Understanding & Healing Trauma Series

My Healing Trauma Series is for individuals who have experience long-term trauma through neglect, physical, mental, emotional or sexual abuse and have become stuck in a chronic cycle of stress. 

What do you do if your emotions are on overdrive?  What do you do if you find yourself easily trigger by life events and your inner world spiraling out of control?  Is there a way to recover and reestablish peace of mind?  There is. It is by going inside healing trauma.

Healing Trauma Is All About Addressing Our Triggers

We have all had times where we are triggered by something in our environment in the heat of the moment.  It is as if our brains get put on hold and our emotions take charge.  It has happened to all of us, especially when confronted with challenging, stress filled or life threatening situations. 

Triggering sets off an automatic series of biological processes, which activate our Fight, Flight, Freeze or Fawn stress response.  We stay in this altered physiological biochemical state until the threat has passed and we feel safe again. 

People Who Have Experienced Severe Trauma Are Easily Triggered

Simple situations can easily trigger traumatized individuals causing them to overreact to the slightest provocation.  Instead of having healthy emotional regulation, their emotions are dysregulated making it so that they can go from ‘fine’ to out of control in a moment’s notice. 

This ‘out of control’ place does not mean that you are running around screaming and yelling, breaking things or being violent, although it might manifest this way.  It might present itself as an inability to quiet the mind of negative thoughts or the ability to calm your emotions. 

You might find that you, when faced with a challenging situation, back off to avoid confrontation your mind might go blank where you do not know what to say or do.  Stressful encounters may also hijack you causing you to surrender your needs and to ensure the needs of others are met.

Healing Trauma Can Help Ease The Wounds Inside

If this sounds like you, help and healing are on the way.  This Healing Trauma Series can help begin the process of profound change.  It delves into why you get triggered, the ins-and-outs of your stress response mechanism and provides ways in which to reduce the chaos that may be going on inside.  It will help you to finding yourself, that young person who has been lost in the midst of trauma. Oftentimes, by understanding what is going on inside we can use this information for change.

Healing Trauma Requires Change

Change many times is not easy, especially if you are talking about addressing past trauma.  It takes courage to step up to the plate and spend the time looking at ourselves.  Sometimes what we see is not pretty, yet it is only by looking at and addressing the parts of us that are ‘not working’ that we can enact any kind of change.  Doing this puts you on the path of the ‘Wounded Healer’. 

Ready To Begin Your Journey Of Healing Trauma?

I hope you will join me on this trauma healing journey.  Below are a series of articles. Through them it you can transform your inner world and yourself.  It is possible to be happy and live the life you have been looking for since you were a child.  It is within your grasp as long as you are willing to walk in that direction.  As we work through this, just remember – breathe.

The Wounded Healer

The term ‘Wounded Healer’ refers to a person who has undergone intense pain and suffering and used these injuries to transform him or herself. They emerge from this profound transformation more in touch with their authentic inner nature with a greater awareness of themselves. These individuals become a source of wisdom and inspiration for others. See Article.

C-PTSD, Trauma And Our Stress Response System

Trauma affects everyone differently. Trauma affects everyone differently. Traumatic events push the nervous system outside its ability to regulate itself. Children who constantly experience emotional stress, such as a fear, judgment or rejection can end up developing c-PTSD. People who suffer from c-PTSD can have difficulty controlling their emotions and emotional responses. See Article.

Emotional Regulation & The Stress Response

Having and experiencing emotions is a normal part of our lives. When we are able to effectively manage our response to an emotional situation we are demonstrating good emotional regulation. We are emotionally dysregulated when we lose our cool. See Article.

The Fight, Flight, Freeze And Fawn Stress Responses

Our body is naturally and automatically programmed to respond to frightening situations. Its goal is to minimize or avoid real or perceived danger. It protects us and survive physical, mental and emotional challenges. In the modern world, it can help us to perform better under pressure and better cope with demanding circumstances. See Article.

The Freeze Stress Response

Freezing is a universal fear response. It is like fight-or-flight on hold. When engaged, it permits us to not feel the harrowing enormity in front of us. We become paralyzed in fear. A stuck freeze response might also hold you back in life with fears of moving forward. See Article.

Dissociation And The Dissociative Experience

Dissociation, for many people, is a natural reaction to stress or trauma and is most often tied to the freeze response. It is one way the mind works by disconnecting us from unbearable feelings and emotions that may overwhelm us during traumatic events. Dissociation can help us better deal with what might otherwise be too emotionally devastating to bear. See Article.

Attached Entities, Trauma & Dissociation: The Entity Attachment Formula

The interaction between an entity attachment and its victim is unlike a traditional haunting. Entity attachments interact with select individuals in a very specific way. These unseen beings are not tied to a specific location but are tied to specific people. They do not scratch or bite. They do not make things go bump in the middle of the night.

The Fawn Stress Response

By definition, fawning refers to the flattery or affection displayed to gain a favor or advantage. Fawning is the opposite of the fight response. Instead of aggressively attempting to get out of a dangerous situation, fawn types attempt to avoid or minimize confrontation. They do this by ‘people pleasing’. People pleasing is when someone bends over backward trying to be nice. It is not done to be considerate to the other individual but as a means of protecting themselves from additional trauma. See Article.

Trauma & The Biology Of The Stress Response

When our nervous system detects a threat or we are faced with a distressing situation, our bodies naturally and instinctively react by activating our stress response. These threats trigger the body to engage defensively where it sets off a series of rapid well-orchestrated physiological and hormonal changes. They spring into action and allow us to respond quickly in an effort to ensure our survival. All of this happens instantaneously and outside of our conscious control. See Article.

How to Recharge Your Life By Healing Your Chronic Stress

Stress is one of those generic terms used to describe situations in our lives which are unsettling in nature.  Stress, by its very nature activates our fight, flight, freeze and fawn stress response.  It is directly tied to the body’s adrenal glands, which, if they are unable to rest, cannot recharge.  Anything that elicits fear within us can contribute to this unspoken physical and emotional tizzy and strain our adrenal reserves.  This state is amplified for trauma survivors who find themselves trapped in cycles of worry or rumination or whose stress response is always turned on.  See Article.

Finding Your Authentic Self

Many people want to be happy and experience a life filled with joy and bliss. One component to being happy on a consistent basis is through connecting with your authentic self. We stay true to who we really are when we are authentic to ourselves. There is a level of congruence within us. Our inner world aligns with our outer world. What we think and believe matches what we say and do. See Article.

Mindfulness

By being mindful of your thoughts, especially your intrusive ones, you can begin to calm down what has been flared up and hopefully let go of the rest. They can be easier to control and even prevented if you can catch them early on instead of waiting until you are in the midst of a full blown meltdown. One way of supporting our ability to ‘be’ is through mindfulness techniques and meditation. Some people suggest that self-improvement techniques such as meditation or mindfulness are hard or even exhausting. What is even more taxing on your body and soul is the underlying stress negative thoughts and emotions can have. See Article.

Trauma, Wounding And The Inner Child

We can all act childish every now and then especially when we our world is challenged.  While we may appear to be adults on the outside, when situations occur, that trigger one of our scripts, our wounded “inner child”, can appear and take over the show.  It is an indicator that our fight, flight or freeze stress responses is active.  We are not reacting to what happened to us as an adult, but are responding to the situation from an injured place within ourselves, from a place of trauma.  This unconscious part of ourselves can at times covertly control our demeanor.  In some situations this part of ourselves can unknowingly run our lives.  See Article.

Ground To Calm Your Mind & Spirit

Like a lightning rod, we can create a conducting pathway to discharge excess energy from our bodies. This is called a grounding cord. We all have grounding cords through which we anchor ourselves, our physical and subtle bodies into the earth. Some are long, some short, some release mental and emotional energy efficiently, others not as effectively. It is through our grounding cord that we can reconnect with the earth and release trapped emotional energy. See Article.

Journaling

Today, when one speaks of journaling, it often implies the act of writing down our thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions as a tool for personal growth, increased self-awareness and trauma healing. When used in this way, journaling gives us the opportunity to explore below the surface of the conscious mind, where we can access information from deep within ourselves.  See Article.

Creating Healthy Boundaries

Understanding what healthy boundaries are and how to apply them appropriately is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that you are being treated right. You are loving yourself when you stand up for what you want, need and most importantly believe. If it doesn’t matter to you, if you do not stand up for yourself, it will not matter to others either. See Article.

People Pleaser’s Guilt

Guilt can be a huge barrier in being assertive, especially for a people pleaser. It makes us question our choices and wonder if our internal rules are somehow flawed. We may feel responsible. We may not want to disappoint someone. We may not want to hurt their feelings. See Article.

Loving Someone Who Is An Abuse Or Trauma Survivor

If you find that you have fallen in love with an abuse or trauma survivor, understand right up front that healing trauma is possible. Sometimes by understanding what your partner has been through can help you to better support them as they work through their tangled up and confused inner world.  See Article.

 

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