Texas Holistic Psychotherapists Talk About How To Understand Trauma, How It Affects A Person And How To Treat It.
It’s common knowledge that past trauma can change you. It can also lead to anxiety, depression, and toxic relationship patterns. Over the last 30 years or so there have been revolutionary changes within the way psychotherapists approach trauma. We now understand, as a collective, that the mind, body, nervous system, and spirit are all involved in healing from trauma.
What Is the Impact Of Trauma On The Brain And Body?
As psychotherapists, we know that the root of many mental health concerns is trauma. Trauma affects how you feel about yourself on a day-to-day basis, how you relate to others, and may also affect your physical health.
When our nervous system experiences trauma, we can get stuck in a stress or “fight, flight or freeze” response. When this happens, we develop coping mechanisms in life for anything that our nervous system deems to be dangerous even if we’re not seeing it as dangerous on a conscious level. For example, this might be anything from a car cutting us off in traffic, our partner loading the dishwasher the wrong way or a significant loss in life. Anytime our brains perceive something as threatening, we automatically respond with a defense in order to protect ourselves, which may look like an argument (fight), anxiety (flight), or shut down/depression (freeze or flight).
A part of the brain called the hippocampus grows when we learn new information; it also increases in size when your brain heals from a traumatic event. Whether you receive trauma-informed therapy or build a new supportive relationship with a partner/friend/companion, your brain is quite literally changing and rewiring itself to adapt to this new mindset.
When we have experienced trauma, the part of the brain that regulates emotions becomes overactive. Your brain sends signals to your body when it feels threatened, which can cause physical pain, discomfort, and anxiety throughout the body. In order to help our brain and body to get into a calm, centered place, we need to reteach it that we are safe and that we do not need to feel threatened. As holistic therapists, working with the mind and body can help us achieve this. Sensory awareness exercises such as smelling your favorite scents, taking a moment to stretch, drop your shoulders, unclenching your jaw, and breathing techniques can all be ways of improving our nervous system response.
What Are The Signs Of A Person Suffering From Trauma?
There are multiple kinds of trauma and each trauma affects people in different ways. Acute trauma means that you have experienced a life-threatening or altering event. You may have experienced it at any point in life and it can affect you anytime. The effects of a Big T trauma can look different for everyone who is suffering. Some people who have suffered a traumatic event can appear shaken or disorientated after the trauma or may seem withdrawn and not able to respond to a conversation as they usually could.
Another sign of a person suffering from a traumatic event is anxiety. Those who have anxiety caused by trauma can have night terrors, poor concentration, mood swings, or experience unwanted thoughts surrounding the event.
Chronic trauma means that you have experienced repeated and prolonged exposure to life-altering experiences such as abuse or violence in some way. Someone who has experienced chronic trauma may experience anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, or physical illness.
Trauma sufferers may not show any signs of a disturbance for days, months, or even years after the trauma has occurred. Sometimes the trauma may resurface years later when we enter into a new relationship, come across something that triggers the event, or have something else in life that reminds us of the trauma.
Should You Be Hopeful During Trauma Therapy?
To give you the short answer, Yes.
We believe that whatever you have been through in life, you will be able to heal. It’s never too late to begin your healing journey, whether the wounds are fresh or many years old; you are able to change, heal, and grow. Trauma therapy can help you heal.
We know this because it is scientifically proven that our brains can change. It’s called neuroplasticity or re-shaping our brains. Try to imagine your brain to be like moldable clay, so when you’re learning how to heal from your past your brain gets re-molded and adapts to this new mindset. That’s where trauma therapy comes in.
How Do We Help You Heal from Trauma?
There are many positive and effective ways to retrain your brain and body to no longer continue the negative coping mechanisms that are causing you difficulty.
To begin with, adding mindfulness-based techniques to your daily routine can help deactivate the fear center. This is possibly the most vital step when you’re beginning your healing journey as when we have quieted the fear center we can begin to focus on strengthening the thinking and emotion centers.
We work on decreasing your stress response reaction so that your nervous system will be able to be in a calm, relaxed state. When this happens, your mind can learn new ways to think and cope with triggers.
We offer ways to help you retrain your brain in our individual therapy sessions here at Evolve Therapy. We use a wide range of techniques including DBT, somatic therapy, and trauma-informed yoga therapy. Our trauma therapists are here to help and support you, this isn’t something you have to go through alone.
When you begin your trauma therapy you can meet with your skilled trauma therapist at our office in Austin, TX, or anywhere in the state with online therapy in Texas. Then, we will work together to help you heal from your trauma and support you through finding your inner peace.
Begin Trauma Therapy in Texas Today
Your journey to peace can begin today. You don’t have to stay in this place of pain forever. At our therapy practice in Austin, TX you can meet with a trauma therapist who will work with you to heal from your trauma while establishing a foundation of inner peace. We offer in-person sessions and online therapy in Texas, so you can meet with us from wherever you are in the state. If you’re ready to get started with your healing journey please:
Contact Evolve Therapy and fill out a consultation form
Speak with one of our caring therapists
Start living life without the weight of your past
Other Services at Evolve Therapy
At our Austin, TX based therapy practice, our therapists are proud of the unique services we offer. All of our approaches are based in neuroscience and we keep the mind, body, soul connection at the center of our healing techniques. Our therapists are passionate about helping others through whatever is holding them back. Whether you need help healing from eating disorders, anxiety, or depression, we are here to help. Additionally, we can help through yoga therapy or even end of life therapy. If you’re not quite ready to get started, please explore our blog to learn more about us and what we offer.
