When Nothing Works

Trauma comes in many forms. How one person reacts to an event is not going to be the same experience for someone else. Therefore, recovery from trauma comes in many forms.

While many events can cause trauma, there is no sliding scale to define it. This will depend on the individual living it. That also means there is no one solution for healing.

What is Trauma?

Trauma is a term used to describe the difficult emotional consequences that living through a distressing event can have for an individual.

Someone might spend most of their life in an abusive or neglected state of being. Someone else may live a peaceful and happy existence and not experience anything traumatic until they are much older.

Living an entire childhood of trauma is just as devastating as someone experiencing a major traumatic event later in life, like an accident, war, or natural disaster.

Regardless of how the trauma comes about, it is defined as the lasting emotional effects and response to that event. It can leave the person feeling scared, unsure, and powerless.

These feelings are often devastating and long-lasting. They can develop into PTSD and make life and relationships extremely difficult to cope with and navigate.

Healing is difficult but not impossible. You may be thinking that nothing is working and that existence is futile, but there is hope. Because trauma is not the same for everyone, neither will recovery be.

The Fight for Recovery

An emotional reaction to a traumatic event is quite natural. But, the lingering effects of your reaction are not. There is no one event that can cause your trauma.

Abuse, accidents, natural disasters, being a victim of violence, being a witness to violence, and even the daily bombardment of news stories that revolve around war, violence, and other worldly issues you can’t control.

The reactions to any of these can be difficult to get past. Most reactions to traumatic events stay with the person, which is what causes the lingering trauma.

Images of these events tend to flood the mind, often non-stop. They invade your thoughts, your work, your dreams, your entire life. This can also hinder present and future relationships.

Where to Start

Keep in mind that there are many ways to find help, but not every method is for everyone. You might need to try a few different ways to see what will help you the most.

Acknowledgment

The first step is to acknowledge that you have been traumatized. This often means sharing your thoughts and feelings with someone else. It could be a therapist, a friend, or someone who has been through something similar to you.

Talking about it and sharing it gets it out there. If you are in a support group, it can be very helpful to understand that you are not alone in the way you feel.

It’s not only natural to feel what you are feeling, but it’s also okay. It would be stranger if you went through a life-altering event and didn’t have an emotional reaction.

Acceptance

Allow yourself the feelings. These feelings may linger and you will never forget what happened. Nor should you. Once you can face what happened, continue to do so.

Once you accept that you are going to feel like this for a while, it will make moving forward a little easier. Don’t blame yourself for what happened, just accept that it happened to you. You won’t be able to start the healing journey until you accept that you are now different because of your experience. It now shapes who you are.

Communicate

Tell people what you are feeling. Let them know what you want and how they can help you. Accept help when it is offered, even if it’s just a friend asking you to go out for a walk.

People who love you want to see you heal. But they can’t help you unless you let them in. Don’t let the trauma define who you are, remember who you were, and work to find a way through the traumatic event, rather than hiding from it.

Everyone who has trauma will need to find their own path through it. It won’t be easy, but it is there.

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