The Mystery of Trauma

The healing of trauma depends upon the recognition of its symptoms.

Because traumatic symptoms are largely the result of primitive responses,

they are often difficult to recognize.

Others who experience similar events may have no enduring symptoms at all.

Trauma affects some of us in mysterious ways.

This is one of them.

No matter how frightening an event may seem,

not everyone who experiences it will be traumatized.

During a traumatic event our bodies may literally resign itself to a state where the act of escaping does not exist.

Along with this resignation comes the pervasive loss of our real and vital self as well as loss of a secure and spontaneous personality

Twenty years after the traumatizing event,

the subtle and hidden effects may emerge.

I have learned that it is unnecessary to dredge up old memories and relive their emotional pain to heal my trauma.

In fact,

severe emotional pain can be re-traumatizing.

What we need to do to be free from our symptoms and fears is to arouse our deep physiological resources and consciously utilize them.

If we remain ignorant of our power to change the course of our instinctual responses in a proactive rather than reactive way,

we will continue being imprisoned and in pain.

When we are unable to flow through trauma and complete instinctive responses,

these incompleted actions often undermine our lives.

Unresolved trauma can keep us excessively cautious and inhibited,

or lead us around in ever tightening circles of dangerous re-enactment,

victimization,

and unwise exposure to danger.

We become the perpetual victims or therapy clients.

Trauma can destroy the quality of our relationships and distort sexual experiences.

Compulsive,

perverse,

promiscuous,

and inhibited sexual behaviors are common symptoms of trauma-

not just sexual trauma.

The effects of trauma can be pervasive and global or they can be subtle and elusive.

When we do not resolve our traumas,

we feel that we have failed,

or that we have been betrayed by those we chose to help us.

We need not blame this failure and betrayal on ourselves or others.

The solution to the problem lies in increasing our knowledge about how to heal trauma.

#PTSD