TRAUMA CONDITIONS

Trauma & Grief and Loss

Trauma and grief are the right hook and gut punch of the universe’s emotional arsenal. Whenever one hits, the other inevitably follows, and chances are every one of us will be struck to some degree at some point in our lives.

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We treat Crime Victim Compensation recipients.

What is Crime Victim Compensation?

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So why are trauma and grief such a double whammy? To answer that, you first need to consider some definitions. Trauma is an experience or situation you perceive as a threat to your physical or emotional safety over which you feel no control or that overwhelms your resources to handle it.

Grief is the natural set of emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations that leave you feeling overwhelmed and out of control after experiencing a significant loss.

Did you notice the overlaps? Loss is a type of trauma -  so, as the natural reaction to loss, grief is a traumatic experience. It’s disempowering and leaves your mind, body, and soul reeling, in search of a new equilibrium.

At the same time, just as grief is traumatic and needs to be validated as such, trauma involves loss that needs to be grieved. When you survive a traumatic experience, something is taken from you against your wishes. It could be your health or physical abilities, or it could be your sense of safety, fairness, or control over your own body and life. 

Both trauma and grief change you. Healing isn’t about returning to who you were before your experience. It’s about becoming comfortable with who you are after and BECAUSE of it. It’s not easy work, but it IS possible. Many people who survive a traumatic experience or painful loss find comfort talking with a therapist. When you’re ready, we’d be honored to support you.

Trauma & PTSD

Trauma is multi-faceted. It comes in all shapes and sizes and presents many different faces. There are the obvious traumas, like those experienced on the battlefield, being a victim of a violent crime, the loss of a loved one or a natural disaster (read: COVID-19 pandemic) that can result in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Violent crime and abusive childhoods are other obvious forms of trauma. We call this “trauma with a big T.” Then there are the subtle forms of trauma, such as prolonged emotional abuse, chronic illness, childhood poverty, the loss of loved ones, untreated OCD, or a pervasive unease you can’t quite put your finger on. This is “trauma with a small t.”

Both types of trauma can have debilitating effects on the quality of life.

The working definition of trauma is the emotional response to an event or an experience that is deeply distressing and persistent. The word trauma comes from the Greek word for injury, which is important to note. Psychological trauma is an injury that requires healing like any other injury. In general, trauma can be defined as a psychological, emotional response to an event or experience that is deeply distressing and often persistent.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is the best-known traumatic syndrome. For decades, PTSD has been coming home with our veterans with such increasing intensity and frequency that it now has a place in our mainstream vocabulary to describe any prolonged exposure to negative experiences. Fortunately, this commanded the attention of researchers and the medical community to develop effective treatments for PTSD in particular, and trauma in general.

How do flashbacks happen and why it is so important to recognize and heal trauma? We now have greater insight into the bio-mechanics of how the brain processes and stores traumatic experiences, The science shows us that disturbing experiences are processed and stored in the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for emotions (such as fear) and the mind-body connection (i.e. pain, hunger, sexual desire, desire for drugs and alcohol).  

The Fear Factory. Unresolved trauma gets stuck in this ancient part of the brain, or as some researchers call it, “the fear factory,” where it can easily manifest into physical symptoms such as pain and addiction. 

A powerful, evidenced based treatment of PTSD is Prolonged Exposure. The Veteran Affairs (VA)’s National Center for PTSD defines Prolonged Exposure Therapy as: “Prolonged Exposure (PE) teaches you to gradually approach trauma-related memories, feelings, and situations that you have been avoiding since your trauma. By confronting these challenges, you can decrease your PTSD symptoms”. The VA has endorsed Prolonged Exposure therapy as the gold-standard treatment for PTSD for both veterans and civilians alike.

Once we can get to the root of your traumatic experience, we can begin the healing work, and identify which tools (including Prolonged Exposure, EMDR, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and more) will be most effective for you.

We are proud mental health care providers for our veterans and work with Crime Victim Compensation Services.

Trauma and Chronic Pain

Pain Defined: “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.” (International Association for the Study of Pain).

Chronic Pain Defined:  Chronic pain is pain that is ongoing and usually lasts longer than six months. This type of pain can continue even after the injury or illness that caused it has healed or gone away. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years. Some people suffer chronic pain even when there is no past injury or apparent body damage. Chronic pain is linked to conditions including migraines and Fibromyalgia and emotional effects such a depression and anxiety.  (excerpted from Cleveland Clinic)

 A growing body of research is shedding light on the connection between trauma and chronic pain.

Pain in Patients with PTSD and trauma symptoms are associated with greater reporting of physical health problems and symptoms as well as of functional impairment and increased utilization of our health care system.   Gordon JG Asmundson, PhD et al state in their research, “…It appears that between 10% and 50% of patients receiving tertiary care treatment for chronic pain and related conditions have symptoms that satisfy diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared with approximately 8% of the general population.”

Bottom line:  Untreated trauma has a real impact – on your quality of life, physical wellness, relationships, employment and healthcare costs.

The circular nature of trauma and chronic pain and the Mind Body Connection

Maggie Phillips, author of Reversing Chronic Pain, writes: "Whether or not trauma was connected to the event or condition that originated their pain, having a chronic pain condition is traumatizing in and of itself."

We are not floating heads:  When we experience a cognitive or psychological injury, it absolutely communicates and attempts to balance out in the physical system.

There is Hope for Healing!

We have deep experience and passion for treatment of folks that struggle with chronic pain and trauma.  This is why we have obtained advanced clinical training in the treatment of trauma, using evidenced-based treatment modalities with a proven track record of success – EMDR, Equine-Assisted Therapy, Exposure and Response Prevention, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Prolonged Exposure.

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing or EMDR works effectively to stimulate both hemispheres of the brain to reprocess traumatic information, moving it out of the amygdala and into areas of the brain where these memories are less disruptive. We now have the scientific research to back up the fact that psychological traumatic injury is not only a “real” physical condition, but that it can actually alter a person’s DNA and be passed down from one generation to the next.

If you are unsure that trauma is impacting you, or whether EMDR might help, here are some useful self-assessment questions courtesy of the EMDR Therapist Network:

1.     Are you losing productivity at home or at work because of symptoms of anxiety?

2.     Are you still feeling depressed or lonely, despite the practice of positive thinking? Are you angry all the time, and don't know why?

3.     Are you frustrated that the "real you" is buried by hair-trigger, out of control emotions?

4.     Have phobias limited your life, despite your best efforts to overcome them?

5.     Have you been in therapy "forever," wrestling with the same old problems?

6.     Have you tried cognitive therapies only to find your emotions still ruling your life?

7.     Do you want to calm the chaos of self-defeating thoughts, feelings, and behaviors?

8.     Do you want to get to the root cause of chronic symptoms?

9.     Do you want to reduce stress and its negative impact on your physical health?

 Providing trauma informed therapy for residents of Denver metro and surrounding areas.