What is trauma and how does it impact us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? Dawn walks through an example from her own story of how she was impacted by a traumatic event and what helped to bring about healing.
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“The big issue for traumatized people is that they didn’t own themselves anymore. Any loud sound, anybody insulting them… can hijack them away from themselves. And, so what we have learned is that what makes you resilient in trauma is to own yourself fully.” ~Bessel van der Kolk
Show Notes:
Disclaimer: Dawn’s podcasts are meant to teach, train, inform and even, encourage. They are not meant to replace personal therapy, when needed.
- Trauma comes in various sizes, forms and packages. It impacts everyone uniquely.
- Trauma defined:
“a deeply distressing or disturbing experience” ~Dawn’s dictionary
“a person must have experienced or witnessed an event(s) that involved actual or threatened death, or serious injury, or threat to the physical integrity of self or others and involved fear, helplessness, or horror” ~American Psychiatric Association (APA)
“Trauma often occurs when an individual is overwhelmed by an event or circumstances in which they respond with intense fear, shock and helplessness.” ~Dawn Sanders
- Trauma effects the brain and body.
- Offer kindness to yourself and others who have experienced trauma.
- Following trauma, others may try to normalize your experience of trauma by diminishing your body’s effects or by comparing your body’s effects to the severity of another’s trauma impact.
- Though not everyone may develop PTSD in their lifetime, please consider the possibility traumatic stress can happen to anyone at any time.
- Children and adults experience trauma differently.
- Dawn’s story shared.
Dawn examines the physical and mental impact from her traumatic experience.
- Helpful tasks during/after a traumatic event:
Breathe deeply
Get grounded around your body, senses, & speech. Listen to a grounding voice- talk to yourself out loud through dinner preparations, for example, where you are seeing, smelling and tasting something that is familiar to you.
Do something physical to detox from the extra adrenaline coursing through your body and to release endorphins.
Give your brain and body ample time to recover.
Enlist the help of a good friend to hold your story.
It’s important to know if you’ve had trauma in your childhood and if you have current blocks that protected you as a child.
It is critical to feel your varied feelings and emotions during and following a traumatic experience.
Mark 12:28-31; Luke 12:7; Prov 16:24; Eph 4:23
Please join Dawn next week as she continues sharing on the topic of Trauma.