Trauma can happen as a response to a single event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope. It can also develop over time as a result of abuse, neglect or a negative dynamic in your surroundings. Either way, wether you are suffering from shock trauma or developmental trauma, it compromises your ability to regulate your emotions and how you relate to yourself and other people.
Chronic feelings of helplessness, anger, anxiety, guilt and shame can be the result. Self-destructive behaviour (addictions), problems with sleeping and concentrating and a number of physical ailments such as headaches and poor digestion can also be part of the picture.
The challenge of recovery is to reestablish ownership of your body and your mind — of your self. In order to change, people need to become aware of their inner sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the effects of trauma.
This means feeling free to know what you know and to feel what you feel without becoming overwhelmed. Healing is the completion of processes that were never allowed to take their natural course, but got stuck in the body. The goal is to bring back natural self-regulation and enabling the client to be more in the here-and-now, free from debilitating physical and emotional symptoms.