If the trauma is left untreated, one can experience nightmares, insomnia, anxiety, depression, phobias, substance abuse, panic attacks, anger, irritability, or hopelessness. The individual might also begin to have physical symptoms such as gastrointestinal distress, rapid heartbeat, or extreme fatigue.
Using avoidance as your main way of coping with traumatic memories can make PTSD symptoms worse and make it harder to move on with your life.
There is no specific time frame for recovery from unresolved trauma. However, the good news is that healing from trauma is not an endpoint; survivors are capable of far more than merely healing. They can look back on their traumatic experience and learn that they are stronger than they ever imagined.
Treatment for Trauma
Healing from trauma can take time and work. However, it is never too late to begin treatment and recover.
Traumas like physical and emotional trauma often lead to PTSD which on average, affects roughly 8% of Americans. PTSD can typically be a lifelong problem for most people, resulting in severe brain damage.
Other manifestations of childhood trauma in adulthood include difficulties with social interaction, multiple health problems, low self-esteem and a lack of direction. Adults with unresolved childhood trauma are more prone to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide and self-harm.
When trauma and chronic stress become overwhelming, our nervous system tends to move into a shutdown state. Counsellors often refer to it as dissociation, a common response to traumatic events.
Smiling when discussing trauma is a way to minimize the traumatic experience. It communicates the notion that what happened “wasn't so bad.” This is a common strategy that trauma survivors use in an attempt to maintain a connection to caretakers who were their perpetrators.
It's normal, and even healthy, to vent and get emotional support from loved ones. However, trauma dumping is a consistent pattern of oversharing when one 'dumps' their difficult, stressful, or traumatic feelings on others. This behavior can negatively impact relationships, the person sharing, and the person listening.
After a traumatic experience, the emotional toll may be so heavy that people may avoid anything that might remind them of what happened. Some people's efforts to block residual feelings of trauma may look like adapting avoidance behavior to avoid feelings of pain, also called trauma blocking.
"Traumatic stress early in life can impair the development of sensitive physiological systems and neurological networks," said Carrion. "We know from our research that early life stress can alter hormonal systems and brain function."
People who have unprocessed trauma often report having commonly known symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts of the event(s), mood swings, loss of memory and more. However, some people may be struggling with unresolved trauma without even realizing it.
Trauma often manifests physically as well as emotionally. Some common physical signs of trauma include paleness, lethargy, fatigue, poor concentration and a racing heartbeat. The victim may have anxiety or panic attacks and be unable to cope in certain circumstances.
A trauma timeline begins as a pen and paper assignment of constructing a detailed history of one's painful life experiences that left them feeling abandoned, unsafe, confused, fearful, sad, angry, shameful, guilt-ridden or stuck.
Ever since people's responses to overwhelming experiences have been systematically explored, researchers have noted that a trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response.
Usually, signs of dissociation can be as subtle as unexpected lapses in attention, momentary avoidance of eye contact with no memory, staring into space for several moments while appearing to be in a daze, or repeated episodes of short-lived spells of apparent fainting.
Signs of Childhood Emotional Neglect
Low self-esteem. Difficulty regulating emotions. Inability to ask for or accept help or support from others. Heightened sensitivity to rejection.
Scientists believe suppressed memories are created by a process called state-dependent learning. When the brain creates memories in a certain mood or state, particularly of stress or trauma, those memories become inaccessible in a normal state of consciousness.
Childhood trauma in adults also results in feeling disconnected, and being unable to relate to others. Studies have shown that adults that experience childhood trauma were more likely to struggle with controlling emotions, and had heightened anxiety, depression, and anger.
And the answer is yes. The brain is incredibly resilient and possesses the ability to repair itself through the process of neuroplasticity. This phenomenon is the reason why many brain injury survivors can make astounding recoveries.
Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Most responses are normal in that they affect most survivors and are socially acceptable, psychologically effective, and self-limited.
On a brain scan, a person with PTSD may show a smaller hippocampus, increased amygdala function, or increased cortisol levels in response to stress, according to a report from the Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience.