Rebuilding your life after trauma involves prioritizing self-care, establishing a strong support system, engaging in grounding physical activities, managing emotions through mindfulness and healthy coping, and seeking professional trauma-informed therapy for deeper healing. Focus on small, consistent steps, practice self-compassion, and avoid substances, as recovery is a gradual process of reconnecting with yourself and the world safely.
How to heal and recover after trauma
Safety and Stabilization. People affected by trauma tend to feel unsafe in their bodies and in their relationships with others. Regaining a sense of safety may take days to weeks with acutely traumatized individuals or months to years with individuals who have experienced ongoing/chronic abuse.
Here are some tips for how to fix memory loss from trauma:
Can I heal from childhood trauma without therapy? While professional support is recommended, self-healing strategies like mindfulness, journaling, creative expression, and physical practices can support recovery.
The five stages of trauma
The belief is emotions and traumatic experiences can become trapped in the body, and somatic therapy helps release this pent-up tension and emotions. Somatic therapy uses body awareness, breathwork and movement exercises to be more aware of bodily sensations and release stored emotions.
Exercise and movement can also be helpful in rewiring the brain after trauma. Exercise has been shown to increase the production of endorphins, which can help reduce anxiety and depression. Movement-based therapies like yoga and dance can also be helpful in reducing symptoms of trauma and improving mental health.
The 2-7-30 Rule for memory is a spaced repetition technique that boosts retention by reviewing new information at specific intervals: 2 days, 7 days, and 30 days after the initial learning, leveraging the brain's forgetting curve to solidify knowledge into long-term memory with minimal effort, making it great for studying languages, skills, or complex topics.
Being directly harmed or neglected. Witnessing harm to someone else. Living in a traumatic atmosphere. Being affected by trauma in a family or community, including trauma that has happened before you were born.
It won't rid you of PTSD and your fears, but let your tears flow and you'll maybe feel a little better afterwards. 'Crying for long periods of time releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain.
After a traumatic event you might want to avoid things that remind you of the event, and avoid talking about what happened. However, research has shown that talking about the event and your feelings can help you to be more resilient. Avoiding memories and feelings has been shown to make people feel worse.
Some people feel significant improvement in months, others take years. The key is consistency in therapy, self-care, and support systems.
Psychodynamic trauma therapy is a highly effective treatment that focuses on identifying and addressing the underlying psychological causes of trauma. It works by exploring a patient's past experiences and their impact on their current behaviors and emotions.
The Trauma-Healing Diet
If your psychological trauma symptoms don't ease up—or if they become even worse—and you find that you're unable to move on from the event for a prolonged period of time, you may be experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Five significant signs your brain might be in trouble include memory loss (especially recent events), difficulty with familiar tasks or language, confusion about time/place, significant personality/behavior changes, and problems with judgment, focus, or coordinating movement, often indicating conditions like dementia, brain injury, or other neurological issues, requiring a doctor's visit.
Long-term Memory: Painful events are often stored in long-term memory, especially when they carry intense emotions like fear or sadness. Information stored in long-term memory can be recalled even after a long time has passed.
Training your brain: Seven ways to improve your memory
Treatment for Unhealed Trauma
Common treatments for PTSD include trauma-informed therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Trauma-informed therapy can provide a supportive and gentle approach when you walk into your therapist's office.
Your Body Holds the Stress
Trauma doesn't just affect your mind—it leaves physical imprints, too. Chronic stress from trauma can settle into your muscles and tissues, leading to tension, pain, or unexplained fatigue.
Because our nervous system and brain can hold onto painful and traumatic events, chronic pain can be very real and present even after the physical injury has healed.
Physical Sensations
Tremors or Shaking: These involuntary movements can occur as the body releases stored energy associated with traumatic experiences. Tingling or Warmth: You may feel tingling sensations or warmth in certain areas of your body as trauma is processed and released.
Comprehensive Guide to Trauma Release Exercises
One effective breathing technique is diaphragmatic breathing, also known as belly breathing. To practice this technique, find a comfortable seated position, place one hand on your abdomen, and take slow, deep breaths, allowing your belly to rise and fall with each breath.