Have you been a victim of a traumatic experience in your life? If so, you are not alone. As much of a disadvantage as it is for those who encounter adverse life experiences, moderate estimates suggest that more than eight million Americans suffer from serious, diagnosable trauma-related psychiatric problems.
Understanding what trauma does to children and how it affects millions on a global scale is the first process in helping each other heal from the internal wounds that it causes, with great efforts to prevent retraumatization. Retraumatization happens when survivors of trauma are exposed to people, places, events and situations that can remind us of a past experience that has affected us. So how can we effectively minimize the impact of trauma and maximize recovery?
Though this is not an impossible task, it can be complicated. Many of us who have experienced trauma were raised in unhealthy environments, among toxic family members and within violent communities that have significantly impacted how we view people, relationships and the world in general. Some of us were raised in foster care, grew up in poverty or had a caregiver who suffered from mental illness or substance dependence.
Children have grown up in homes where they have been emotionally, mentally and sexually abused by someone who they were supposed to be able to depend on for love, guidance and protection. We've listened to gunshots and police sirens in the communities where we should’ve been able to play, laugh and enjoy the fountain of our youth. But instead we had to walk the streets in fear of our safety from violence, through gun shells and drug paraphernalia. Young men and women have been trafficked into forced labor that minimizes their self-worth, destroys their dignity and self-respect, which has left us with our minds scattered and our hearts shattered; from cruelty, threats, false promises, economic and psychological manipulation. All of which are real life problems that no one should ignore. If we ourselves haven’t experienced such, some of us have close friends or family members who have been impacted by such exploits. These events not only affect our personalities, they also affect our physical and emotional capacities at great lengths.
Although environmental influences shape our choices and who we turn out to be, this doesn’t mean that we are damaged beyond repair and we will no longer be able to recover or become productive, responsible and kind human beings who go on to live the lives that we deserve. In fact, the turmoil resulting from the suffering of mankind can still become success stories filled with hope, survival and triumph.
The first process in doing so involves having people we can trust to stand by us with love, support and encouragement. Fire can warm or consume, water can hydrate or drown, wind can caress or cut. Similarly, it is with human relationships that we can either create or destroy, nurture or tear down or help each other cope with the inevitable stresses and strains of life. Through the development of empathy, a quality not possessed by all but one that can be cultivated, we can learn to recognize the destructive impact of these experiences and learn how to nourish ourselves and the people in our lives that are filled with pain and hopelessness.
No storm lasts forever. What is more fulfilling than finding ourselves to be stronger and better than what we could ever imagine? Anticipate that after each storm, the sun will rise again
In the following blog, I will discuss dynamic approaches to healing, treatment and recovery
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