Trauma

 
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can be hard to recognise; however, one of the signs can be responding in a more extreme manner We are not always aware of our Trauma, but our bodies remember, and our beliefs and resulting behaviour become an expression of it.

You may have heard of the fight, flight and freeze response, but you often don’t even recognise when this happens. It is exhausting navigating life with a constant cloud of Trauma over you.

If you had a hole in your floor, you would easily recognise the dangers. Constantly ignoring it would not be the answer. Instead, you would want to fix it, as avoiding it may mean you do not fall into the hole, but it does not address all the other issues that arise from this problem (temperature fluctuations, allowing unwanted creatures in, creating a tripping hazard, unsightly and potentially expanding hole etc.). We are the same; when we ignore Trauma, it results in problems festering and growing, ultimately depleting us.

Our behaviours or comments can often be an opening into understanding our Trauma. I’m here to create a safe space for you to recognise this programming and transform these traumas so that you are no longer protecting yourself, being triggered and reacting to situations unconsciously and unhelpfully.

Childhood trauma

 
We have all experienced traumatic events in childhood, whether it was someone dying, being bullied, experiencing a natural disaster, war, separation, and the list goes on. However, sometimes, the effect stays with us well beyond the incident. It is not what happens to us as much as what we have unconsciously made it mean to protect ourselves.

Take a child that loses a parent. They may unconsciously develop a belief that it is not safe to love. This belief would complicate life and may leave them unable to start or maintain relationships for fear of loss.

However, another person in the same situation might believe they have to hold on tight to the one remaining parent, resulting in very different behaviours and may make them appear needy.

We could go on, but the belief steers the person’s behaviour in every circumstance.

A typical but not exclusive response to childhood trauma is a fawning response