Trauma And How Your Body Can Remember It
You hop out of bed to the sound of your alarm. You feel more upbeat and awake compared to normal.
It’s going to be a good day.
You take a quick shower, brush your teeth, comb your hair, and put on your clothes for the day.
You grab all of your things, but before you head out the door, you get a glimpse at the calendar hanging on the wall.
Your eyes narrow in on the date. Exactly one year ago today.
The memories come flooding at you. A flashback hits you hard. You can’t escape, again.
You feel like you can’t breathe. Your mood instantly dampens. You were excited about the day and now all you want to do is crawl back into bed.
Will you ever get over the trauma you experienced?
Let’s learn more about trauma and how your body can remember it.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is defined as a response to a distressing or disturbing event or situation. Trauma can overwhelm someone’s ability to cope.
To make matters worse, the traumatic experience can be stored in your body just like any other type of memory. Each individual has a mind-body connection.
This is why you may remember something based on one of your five senses: sight, smell, sound, touch, or taste.
The smell of mothballs may have you thinking about your neighbor from when you were a kid. The taste of a really good chocolate chip cookie could bring you back to your best friend’s house when you were growing up. Or the sound of a car alarm may bring you back to a time when you witnessed a robbery.
How Your Body Remembers Trauma
The way someone may react to trauma is unique to each individual and the trauma that was experienced. There are mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral reactions to trauma.
Mental Reactions
Some of the mental reactions to trauma include:
Lack of concentration
Memory loss
Ruminating over the trauma in your head
Confusion
Emotional Reactions
Some of the emotional reactions to trauma include:
Anxiety
Easily emotional or upset
Feeling numb
Panic and/or shock
Detachment
Withdrawing or isolating
Physical Reactions
Some of the physical reactions to trauma include:
Fatique
Trouble sleeping
Nausea
Headaches
Increased heart rate
Sweating
Behavioral Reactions
Some of the behavioral reactions to trauma include:
Avoiding things, places, and people that may remind you of the trauma
Inability to stop thinking about what happened
Turning to substances like drugs or alcohol
Change in appetite
How to Heal Your Body and Mind After Experiencing Trauma
Healing after experiencing a traumatic event takes time. The trauma may have only lasted minutes, a few hours, or maybe a few days, but it will take your body and mind a little longer to return to a state of normalcy.
The healing process involves both your body and mind. Since your body went into a fight or flight mode to protect yourself from the trauma you experienced, you have to help your body reset itself and return back to normal again.
You don’t have to go through this alone. Although your body and mind may be telling you to withdraw, don’t. Our therapists are trained in EMDR, Brainspotting, and we provide neurofeedback to help you navigate the effects of trauma.
A therapist can be there to listen and help you with both the portions you want to talk through AND the stored up sensory portions of trauma that store up in the body after trauma. They can also help teach you techniques to help with your coping and recovery process.
If you are looking for trauma therapy, reach out to us so we can help you on your path to healing.