Memory loss may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But if you or a loved one suffer from the condition, the impact to what and how you remember significant parts of your life, learn new things, and reason with others is a daily concern. Why is memory affected by PTSD?
BIPOC carry additional risk factors compared to the average white American impacting onset of anxiety. Top that with certain stigmas that are carried as well; it can be hard to navigate and feel very lonely. Learning how to manage anxiety when it occurs is key to getting through it. Here are some ways to start.
If you’ve been watching the scenes coming out of Turkey and Syria you’ve probably been affected. Maybe you are even experiencing vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma happens when you feel emotional pain, terror, fear and helplessness from exposure to others peoples’ trauma. For instance, imagining what it’s like to be stuck under rubble from the earthquake, losing your entire family or becoming homeless.
When it comes to trauma, no single person is immune. However, women are twice as likely to experience some type of traumatic event than men. With medical trauma, that scale can be tipped even a little further. Medical trauma is considered a physiological or psychological response to some negative, likely traumatic, experience within a medical setting.
EMDR research started with its use for PTSD treatment. There has been evidence showing positive outcomes with other psychological issues. Depression stems from negative or overwhelming life experiences. Some of these experiences can also be traumatic. So the tie-in here can be significant. Being able to identify the cause of the depression and reprocess how a person deals with those experiences can be helpful in overcoming the negative aspects.
Unknown anxiety present one of the main threats to our nervous system regulation, so learning to companion and soothe ourselves in the face of unknowns can be hugely supportive to our well- being. Unknown anxiety show up in all kinds of ways. One type is the relational unknown, such as feeling uncertain about how our partner feels, how to communicate with our friend, or how others might feel about us. Another is the unknown about the future of our own lives
Nighttime anxiety can be super frustrating because it’s the exact opposite of sleep. It can rob you of much needed rest and relaxation. And unfortunately, the anxiety can be self-perpetuating once you associate attempting to sleep with anxiety. The good news is, there are a few steps you can take to lessen the intensity of nighttime anxiety and build bedtime routines that work for you.
Emotional trauma can impact anyone and occur at any time. Whether it is something you have recently experienced or something that has been packed away, it is quite possible to feel sad, anxious, overwhelmed, or unhappy. While there is no clear-cut time frame for healing, knowing that you can move forward and regain your power is important. Here are six ways that you can begin your recovery process.
The way EMDR and many other therapies now conceptualize trauma is with a much broader scope than traditionally thought. It isn’t just limited veterans who have seen combat or people who were abused as children - though those experiences certainly qualify as trauma and often result in a PTSD diagnosis.
Do you believe that we are all made of different parts? After all, not everyone is all bad or all good. Human beings have a combination of helpful and harmful amounts of themselves. Unfortunately, trauma has a way of bringing out the worst in us. INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS (IFS) is a type of therapy that helps you discover who you are and bring all of these parts together. The three main parts include: Exiles, Managers and Firefighters.
Unfortunately, when two people have a traumatic history in a relationship, it can create something called “trauma bonding.” It can even happen in your relationships with family members or friends. It’s easy for abusers to shift the perspective of their victims, often using gaslighting techniques. They can get you to change the way you view what happened, or what continues to happen. Instead of recognizing that you’re the victim, they can end up making you feel like you’re the one to blame.
The emotional scars that you are carrying from relationship trauma can be hard to heal from. If you have been betrayed once, you are also expecting future betrayals. You may run away from relationships with people who care about you for fear of getting hurt again. But it is important to know that you can heal no matter how long it takes. That not everyone in the world is bad for you.
If you feel like people in your life are excessively involved in your life, this is enmeshment. Whether this is your romantic partner or a family member, enmeshment is when people are involved in your activities and personal things to an excessive degree. If you do not know if your partner is being excessive, it helps to know what the behavior patterns entail.
Here are the five telltale signs of enmeshment.
Can trauma occur if something terrible has happened to someone else? This is called vicarious trauma. If you see or hear stories of people going through tragedies it can cause a different perspective of the world you once thought was safe. You feel various emotions, from anxiety to guilt, hopelessness, or numbness. Serving Boulder, Longmont, Denver.
Betrayal trauma is the emotional impact of your experience after your trust or well-being is violated. It is most often experienced in attachment relationships, like caregivers and children, or in romantic partnerships. You have to continue to rely on the betrayer for support, care, shelter, or other basic needs. These experiences of betrayal can be so traumatic that you feel you will never want to trust anyone again.
