For many victims of trauma, the experiences that traumatized them happened when they were children. The brain resorts to disassociation as a way to protect itself from getting hurt again, and it is very common for people to carry that into adulthood.
While disassociation does work as a survival strategy for a period of time, it often has a negative impact on the victim’s life as an adult. This is because of the way the unconscious mind hides memories away from the conscious mind. The victim has no clear record of the traumatic events, and all they are left with are symptoms.
Common Symptoms that Trauma Victims May Experience
There are several symptoms that trauma victims may experience because of fragmentation or disassociation. They include:
- Developing anxiety or depression.
- Feeling ashamed.
- Having low self-esteem.
- Feeling lonely and alienated.
- Struggling with anger problems.
- Impulsive or acting out behaviors.
Trauma victims often struggle because a part of them is always on the lookout for danger. This can lead to feelings of hypervigilance, fear and dread. They often live in a state of constantly fearing abandonment. But to make matters worse, they feel numb and completely disconnected from their emotions.
Therapy for Trauma
Many trauma victims never even consider therapy until a major life event forces them to. For instance, they may begin self-harming, or they may develop an addiction. Some victims will develop eating disorders or other mental health issues, such as bipolar disorder.
Quite often, victims have no words to describe what they are going through because they don’t understand it. Instead, they may use self-deprecating statements like:
- “I only do this as a way to punish myself.”
- “I hate myself.”
- “I would be better off dead.”
Therapy can help trauma victims connect their current situations to their past experiences. But talking about those past experiences isn’t always the best solution. In fact, putting the pieces together is likely to result in even more difficult symptoms. Talking about traumatic events can make people feel like they are reliving it all over again, which is something that should be avoided.
Therapy is more effective when it addresses the effects of the past, and not the events themselves. People need to come to the understanding that they can feel safe right where they are, in that place and time. They need to know how to remind themselves that they understand where their anxiety is coming from, and that it is not a sign of danger.
When a person is under a significant amount of stress, fragmentation is a natural response. It’s one that our brains developed as a way to protect us, so it’s not something to fight against. More than anything, trauma victims need to know that they are safe, and they need therapeutic treatment to facilitate that.
If you are a victim of trauma, I want to encourage you to contact me for an appointment. Together, we can find the right therapeutic tools to help you work through it an experience the healing you desire and deserve.
