Most people have a basic idea of what trauma is. However, fewer recognize that there are actually different types of trauma, including complex, secondary, and emotional.
Emotional trauma occurs when something comes into your life that causes extreme stress and destroys your sense of security and safety. It can cause you to feel helpless, hopeless, and in a state of nearly constant fear.
Many traumatic experiences stem from a threat to your overall well-being, or maybe even your life. However, other experiences are the result of things like long-term abuse or dangerous situations that aren’t immediately resolved.
The lasting effects of emotional trauma can cause mental health issues for years to come, impacting your relationships, your career, and your overall quality of life.
Let’s take a closer look at emotional trauma, and what you can do if you’ve experienced it.
What Causes Emotional Trauma?
Anything that involves a threat to your safety or well-being can be considered emotional trauma. With that in mind, the possibilities are nearly endless. We often think of traumatic experiences as major life events. Accidents, injuries, or even witnessing something extremely stressful can absolutely trigger emotional trauma.
However, ongoing stress that feels relentless and causes you to lose hope can also lead to trauma. Things like domestic violence can cause a person to struggle for years, even when the threat is gone. Experiencing abuse or neglect in childhood can also lead to emotional trauma. You might feel the effects for years — well into adulthood — and not fully realize the cause.
Sometimes, the cause of emotional trauma is harder to spot. Something like surgery, a bad breakup, or even the sudden death of a loved one can cause such emotional harm and stress that it triggers trauma in the brain.
What Are the Signs?
Everyone deals with trauma differently. Your symptoms can also change as you get older. For example, if you experienced childhood trauma, you might deal with symptoms caused by it without truly realizing where they stem from.
With that in mind, some of the most common signs of emotional trauma include:
- Feeling hopeless
- Anxiety
- Mood swings
- Irritability
- Confusion
- Denial
- Guilt
You might also experience physical issues from emotional trauma. Things like insomnia, fatigue, aches and pains, and muscle tension are all common in individuals who have experienced a traumatic event or ongoing stressful situation. While trauma impacts the mind, it can manifest itself through physical issues that can severely impact your quality of life.
How Can You Heal?
The first step in truly healing from emotional trauma is recognizing that you’ve experienced it. That’s not always easy to do, especially if it stems from childhood. Working with a therapist is often the best way to get to the root cause of your trauma, so you can start healing from the ground up.
On your own, however, there are things you can introduce into your daily routine that can make symptom management easier. Stay physically active to boost your energy and mood. Practice mindfulness or meditate when invasive, damaging thoughts threaten to take over and cause anxiety.
Don’t isolate yourself from friends and family. It can be tempting for people who have experienced trauma to shy away from the people and things they love. Sometimes, it’s out of guilt or shame. Sometimes, it’s out of fear. But, you need a support system to help you get through things. If you don’t feel comfortable leaning on people you know, consider joining a support group for trauma survivors.
If you’ve experienced emotional trauma at any point in your life, it’s never too late to get the help you deserve. Your trauma doesn’t have to define you. Contact us for more information or to set up an appointment soon for trauma therapy