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Healing From
Trauma - 4
And when we do that, when
we ignore the emotional and physical sensations that continue after a
traumatizing event, we interrupt the natural cycle, short-circuiting our
natural ability to heal. It is this, more than anything, that sets us up
for a damaging traumatic aftermath.
"The animal's ability to
rebound from threat can serve as a model for humans," Levine writes. "It
gives us a direction that may point the way to our own innate healing
abilities."
After
Trauma
The incidence of serious
negative events that typically evoke traumatic response is surprisingly
pervasive in our culture today. A 20-year study released in 2005 by Kaiser
Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that
of the 17,337 middle-class participants, a startling 64% had experienced
one or more of eight categories of traumatic childhood events.
The study showed a
significant connection between this childhood trauma and disease,
depression, drug use and/or suicide. Perhaps that is because unresolved
trauma can undermine basic human needs. These writers and others stress
that it is not necessary to relive one's emotional pain in order to heal
trauma. For some, doing so may trigger re-traumatization.
Dena Rosenbloom and Mary
Beth Williams, authors of Life After Trauma: A Workbook for Healing,
identify these basic needs as:
- safety
- trust
- a measure of control
over one's life
- self-worth
- intimacy
Ways to help yourself:
- focus on what you can
do today.
- pay attention to your
feelings and reactions,
- seek helpful support,
- learn from others
who've "been there,"
- allow yourself to
grieve take your time.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
