tell the difference, we remain scared and unsafe in the present. Remaining in a state of fear only allows past or present traumas to continue, making people feel helpless or hopeless. Our body and mind are reacting to the present moment through a trauma lens which is wildly misinformed.

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In addition to understanding the body and the mind, the present moment work is also about the macro-environment of cultural and institutional systems. These systems play an equal role in coping with and contextualizing trauma.

Our day to day life is being controlled by past traumas until we heal.

THE FUTURE

Healing trauma as we move forward starts with understanding our own physical responses to trauma. There are a number of ranging traumatic effects to our body including numbness, dissociation, hyperactivity, triggering, alexithymia (not being able to describe feelings), and depersonalization (losing a sense of self).

Healing from trauma is a path where you befriend your body, change the traumatic memories into normal memories, train your nervous system to not respond to false triggers, and practice mindfulness to regain your sense of self. Everyone experiences trauma differently due to different external stimuli; however, it is important to find meaning, create context, and understand your own reactions to perceived threats.

All of these paths overlap in some way which makes healing from trauma not as complex as it seems. However, the real work that goes into healing trauma is consistency. Specifically, consistent practice of self-awareness, mindfulness, or any number of trauma therapies. Once we learn to rewire our brain through practicing self-compassion, we recreate a sense of agency in our own lives.

I bring well-researched methods and years of experience into my practice so that you learn to stabilize internal distress, stay present in your body, and increase your ability to tolerate strong feelings and emotions. I believe in taking a step back to break down any social, racial, cultural, and societal influences into the trauma space, especially validating the impact of racial trauma may have on your life. I believe in the power of connection, service, and community that will create an opportunity for healing.