One moment you’re just living life, and the next moment you’re pinned upside down in a vehicle with smoke seeping through the dash.
Traumatic occurrences happen to all of us, and if we don’t take the time to properly process the experience, they can (and will!) have severe negative impacts on our life.
As defined, trauma is a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Yet what qualifies as such is solely dependent on the individual.
If you experienced a traumatic event that still haunts you to this day, here’s why it’s important you get help.
Unprocessed Trauma Interferes with Sleep and Well Being
When you don’t properly process your trauma it takes root, affecting you physically and mentally. It hijacks your brain so you’re always on high alert, increasing cortisol and releasing other stress-related hormones.
In turn, chronic stress affects sleep, memory, mood, and overall wellbeing. Prolonged exposure to stress is linked to many serious illnesses.
Unprocessed Trauma Leads to Emotional Dysregulation
When you’re in the throes of living with unprocessed trauma, your amygdala, which controls the fear response, is activated. Consequently, your pre-frontal cortex, which governs rational thought, is diminished.
This leads to an immediate (and often unwarranted) reaction: snapping at a loved one or getting swept up in intense bouts of road rage.
You’ll find yourself making quick fear-based decisions rather than choices born of rational thought. You may also process experiences through the lens of fear, allowing it to cloud your reality.
Unprocessed Trauma Imposes Limits on Your Life
By not properly working through the traumatic experience, you may live in constant fear that it, or something similar, will occur. As a result, you’re reluctant to leave the house. You’re reluctant to try new things, and you slowly begin to disengage from life and the people you care about.
Unprocessed Trauma Can Lead to Chronic Health Conditions or Disease
Living in a constant state of stress and hyper awareness almost always results in you developing some sort of physical condition. Additionally, it is one of the biggest contributors to weight gain.
Unprocessed Trauma Often Leads to Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Being stuck in trauma is not a pleasant place to be. You may be more inclined to self-medicate with alcohol or sugary fatty processed foods, instead of choosing a healthier alternative like going outdoors for a walk.
Unprocessed Trauma Complicates Additional Trauma You May Experience
Some, especially those who went through trauma as a child, live with layers of trauma. Perhaps they went into the military and experienced more trauma. Then, because they never learned how to process any of their adverse experiences, they hold it all inside.
Unprocessed Trauma is Expensive
When all is said and done, unprocessed trauma is expensive. It costs you your health, your wellbeing, and may lead to risky financial decisions or you being too unwell to work.
The good news is, help is available. While many are aware of post-traumatic stress (PTSD), fewer people know about the other side of that coin, post traumatic growth.
You only have one life to live, and at the Relationship Therapy Center we’re here to help you develop into your full potential. We’ll support you as you move past the challenges that try and pin you down, and equip you with the resources to flourish. If you’re interested, please reach out. We’d love to hear your story and share more about how we can help.
Begin Trauma Therapy in the Sacramento Area or Online:
Are you ready to find peace and healing after trauma? We are here to support you and provide high-quality evidence-based trauma treatment to people in the Sacramento Area and online for people living in the state of California. To begin trauma therapy in Fair Oaks, CA or Roseville, CA, please follow these steps:
- Reach out to our relationship therapy clinic for a free 15-minute phone consultation to learn more about trauma therapy.
- Meet with one of our compassionate trauma therapists.
- Begin trauma treatment and regain control in your life.
Other Services Offered at The Relationship Therapy Center in California:
In addition to trauma therapy, Our Sacramento area counseling clinics located in Roseville and Fair Oaks, CA are pleased to offer a variety of mental health services. Our couples services include: Counseling after infidelity, sex therapy, co-parent counseling, family therapy, divorce counseling, intensive couples retreats, and premarital counseling. Individual therapy services include, therapy for children, teen therapy, depression treatment, and individual relationship counseling. Our therapists offer online counseling in California to treat a variety of mental health concerns. Please reach out to our Sacramento area therapy office to learn more about the many ways we can help you or your loved ones heal and grow.
Certified Gottman Therapist
Many people suffer unnecessarily from uncertainty, insecurities, and low self-esteem. Also, people struggle in their relationships because they don’t know what they don’t know. Therapy, with the right therapist, can be empowering, transformative and life-changing. Of course, I have loved helping over the last decade by providing personal and relationship therapy to many people.
As my practice grew in the Sacramento area and I had more clients than I could personally see, I began to form a group practice to help clients get the same level of care that I could provide. Now, I mentor and train all of our therapists in the Gottman Method, which is a research based couples therapy method that is proven to work.
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