It’s normal to experience trauma after a traumatic event, such as a traffic accident, robbery, rape, or natural disaster. At this moment, you may start experiencing trauma symptoms, including fear, confusion, intense shock, and being overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. This may also shatter your sense of security, making you feel vulnerable and helpless.
No matter the source of your traumatic stress or the effects you experience, you need to learn how to deal with these experiences to move on with your life. Continue reading to learn more about trauma and 7 crucial tips to help you heal.
What Defines Trauma?
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines trauma as an emotional response to terrible events, leading to long-term reactions such as flashbacks, unpredictable emotions, and strained relationships. You may experience these events directly by witnessing or through repeated exposure to a traumatic event.
Reaction to traumatic events varies from one person to the other based on factors such as the event’s severity, the victim’s age, and additional risk factors. For instance, a person with a low IQ level is more likely to portray adverse effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Trauma can impact people differently. Some people may be more prone to struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic experience.
This may result in emotional and physical symptoms such as the following:
- Sleep issues
- Mood swings
- Irritability
- Difficult concentration
- Aches and pains
- Loss of appetite
- Feeling faint or dizzy
- Rapid breathing
- Racing thoughts
Are you struggling with trauma in the Orange County or Los Angeles areas? Moment of Clarity offers mental health outpatient treatment to help people recover from their childhood trauma.
7 Tips for Healing from Trauma
It would be best if you learned how to deal with trauma constructively, despite the types of symptoms you’re experiencing. You cannot do away with the experience that you went through, but taking the proper steps will help you manage your symptoms and help you get back to your normal life. Here are 7 ways that can help you heal from trauma:
Acknowledge Your Feelings
Many people fail to acknowledge what they witnessed in a traumatic event. They usually slip into denial and act as if nothing happened in their life. Unless they recognize the situation, they cannot start the healing process.
Therefore, the best thing they can do is retrace their trauma steps and take note of the situation’s events. This may be uncomfortable and take time, but it would help them throughout their recovery.
Find and Accept Support
There are chances that someone who downplayed their feelings after a traumatic event will push away any support that comes their way. Others think that they can have the skills to manage their symptoms and don’t need any support.
This decision to push away support can be a significant mistake for people seeking to heal from trauma and may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder if untreated. Therefore, asking for help is a great idea to kickstart your healing process.
You can find support through the following options:
- Your partner
- Family
- Friends
- Religious professionals
- Coworkers
- Online support group
- A psychologist
Please note that some people may need help knowing what to do with these support options. Therefore, it’s crucial to be vulnerable, and honest, and encourage them to take the initiative and find the support they can work with.
Look Out for and Practice Self-Care
Self-care can help you reduce stress. This also provides the chance to balance the symptoms associated with trauma. Therefore, you should regularly do things that make you feel good and love yourself. This may differ among different people, but it centers around themes that help look out for their needs and wants.
Some of the practices of self-care that you can adopt are as follows:
- Eating a nice meal
- Listening to a music
- Taking a long bath
- Eating a nice meal
- Watching a movie that you love
Avoid Any Form of Addiction
With the adverse effects of trauma, there’s a high possibility of engaging in addictive behaviors to find a quick solution to your experience. Addiction comes in many different ways and affects people differently. These forms of addiction may make you happy, but they’re only short-term solutions to your problems.
Some of the negative coping skills to avoid are as follows:
- Overworking
- Overshopping or overspending
- Engaging in extreme exercises
- Indulging in unsafe activities
It’s crucial to search for balance and coping skills. Otherwise, you may have to look for means to recover from addiction on top of the trauma effects.
Focus on Your Physical Health
There’s a possibility of focusing on your psychological well-being and ignoring your physical well-being while dealing with the effects of trauma. Therefore, you must focus on your physical health to maintain overall well-being.
Some of the ways you can adopt to improve your physical health include the following:
- Eating healthy food
- Engaging in regular exercises
- Taking restful sleep
Take a Break from Your Normal Activities
It’s normal to feel more tired than usual while healing from trauma since this process takes a lot of energy from you. Therefore, being gentle with yourself is the best way to deal with your low energy levels. Take breaks from doing your daily chores and the fun things that you love to do. This gives you a moment to raise your energy and avoid exhaustion.
Practice Meditation and Mindfulness
One of the most effective trauma-healing processes is mindfulness. It allows you to experience life by paying attention to every moment. It also lets you stay present in everything from your feelings and physical experience, eventually helping you relieve stress.
Breathwork and meditation are the best natural ways to practice mindfulness and effectively reduce stress. Meditation helps people process their thoughts and feelings in a mindful and constructive way.
At Moment of Clarity, we take into account a patient’s past when treating their mental health. Learn more about our trauma-informed care programs and how they can help you or a loved one.
Find Trauma Support in Orange County
Trauma can take a toll on your life, no matter the event or experience you go through. However, the 7 ways discussed above can effectively help you deal with the symptoms associated with trauma. It’s also best to seek help from a therapist to deal with your experience effectively.
Moment of Clarity is a certified mental health facility serving people in Orange County. Our facility has the best equipment that guarantees effective recovery from trauma and other related mental health problems. Our highly-professional staff is also committed to providing the best services to improve our client’s mental well-being.
For more information about us, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
