There are many types of trauma, and many of us don’t recognize what we’re experiencing as trauma until it’s pointed out to us (like a fish who doesn’t realize she’s in water).
I spent years in the field of trauma research - it was literally my job to categorize and explore every type of identified trauma. And you know what? Throughout all of that, I didn’t realize I was living with Complex PTSD. Go figure.
People living with CPTSD commonly experience*:
A deep fear of trust
Terminal aloneness
Difficulty with emotional regulation
Flashbacks
Visual
Somatic
Emotional
Hypervigilance about people
Loss of faith
Having a profoundly hurt inner child
Helplessness & toxic shame
Repeated search for a rescuer
Dissociation
Persistent sadness/being suicidal
Muscle armoring
An urgent desire to “get it right”
*Not all survivors endure these symptoms, and this list is not exhaustive
Relating to your trauma
In a gaslighting culture such as ours, it is easy to downplay our own trauma and compare it to someone else’s. I beg of you: don’t. Your nervous system doesn’t know what body it’s in - and nervous systems are honest. Meet yourself where you’re at. You’re not broken. Your nervous system can heal and become more stable. You can increase your capacity for feeling good.
Types of trauma
What is trauma, anyways? Ask 10 people, and you’ll get 10 answers. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
I use Jennifer Mulson’s definition of trauma: “any unresolved autonomic nervous system response. It's about the nervous system's response to an event, not necessarily the event itself.” Some types of trauma include:
physical, emotional, & sexual abuse/violence
racial, & ethnic trauma
trauma from living in poverty
vicarious trauma (the experience of being traumatized due to exposure to others’ trauma)
trauma that comes from being raised in/living in white supremacist patriarchal capitalism
intergenerational trauma
developmental trauma
This list is not exhaustive, nor are any of the types noted mutally exclusive. Some trauma occurs over time. Some trauma is single-incident, like a car accident or ecological and manmade disasters. Covid has certainly been traumatic for many.
Healing from trauma
If you are struggling with the impact of trauma, seeking help from a trauma-specific therapist can be helpful. EMDR, somatic experiencing, Trauma-Focused CBT, and Progressive Counting are all effective psychotherapeutic methods of processing trauma.
For a more holistic approach to healing trauma, you might also consider working with a yoga therapist (like my friend Halli Faulkner), or explore working 1:1 with mefor dynamic, multifaceted guidance in balancing your nervous system. This makes space for positive affect tolerance - psych jargon for feeling good, sustainably
If you’d like to learn more about working together, you can schedule a free 15-minute consult call below. 🪩
