Everyone has bad experiences in their lives. In the same way, everyone has good and pleasant experiences too. What it is that sets the two apart? What is it that makes normal memories different from traumatic memories? These are great questions, and they may be ones that you’d like the answer to. If you’re suffering [...]
Memories can change incredibly over time. In fact, two people can experience the same event and come away from it with entirely different memories. Interestingly enough, for trauma victims, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Their traumatic memories tend to be preserved in a way that is much different than normal, everyday, mundane memories. [...]
The human brain is such an intricate, complicated and complex creation. Trauma victims constantly find themselves unable to remember certain aspects of a terrible or terrifying event. Many times, they completely dissociate themselves from it, and they’ll even act as though it never occurred. This can cause a lot of confusion for the families of [...]
Wherever you look, there are people who are struggling with various difficulties in their lives. Many of them are suffering because of the traumatic experiences they’ve endured. Some may have patterns of mental illnesses within their families, which leads experts to wonder if genetics play a role. If you are in this position, you may be [...]
Many trauma victims keep their memories close to them. They may think about them all the time. Flashbacks are a common occurrence for them, and they have trouble escaping them once they take place. However, that is not the case for many people with traumatic pasts. Repressed traumatic memories are very real, and it’s not [...]
Trauma victims will frequently do everything they can to feel safe in their own bodies. For many of them, this results in drastic behaviors, such as cutting. For these individuals, cutting helps them to feel something in a world where they generally feel nothing whatsoever. For other individuals, the way they feel safe is through [...]
Trauma victims often have a torn view of the world. This is especially apparent when their worldviews are compared to those of people who have not been through traumatic events. Many trauma victims understand that their worldviews are different from others’. Even so, they’re not always able to understand why this is the case. The [...]
The mind and the body are profoundly connected. This is something that is often seen in and experienced by trauma victims. At times, people who have lived through traumatic experiences even have a difficult time feeling entire areas of their bodies. They just feel numb to them. It should come as no surprise that trauma [...]
Words often evade trauma victims on many occasions. Frequently, they may find their bodies responding in various ways, but the mind and emotions are not engaged at all. In his book, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Dr. Bessell Van der Kolk discusses this condition. It [...]
When traumatic events occur in the lives of people, they often become stuck in survival mode. Instead of having room in their lives for the love and nurturing of others, they tend to spend their lives fighting off enemies that remain unseen. This is one of the tragedies of trauma. In addition, when the mind [...]