Trauma and Physical Health: Understanding the Connection

Trauma isn't just a memory that fades with time; it's an experience that echoes through various aspects of life, including our physical health. Recognizing the deep-seated connection between traumatic experiences and physical well-being is an important step in understanding the comprehensive impact of trauma. This post will explore the connection between trauma and physical health, shedding light on why addressing trauma is crucial for overall well-being.

Decoding Trauma's Signal

Trauma is the body's response to an overwhelming situation, where the normal coping mechanisms are unable to function. It might be a single event or a series of events that leave a person feeling helpless and fearful. Trauma can manifest from various events, and its footprint extends beyond emotional and mental health, imprinting itself onto physical well-being.

The Body's Alarmed State

When faced with traumatic stress, the body activates the "fight or flight" response, releasing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. While this response is crucial for immediate survival, its prolonged activation can lead to significant health problems. Chronic stress from unresolved trauma can disrupt nearly every system in the body, leading to increased susceptibility to several conditions:

1. Cardiovascular Health: Trauma can lead to an increased heart rate and higher blood pressure, escalating the risk of hypertension, heart disease, and stroke. The persistent strain on the cardiovascular system under chronic stress can have long-lasting effects, making it critical to address and mitigate these risks.

2. Immune System: Constant stress weakens the immune system, reducing its efficiency and making the body more prone to infections and slower to heal. This weakened state can lead to frequent illnesses and may aggravate autoimmune conditions.

3. Musculoskeletal Issues: The body's muscles and joints are constantly tensed as a result of the stress response, leading to conditions such as headaches, back pain, and general muscle stiffness. Over time, this can evolve into chronic pain conditions that affect quality of life.

4. Gastrointestinal Problems: Chronic stress impacts the gut-brain axis, leading to a range of gastrointestinal issues like irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, and other digestive problems.

5. Mental Health: The psychological impact of trauma deeply intertwines with physical health, leading to conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression. These conditions further exacerbate physical health problems, creating a feedback loop of worsening health.

Beyond the pain

The path to healing after trauma is both a personal and collective journey, involving a range of strategies and supports. Seeking professional help from therapists specializing in trauma can provide invaluable guidance and strategies for coping and healing. Incorporating mind-body techniques such as yoga, meditation, and mindfulness helps regulate the body's stress response and promotes healing. Building resilience through coping strategies and supportive networks enhances the ability to handle future stressors. Additionally, integrating traditional medical treatments with holistic practices ensures a comprehensive approach to healing, addressing both the physical and emotional aspects of trauma.

Embracing your future

Understanding the physical repercussions of trauma is an important step toward transforming pain into a pathway for healing. With informed care, resilience, and support, you can start reclaiming your vitality and well-being. The healing process is more than just surviving; it's about teaching the body to recognize safety again, allowing the nervous system to reset to a calmer state, and setting a course towards not just functioning, but thriving. Learn more about trauma therapy or visit my contact page to schedule a consultation.

4 Ways Generational Trauma Affects a Family

When people talk about inheriting characteristics, they’re usually talking about physical attributes. However, trauma is also passed down from generation to generation. Even though a child never experienced those traumatic events, they are impacted by them. Amongst particular ethnic groups, generational trauma can manifest due to a history of poor treatment. It is internalized and then shared over time through genetic and environmental factors.

This can create an insidious cycle that often goes misunderstood. Generations of people develop a particular perspective on the world but do not know why. Unless and until their behavior is identified as an outcome of ongoing trauma, it’s difficult to create change. 

How Generational Trauma is Passed Down

If pain is not processed and resolved, it is available to be passed on. How this happens is varied. For example, living with someone with unresolved trauma may expose you to them reliving that trauma. It sets a baseline. The conversations you have (or don’t have) play it out. Your family’s choices regarding social interactions and internal dynamics also tell the story.

Whatever is normalized in your home has the potential to shape your mental well-being — for better or for worse. These behaviors can change your genetic makeup, and ensuing generations can inherit such changes. This is further explained in #3 below.

4 Ways Generational Trauma Affects a Family

1. Negative Impact on Physical Health 

The suffering experienced by, say, your great-grandparents can make you more susceptible to physical illnesses today. If your ancestors lived under harsh conditions, it could’ve set the stage for a cycle that is not visible enough to have to been identified and stopped. 

2. Negative Impact on Mental Health 

Individuals who endure horrific events are known to be at a higher risk of conditions like anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. If not treated, these disorders can then be more prevalent in ensuing generations. Also, members of such families are influenced by how the people around them view and react to everyday life. 

3. Epigenetic Shifts 

As touched on above, your genes can be influenced by external events. Keep in mind, to the best of our knowledge, it’s not that the genes themselves are changed. Rather, your body reads those genes differently when it is under the influence of generational trauma. That said, if both parents have endured trauma, the epigenetic changes can get coded and ultimately passed down in a more physical sense.

4. Daily Behaviors and Choices

Trauma triggers our survival response. If it is never processed, trauma can keep us stuck in this hyper-vigilant mode. When you see the world as an inherently frightening place, it will change how you and your family behave. For example:

• Not trusting “outsiders”

• Not trusting each other

• Never talking about their feelings

• Living in denial that a problem exists

• Fostering a domestic environment that is more likely to provoke violence, abuse, and neglect 

• Emotional numbness

• Low self-esteem

• Viewing those who ask for help as “weak”

Stopping the Cycle

Connecting with a trauma-informed therapist is a giant step toward breaking the cycle. From there, you can take productive steps to break the patterns before they can be passed down again. This is accomplished in many ways, including:

• Learning healthy coping skills 

• Understanding the cause of your distress 

• Finding productive ways to express, process, and resolve the trauma

The more you know, the better equipped you are to heal and recover. Some family members may resist your efforts, but it is vital that you take the steps you need to take to thrive again. You will eat by example as you move along the healing path of ending the cycle.

Learn more about Trauma Therapy.

What is BIPOC Trauma?

Trauma is a frighteningly common global experience. It could be caused by a high-profile natural disaster. Far more often, the underlying reason is something more personal. For Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), trauma can take on very unique and insidious forms. This is where the concept of BIPOC trauma (a.k.a. racial trauma) becomes a reality. 

From the time they are children, BIPOC face slights, abuses, and attacks that have been normalized over the decades and even centuries. Whether they have been targeted or have bore witness to the traumatic events, Black, Indigenous, and people of color can face debilitating outcomes, e.g., Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

How Does BIPOC Trauma Happen? 

The more obvious factors include physical violence or the threat thereof, micro-aggressions, invalidation, and public shaming. Because such treatment can be chronic and passed down through generations, it can qualify as complex trauma — further complicating the situation. However, another danger is how invisible the sources of trauma can be.

Long-Term Realities That Lead to BIPOC Trauma

Because we live in a world with systemic racism, many of us are blind to the trauma endured by BIPOC. Here are just a few of the daily realities of life as a BIPOC:

• Fear that you’ll be targeted by law enforcement solely based on the color of your skin.

• When moving into a new neighborhood, you cannot be sure if the locals will welcome you or even be friendly.

• In stores, you are watched and followed as you’re only there to steal or cause trouble.

• People expect you to be a “spokesperson” for others who share your race or ethnicity. 

• You wonder how often race plays a role in situations like applying for a job or a school.

This decidedly incomplete list gives you an idea of the many threads woven in the scourge of BIPOC trauma. They add up, escalate, and too often become so common as to become unseen — even by victims.

Obviously, systemic change is long overdue. However, at the same time, survivors of racial trauma need help, support, and treatment.

Addressing BIPOC Trauma

A powerful starting point is acceptance from yourself and others. Racism is a hot-button, misunderstood topic. This can lead to BIPOC feeling confused and conflicted about feeling traumatized. But healing — and ultimately, societal change — cannot happen until more folks speak out without shame. It is the abusers who should be struggling with shame, not you!

Other steps you can take:

• Connect: To avoid feeling alone or ashamed, connecting with people in your community can be a powerful tool. They get it and will validate you. This is a giant step toward healing.

• Support: Racism can temporarily make BIPOC feel powerless. This is far from the truth. Help others who are also struggling. Soothe your heart through kindness. 

• Self-Care: Traumatic racism has the potential to cause self-esteem and major stress. Self-care counters both trends. It improves your overall well-being. It also reminds you that you matter and deserve such positive attention and care.

Treatment For Trauma

Any and all types of trauma require treatment from a trauma-informed professional. In the case of racial trauma, it also requires a therapist who can handle the unique challenges involved. BIPOC need and deserve to be met where they are — with full respect for their lived experiences. 

Racial trauma requires resilience to navigate. In your weekly therapy sessions, you can develop the coping skills to help create resilience. Like all trauma, BIPOC trauma can be processed and resolved. This will not only help you live a life of self-empowerment, but it will also position you to do the work to help reimagine the world we live in. 

Learn more about Trauma Treatment.

Complex Trauma: What it is and How it Affects People

There’s a lot more awareness about trauma today than ever before. But it’s a complex topic with plenty of nuance. In fact, the word “complex” factors directly into this discussion. Generally speaking, conversations about trauma revolve around a specific, terrible event. It might be, for example, an accident or the death of a loved one. Such experiences can result in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Complex Trauma, however, is similar but arises when a person endures ongoing, relentless traumatic experiences. About three percent of people in the U.S. struggle with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)

Examples of Complex Trauma

The ongoing events listed below typically occur during childhood but can happen to anyone at any time. The criteria are that the person is subjected to long-term abuse or suffering and is unable to escape from it. Such complex traumatic events include:

• Sexual abuse or incest

• Physical and/or emotional abuse

• Medical abuse

• Human trafficking and being prostituted 

• Living in a war zone

• Living in a place besieged by campaigns of genocide 

• Torture

• Kidnapping

• Ongoing neglect or abandonment

• Child forced into the role of an adult, caretaker, or parent 

C-PTSD is more likely if:

• The ongoing trauma happened during your childhood 

• You had a real or perceived lack of escape or rescue

• The abuser was someone close to you

• More than one trauma was occurring at the same time

How Does Complex Trauma Affect People?

Any intense stressor can activate the body’s fight-or-flight response. Under typical circumstances, it serves to shut down non-essential systems and prioritize survival. All things being equal, this stress response dissipates once the threat has passed. But what if the stress doesn’t pass?

People struggling with complex trauma remain in a state of hypervigilance. Everything feels like danger, putting their minds and bodies at high risk of further problems. Like all trauma survivors, they are subject to the following:

• Flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts 

• Memory loss and dissociation 

• Sleep disturbances 

• Being easily startled 

• Unexplained aches, pains, and bodily tension 

• Digestive issues

• Trouble regulating your emotions

• Social isolation and avoidance 

• Low self-esteem

When C-PTSD is Present

If complex trauma causes C-PTSD, in addition to the symptoms listed above, a person may:

• Display angry outbursts

• Lose trust in others and the world, in general

• Believe no one understands them or what they’ve been through 

• Avoid making any kind of connection with others

• Feel permanently damaged 

• Feel different from others and find it difficult to deal with anyone else

Self-Help For Complex Trauma 

A lot of the common relaxation techniques you’ve probably heard of are useful in easing C-PTSD symptoms. For example:

• Journaling 

• Breathing exercises

• Meditation 

• Tai chi, yoga, and dance 

• Maintaining regular sleep patterns 

• Making healthy eating choices 

• Daily exercise and physical activity

• Being in nature 

Also, it can be incredibly helpful to talk with loved ones about your triggers. Let them know what you’re going through and how they can help. All of this adds up to excellent complementary care while you work with a therapist.

Treatment For Complex Trauma

Trauma requires more than self-help. Conditions like C-PTSD can be debilitating. Fortunately, several therapeutic approaches have been found effective for people with complex trauma. These include:

• Internal Family Systems

• Experiential Dynamic Therapy

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

• Somatic therapies 

The first step is accepting the need for change and committing to a plan. These are challenging steps, but I can help you along the way. If complex trauma is impacting your life, I urge you to reach out and connect. Depending on the specifics of your situation, your therapist will present the best options so you can work together toward recovery.

Learn more about Trauma & PTSD Treatment.

What is IFS Therapy for Trauma?

Everyone has a personality. However, if you allow yourself the freedom to think more openly, you will see that you’re made up of many sub-personalities. Quite often, these sub-personalities are in conflict with each other. Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a type of psychotherapy that takes this into account in a big way. In fact, the title is meant to validate each part of you as part of your internal family system. 

You want to balance the parts of an external family, right? Well, IFS seeks a similar kind of balance for all the personalities that make up your “Self.” In the process, it can help you recover from a wide range of problems — including trauma. 

What is IFS?

This approach recognizes that none of your sub-personalities are bad. Rather, they’ve had bad roles imposed upon them. They are wounded and deserving of healing. Healing your sub-parts brings harmony to the greater Self. Again, you can think of a family for context. If each family member is healthy, the whole family is healthy.

Working with an IFS therapist has been found to promote:

• Self-compassion

• Self-leadership 

• A calm reaction to the inevitable symptoms of daily stress or previous trauma 

• A deeper understanding of oneself

• Preparation for emotional difficulties that lie ahead

What is Trauma?

You probably know many of the common causes of trauma, e.g., neglect, abuse, disaster, disability, and more. The causes are many, but they typically fall into a few broad categories:

• Too much happens too soon 

• Too much happens for too long

• Losing personal power and the resources to deal with that

• Not having access to healing options

This adds up to some of your many parts — your internal family members — being traumatized. Some sub-personalities have shifted into permanent emergency mode. They seek to protect you even in the methods are not functional. Obviously, bringing these parts back into balance can facilitate recovery. 

How IFS Can Help With Trauma

IFS reminds the trauma survivor that they are not “just” a traumatized person. In fact, some parts of our internal family are not carrying negative memories and sensations. Integrating the different sub-personalities can help identify where the pain lives. You’ll better understand your triggers and visualize paths toward healing. Your IFS therapist creates a safe environment in which this work can be accomplished. 

Some IFS Techniques

To better grasp how the recovery happens, it helps to know a little about the general approach taken with IFS. Firstly, the many sub-parts of you are broken into two general categories:

• Firefighters: As the name implies, these are protectors. They put out fires, but you’ll still have to get to the root cause of those fires.

• Managers: These parts plan diligently to help you avoid triggers. This saves you from painful experiences but, again, does not deal with the sources. 

What Happens Next

You’ll need to find where the sensations emerge from. It could, for example, feel like tight neck muscles. If so, that’s where your focus must be aimed. Some steps you will take:

• Learn from the part of you that feels the pain the most. Is that pain tied to an emotion or a particular memory? Does it grow from a certain time in your life?

• Identify how you feel about this sub-personality. This will help both you and your therapist surmise how important of a role it plays.

• Challenge yourself to become friends with this part of you. Find out where the fear comes from and see if friendship releases it.

IFS is an innovative and effective approach toward trauma recovery. To learn more, I invite you to reach out today. Let’s connect for a free and confidential consultation. 

Learn more about therapy for trauma and PTSD.

What is Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy & Is it Right for You?

Psychotherapy never stops evolving. As time passes, more and more treatment options are available to people in need. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a relatively new concept that is rapidly gaining acceptance and popularity. Ketamine is a psychedelic drug that can induce a hypnotic state during which healing happens.

Ketamine began as an animal anesthetic but was used for humans during the Vietnam War. Such use expanded to emergency responders, and that’s how its psychotherapeutic potential was discovered. When ketamine was given to a person who had attempted suicide, it had an unexpected, positive side effect—suicide ideation was drastically reduced.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy FAQ

How does KAP work?

Ketamine is believed to impact a particular neurotransmitter that increases your brain’s ability to adapt and adjust. Through a process called neuroplasticity, your nerve cells become better equipped to reduce the risk of mental distress. For example, KAP has been found to short-circuit the factors that can create treatment-resistant depression. 

What other conditions are commonly treated with KAP? 

The list is long, varied, and growing. Some problems addressed via KAP include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, substance abuse, disordered eating, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, chronic pain, and Bipolar Disorder. 

How is ketamine administered?

Lozenges are the most common method. But it can also be delivered via injections, nasal sprays, and intravenous infusions. The positive impact is felt within minutes. 

What are KAP sessions like?

Your therapist is with you all the way as the ketamine eases you into a trance-like state for about 40 to 60 minutes. Think of it as a healthy and productive form of dissociation. But there’s even more to it than the actual ketamine sessions.

In between, you meet with your therapist to work on integration, during which:

• You talk about your ketamine experiences 

• Integrate these experiences into your everyday life

• Homework is given as a way to carry over the healing outside the therapy setting 

Are there any side effects or other cautions to know about?

Let’s start with the side effects. Generally speaking, they are rare. If present, they usually present as minor episodes of:

• Drowsiness

• Headache 

• Nausea 

• Headache

• Increased blood pressure and/or heart rate

• Disorientation

You will need someone to bring you home from the sessions in which ketamine is administered. Other factors to bear in mind:

• In cases when ketamine is injected, needles are involved 

• Anyone deemed susceptible to addiction must address this reality in pre-treatment conversations

• Make sure your insurance will cover KAP

• Be diligent about making sure your KAP clinic is regulated 

What can KAP offer me?

KAP can provide symptom relief that often occurs in a matter of hours. In addition, most patients experience long-lasting symptom relief and become more sustainable with ensuing sessions. KAP is still relatively new, so there’s not a very long-term record yet. What we do know is promising—especially for folks who have not found relief through other treatment approaches.

General Benefits of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy

• Calm mind

• Mood enhancer

• New brain cell growth 

• A reduction of pain and, thus, less of a need for traditional painkillers

• A general sense of being an active participant in your everyday life 

How Can You Know if KAP is Right for You?

I will safely assume that the above summary of KAP has provided some answers and provoked more questions. As is typically the case, the next step is to speak with a mental health professional with experience in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. Therefore, I invite you to reach out at your earliest convenience to learn more. Let’s talk about your situation and decide together if KAP is the right path to take you to a place of healing and recovery. 

6 Signs and Symptoms of Complex Trauma

Trauma is common, and it can be debilitating. On average, at least half the people you encounter have endured a traumatic event. But there’s not just one type of trauma. For example, when a person (usually a child) undergoes repeated, ongoing abuse or neglect, they are susceptible to complex trauma. People who fall into this category are often diagnosed with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD).

The differences between trauma and complex trauma can be subtle at times. But this does not take away from the importance of differentiating between the two. With this in mind, let’s learn a lot more about complex trauma.

Possible Causes Behind Complex Trauma

• Incest

• Sexual abuse

• Ongoing domestic abuse

• Being kidnapped or held captive

• Repeated neglect or abandonment

• Human trafficking

• Being prostituted

• Torture

• Children being forced to take on adult roles

• Being subjected to or witnessing genocide, terrorism, or a war zone

Of course, trauma is in the eye of the beholder. Individuals can struggle with C-PTSD for an incredibly wide range of reasons.

6 Signs & Symptoms of Complex Trauma

1. PTSD Symptoms

Firstly, be on the lookout for signs of PTSD. People with C-PTSD often share some common symptoms, e.g.:

• Re-living events via nightmares, flashbacks, and other intrusive thoughts

• Hyper-vigilance

• Avoidance and social withdrawal

2. Dissociation

The relentless of what you’ve endured puts you in a place of detachment. This could manifest as:

• Forgetting important details about the trauma.

• Experiencing a change in consciousness (dissociation).

• Not feeling connected to your own body.

3. Unable to Regulate Emotions

Intense trauma-induced emotions can range from explosive anger to downright despair. When under the throes of complex trauma, you can feel overwhelmed by such feelings. You get the sense that they are beyond your control. People in your life will notice and remark on your emotional state.

4. Skewed Perception of Those Who Abused You

The abuse most frequently takes place for a long time period during childhood. Thus, complex trauma can distort how you see your abuser and your relationship with them. You may be fixated on them—trying to understand what happened. In other cases, you can be preoccupied with fantasies of revenge.

5. Relationship Issues

Having gone through such horrific experiences can negatively impact how you interact with others. C-PTSD can affect your relationships in ways like this:

• Feeling that you are different from everyone and no one can understand you.

• Guilt, shame, and other types of negative self-perception.

• An inability to fully let go and trust other people.

• The disconnection and detachment mentioned in #2 above.

• Seeking out partners who remind you of your abuser.

6. Loss of Meaning

A more existential symptom involves a loss of belief and meaning. The horror you’ve experienced can lead to questioning and possibly rejecting what you once had faith in. This could mean religion but also involves a general sense of faith and trust in humanity. The parallel tracks of this sign are despair and hopelessness.

Getting the Help You Need and Deserve

Do not try to address complex trauma on your own. Self-help steps will definitely complement your treatment, but you will need to consult with a professional. There are several treatment modalities available to you depending on the specifics of your situation. Hence, the first and most important step is to reach out for help.

You do not have to suffer in silence. You do not have to suffer forever. As terrible as the traumatic experiences were, you can process and resolve them. You can recover, heal, and thrive in your life. Let’s get you started on this path. I invite you to contact me to set up a free and confidential consultation at your earliest convenience.