realigning mind and body.
Trauma therapy, tailored for you.
Trauma can change everything.
Sense of meaning
You try to make sense of what happened to you, sometimes resulting in self-blame. You look for reasons to understand what you’ve experienced because of how hard it is to not have an answer when you keep asking yourself why. You think if you can justify or rationalize it, you’ll feel better. If you previously had beliefs around karma, religion, or things happening for a reason, your belief system may have been tested or questioned as a result of your trauma.
Sense of safety
It’s not uncommon to struggle with trusting yourself and others when your safety is violated. Having someone you were taught to trust actively harm or neglect you is confusing. Many people tend to blame themselves and worry that they cannot protect themselves or would not survive something bad happening again. Experiencing systemic trauma such as racism, violence due to gender identity, poverty, and harmful experiences with authority figures heavily perpetuates the cycle of trauma and can contribute to difficulty asking for help and trusting others.
Sense of self
There can be a disconnect from the person you used to be before you experienced trauma, and how you feel now. You don’t know if you can get back to your old self again. You separate your life into categories: the before and after. If you experienced ongoing abuse or neglect throughout your lifetime, you may feel chronically disconnected from yourself and uncertain of who you really are, dissociating through time and just trying to get by.
What exactly is trauma?
The American Psychological Association defines trauma as:
“Any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning.”
Outside of the medical model of trauma, definitions and experiences of trauma vary and are vastly complex. More people now understand that you can experience traumatic events without being exposed to war or actual death, and you can also experience trauma without having PTSD as a result. Our lived experiences are incredibly subjective and what someone would define as a traumatic experience for themselves might not necessarily feel traumatic for you.
There are forms of acute and chronic trauma, like experiencing a car accident one time versus repeated exposure to abuse. There are also different responses to trauma too; some people have intrusive thoughts and flashbacks to details of the trauma, while others dissociate and can’t recall any memories. Here are some examples of trauma beyond what you may typically see or think:
Parents divorcing
Being chronically ill
Having caregivers not meet your emotional needs
Experiencing bullying
Betrayal by a partner
Growing up in poverty
Your brain + body After trauma
The effects of trauma on your brain and body change change how you function daily. Parts of your brain that are responsible for memory, decision making, and reacting to stress change after a traumatic experience. While some of these changes can be protective, they can also produce negative outcomes like hypervigilance, flashbacks, and dissociation.
It’s not enough to tell yourself to just calm down or think differently; your brain is trying to keep you safe because it perceives threats differently after exposure to trauma. Therapy can help you put your past to rest and allow you to feel at home within your body and safe in the world again.
The amygdala is primed to react to threats and will become increasingly sensitive to triggers or things that could signal danger.
Your hippocampus will hold memories differently, potentially bringing up unwanted flashbacks or memory loss.
Your nervous system tries to protect you by going into overdrive, putting you in fight or flight mode in a way that feels uncontrollable.
Trauma can manifest physically in the body and lead to chronic pain and tension. Our bodies remember, even when our minds cannot or will not.
So, what now?
You can’t escape your past and the memories you want so badly to let go of. You notice that you have disproportionate reactions to little things, feel on edge constantly, and keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. When you relax or feel some relief, you immediately worry that it won’t last. You feel uncomfortable being comfortable, because it’s a foreign concept now.
Instead of trying to get back to the way things were before, maybe it’s time to create a new path. Redefine what matters to you and how you operate.There is nothing wrong with you. You are not a problem that needs to be solved. We’ll take a different approach, focusing on how you can feel better instead of ruminating on everything that feels wrong.
Not fixing, but healing.
we can work on:
01. Practicing self-compassion instead of self-blame
02. Feeling safe in relationships
03. Validating your anger without letting it take over
04. Developing a new sense of identity
05. Letting go of fear that the other shoe will drop
06. Releasing resentment towards others
07. Becoming less affected by triggers and reminders
08. Defining what acceptance means to you
09. Connecting with your body
10. Trusting yourself and others around you
At the end of the day, I want you to know:
You are not defined by what has happened to you.
You are more resilient than you know.
You never have to forget, but you don’t have to keep carrying the weight of past burdens.
You can feel in charge again.
You deserve peace.
