How Trauma Affects Our Mental and Physical Health: 3 Tips to Heal
What is trauma?
Trauma is an event that causes distress to your mind and body; so much so that you have difficulty processing it. It’s a lasting, physical and emotional response that our minds and bodies hold onto after a distressing event or multiple events.
Gabor Maté, author of ‘The Myth of Normal’ describes trauma as “a constellation of hardships, composed of the wound itself and the residual burdens that our woundedness imposes on our bodies and souls: the unresolved emotions they visit upon us; the coping dynamics they dictate; the tragic melodramatic or neurotic scripts we unwittingly but inexorably live out; and not least, the toll these take on our bodies.”
Trauma affects our whole body system. Survivors of trauma (see this link to understand the different types of trauma) are known to experience weakened immune system weakness, susceptibility to chronic pain, migraines, high sensitivity to stimuli, multiple sclerosis, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
Knowing this, how could we not take a mind-body approach to healing? We can’t just treat our physical and mental symptoms with medication to soothe them. In order to heal, we must look at the whole mind and body system.
How does trauma affect our nervous system?
“Trauma is not what happens to you but what happens inside of you” – Gabor Maté
When we go through trauma, it changes the way we see, feel, and process experiences and relationships. Trauma also affects all aspects of our health. Research has shown that traumatic experiences change the way the cells in our bodies operate.
When our nervous system experiences trauma, it goes into a state of stress and can stay there for long periods of time if we don’t know how to process the trauma.
In this case, our nervous system starts to protect us from any other kinds of situations that could potentially hurt us. On one hand, this is beautiful! However, over time, we start to become hypervigilant about anything that seems even remotely similar to the distressing event(s) we went through. Once this happens, our nervous system starts to react to experiences that we don’t actually need protection from.
Furthermore, the body starts to become locked and the nervous system sends signals of danger to our physical body to induce pain. The reason this happens is because it perceives the emotional and mental pain to be too much, so the brain says: well the body can feel pain here (e.g. headaches, physical pain, gut issues, depression, anxiety, fatigue, etc.) because physical pain is more widely accepted than emotional suffering.
How does trauma affect our mental health?
“By impeling us to suppress hurt and unwanted parts of the psyche, it fragments the self. Until seen and acknowledged, it is also a barrier to growth.” – Gabor Maté
Trauma negatively affects our self-esteem, lowers our confidence, and builds up a wall of defenses, which we end up living behind.
For instance, if you were shamed over and over again as a child, e.g. receiving criticism for the way you were, this could have been traumatic. In later life, you might find that you’re hypersensitive to any feedback from others, whether it's constructive or not. You might always feel hurt or “not good enough” when someone confronts you, like at work or in your relationships.
Many mental health diagnoses correlate to someone who has had trauma in their life. Knowing this, we must take a trauma-informed approach to all mental health treatment, which includes mind and body practices.
3 tips to work with trauma
1) Soothe your body and remind your mind that it’s safe
Since trauma lives in our bodies, we must take a body-centered approach. So, the best thing you can do is start to establish a relationship with your body and listen to its signals of stress. How does your body feel when you’re anxious? How does it feel when you’re angry, sad or shut down? How does it feel when you’re happy, joyful or excited?
You can use all of this information to soothe your body when you feel distressed.
Another effective way to calm a distressed nervous system is by repeating the mantra “I am safe” while taking deep belly breaths into your abdomen. I know it may seem simple, or even inauthentic at first, but keep trying and establish that safe relationship with your body. It’s one of the most amazing tools I can teach you!
2) Connect with others
Connecting with supportive family members, friends, and even strangers can help you process your trauma. Talking about your experience in a safe, non-judgmental space can help you get through the most challenging times.
3) Get support
When dealing with trauma, it’s important to work with a qualified mental health professional. A professional can help you identify the source of your trauma, provide coping strategies, and offer support. There really is no alternative to seeking help for trauma. We can’t do this work alone, and oftentimes we need that support system in order for our bodies to heal and find safety.
How to get support for your trauma
I am honored to help people with trauma along their healing journey. I offer psychotherapy to residents of Texas and Utah, and nervous system coaching sessions wherever you are in the world. If you want to grow in your healing journey and make exponential changes, I would love to be your guiding support.
Click here to book your free 20-minute therapy or coaching intro call
If you suffer from chronic mental or physical pain, I’m currently working on a new, transformative mind-body healing program, which I’ll be offering to a group of just 8 women! If you’d like to get on the waitlist and be the first to hear about it, DM me the word ‘HEALING’ on Instagram.
Check out my other blogs to learn more about my practice.
