When people think of trauma they tend to think of events such as abuse, natural disasters or neglect. While these are all, in fact, traumatic events, trauma can actually encompass a whole lot more.
There are various definitions of the word trauma out there, but I like to think of it as the three E’s:
An EVENT that you EXPERIENCE that has a negative EFFECT on you.
This could include divorce, bullying, or even remembering when you peed your pants in second grade. Research has shown us that experiencing trauma can actually change the brain when we broaden our perspective of trauma. We can look at our symptoms and are presenting problems in a new light.
Is my low self-esteem connected to a past history of being bullied?
Does my social anxiety have anything to do with the horrible presentation that I once had in front of the class?
Is it hard for me to feel confident about my body because of gym class in seventh grade when I was going through puberty?
Although we all experience varying degrees of trauma in our lives, human beings are incredibly resilient. We can learn strategies to cope with and manage symptoms while coming to peace with past events that may have negatively impacted us.
Healing is possible.
Written by Brie Ziegler