Understanding the Mental and Physical Effects of Trauma
Although trauma has become a bit of a buzzword, it is a very real and life-altering experience that many people are living with, whether they understand it or not. While it lives in the very forefront of some people’s minds, for others, it silently affects the systems of the body while adding unknown weight to the mind. The more we are able to recognize the effects of trauma, the more power we have to make improvements to reduce them or to strengthen our ability to work through them. In this article, we’ll discuss the effects of trauma on both the mind and body, how support can help you navigate them, and some healthy ways to cope with them.
The Effects of Trauma on the Body
The physical effects of trauma can manifest in the body in many surprising ways. Sometimes it can happen right away, or sometimes it can worsen over time as the body and mind continue to bear the load.
Some more well-known physical effects of trauma can include:
- Shaking
- Racing heartbeat
- Sleep disturbances and insomnia
However, it’s also important to talk about some of the lesser-known physical symptoms of trauma that might be confused for something else. This includes things like headaches, digestive issues, aches and pains, muscle tension, fatigue, and chest pains. Trauma can also keep us in a state of fight or flight, which keeps the sympathetic nervous system working overtime. When we’re in a fight or flight state, our body is diverting its energy away from things like digestion, while doing things like increasing our heart rate to be ready to run or self-defend at any moment. The problem with trauma is that it keeps us physically in defense mode, even though it’s just reacting to a memory of an experience instead of the current moment. Over time, this can wear us down and overuse the systems that are only meant to fire on a temporary basis in moments of danger.
The Mental Effects of Trauma
The mental effects of trauma show themselves in varying degrees, just like the physical effects, and many times, people experience both. Mental trauma involves much more than just thinking about it over and over again. Some of the sneakier mental effects of trauma include:
- Intrusive memories and flashbacks
- Nightmares
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Forgetfulness or memory loss
- Cognitive issues and trouble concentrating
- Emotional numbness
- Avoidance (especially of trauma reminders)
- Angry outbursts
- Struggle to control and regulate emotions
- Deep feelings of shame and inadequacy
When trauma causes outcomes like PTSD and C-PTSD, our brains can get caught in loops of reliving our traumatic experiences, which can reinforce feelings of fear, danger, inadequacy, and shame. Living in those spaces impacts our ability to plan for the future, live in the moment, and leave the past behind us.
Professional Support for Healing Through Trauma Therapy
If there’s any good news at all when it comes to mental and physical trauma, it’s that you don’t have to live in its darkest spaces forever, and there is support available for you. Professional support, like trauma therapy, is an excellent way to break the loop that’s keeping your mind and body close to the things that hurt you. When working with a therapist, like us at Genesis Counseling of South Tampa, you’ll learn tools and skills that will help you handle the moments when trauma rears its head, as well as process your traumatic experiences so that they don’t take up space at the forefront of your life anymore. Our bodies and minds are smart; they want to protect us. Because of this, sometimes trauma shows up in behaviors and patterns that we don’t even recognize as being connected to traumatic experiences. For others, sometimes we may not even realize that we’ve experienced trauma and are still living with it. Learning from a therapist can help us gain an outside perspective that offers insight into ways we can grow and heal to live an even freer and more fulfilling life.
How to Cope with Trauma
When we’re experiencing the mental and physical effects of trauma without an understanding of where it’s coming from, it’s very common to lean into whatever coping mechanisms we may have to ease the pain and discomfort it can cause. Without proper support, some of these methods can be counterintuitive to healing, despite being the best we know how to manage at the time. Working with a therapist, you’ll learn healthy coping mechanisms that allow you to effectively manage the physical and mental symptoms of trauma without setting yourself behind on healing and recovery. For more insight on coping mechanisms, read our blog post, Learn the Difference Between Healthy and Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms.
Developing Resilience Through Healing
Although it takes time, healing from trauma builds resilience. While we can’t control the events that caused our trauma, choosing to work through our own healing gives a sense of control and builds capacity for future difficulties in life. It’s important to remember that experiencing trauma has nothing to do with how good or strong you are as a person. Anyone can experience trauma, and everyone can find themselves on a healing path to reclaim themselves after trauma.
At Genesis Counseling of South Tampa, we’d love the opportunity to support you on that journey if you’re experiencing the mental and physical effects of trauma and looking for ways to process, heal, and move into a new stage in your life. Please feel free to reach out to us for a consultation.
