Trauma is the consequence of an event but isn’t the actual incident itself. It's what happens inside of you that has a lasting impact on the nervous system, the mind, and the body. This is what creates the  array of unpleasant symptoms related to unhealed trauma.

 

Trauma ultimately leads to a disconnection from self and one’s relationship to the world. It has lasting effects that can be triggered at any moment; by something like an emotion, a smell, or a noise.

 

Peter Levine, a leading trauma researcher, describes trauma as, “the loss of connection – to ourselves, families, and the world around us.”

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You may be familiar with what are called 'Big T Trauma'. These are events such as serious injuries, acts of violence like sexual assault, war and life threatening events. 

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There are also the lesser known, but equally relevant, 'Small T Trauma'. Events such as bullying, death of a loved one, emotional needs not being met and neglect of any kind. These kinds of trauma can be harder to see as they compound over time.

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IMPACTS OF TRAUMA

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Trauma impacts physical health because it changes how our brain and hormones respond on a physiologic level. It is linked to autoimmune disease, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

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Trauma can cut us off from the physical sensations of our body because our body may not feel like a safe place. At the time of the event that led to trauma, this numbing may have been very helpful, but over time it becomes maladaptive as our physical sensations give us important and powerful feedback; hunger, satiation, pleasure and pain. We need connection with our physical body.

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Trauma affects our stress response. Our brain and body are wired to survive and have a built in system to support our safety; the fight, flight and freeze response. When we experience an event that traumatizes us, it makes our nervous system unable to regulate. We literally get stuck in these protective responses even when we're no longer in any danger. Feelings like hypervigilant, anxious, numb and depressed are a stuck nervous system response. We can become over-reactive to situations and lose the ability to be wise in our response. This is because our system is stuck in an automatic reactive pattern caused by unhealed trauma.

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Trauma changes how we see the world. Our brain is wired to look for threats and for a traumatized person this region of the brain is over active. This can make the world seem scary and cold because we specifically focus on the negative. This causes us to experience chronic fear, pain and/or suspicion regularly.

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Trauma takes us away from the present moment. When we have experienced trauma, being with thoughts, feelings and emotions as they arise can be challenging. This may lead to relying on distractions and/or addictions like; social media, drugs, gambling and over working.

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These are all the devastating and lingering effects that can manifest due to unhealed trauma. Perhaps as you read you recognized your own trauma or trauma in someone you know or love. Trauma is not as rare as we would like to think and we can see it play out within ourselves and the world around us.

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