The Impact of Trauma on Your Mental Health
by Seth Hooper, MA
Trauma. This seems to be a common buzzword that is thrown around, but have you ever stopped to consider what trauma really is? Whenever you find yourself in the middle of a stressful or distressing event, your brain goes on autopilot to categorize and store that memory. Your experience of these events is a complex combination of*:
Your thoughts
Your feelings
Your physical sensations
Your bodily inclinations (freeze, fight, flight)
What you visually see
Understanding the impact of your fragmented memories is pivotal. It all boils down to how you navigate the intricate terrain of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations. When executed skillfully and promptly, this process seamlessly integrates the memory into your consciousness.
The Impact of Fragmented Memories
When you are able to process the above information in a healthy and timely way, then this memory will be integrated or whole. If you cannot fully process the event, it can lead to a fragmented memory, resulting in trauma. Fragmented memories are stored in different parts of your brain and this makes it difficult for you to understand or recall what truly happened. Unfortunately, when this process is not seamless, it creates fragmented memories—commonly recognized as trauma. These fragmented memories disperse throughout your mind, hiding in various recesses, and casting a shadow over your ability to comprehend and recollect what really happened.
Stealthy Intruders Beware
Don't underestimate the power of this process. Fragmented memories have a knack for stealthily hindering your effectiveness across various areas in your everyday life, often slipping under your conscious awareness. Accumulating a reservoir of these fragments from multiple traumatic events can leave you feeling on the edge of emotional instability, overwhelmed by the weight of these unresolved experiences. Coping with this distress may lead to adopting unhealthy coping mechanisms such as nurturing destructive relationships, or turning to substances like food, drugs, tobacco, or alcohol to cope.
Next Steps
If you find yourself in this challenging place, remember there is help and hope. To regain healthy functionality and mitigate trauma's impact, it's necessary to reintegrate these fragmented memories. Healing comes when we create a space to process these memories.
Individual Support
Healing and wholeness can begin with individual therapy. This powerful tool equips you with the skills needed to process trauma and fragmented memories. While it may seem like a demanding path, having a trained professional by your side is not just advised, but profoundly beneficial. A counselor provides you with the essential tools needed to navigate the healing process and helps you learn how to manage any emotional turbulence that surfaces.
Group Support
Along with individual counseling, support groups are another tool that can equip and empower you. Support groups provide you with a community where you can share your story and start to heal. Although your experiences are unique, you are not alone in your journey.
We’ve got you covered
At Passages of Hope, we provide no-cost support groups and individual counseling for those who've experienced trauma, loss, and unhealthy behavioral patterns. If this is you, and you are ready to lighten your emotional load and start living a more free and balanced life. Contact us today. You will be glad you did!
*The Place We Find Ourselves - https://theplacewefindourselves.libsyn.com/126-trauma-fragmentation-and-the-soothing-certainty-of-dogmatism