Stress & Trauma
Although stress and trauma are typically viewed as phenomena that are purely psychological, the mind-body connection is much stronger than you think. Maybe you’ve experienced this acutely, in a high-stress situation when you noticed your heart was racing, your stomach was upset, or you had a splitting headache, for example. Sure, stress can cause immediate acute effects like this, but if your stress is chronic or if you suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the physical effects can last far longer.
Not only can stress and trauma throw a wrench into your mental health, but it can also impact your physical health — your body simply cannot function optimally when it’s in a heightened state of stress.
Here’s what you need to know about stress and trauma’s effect on your physical health and whether they might be the root cause of your illness.
What is Trauma
Have you ever experienced a disturbing event that left you with this sense of overwhelm, helplessness and feeling out of control? If yes, it’s possible that the stressful situation traumatized you. Psychological trauma leaves its mark by leaving you grappling with memories, anxieties and upsetting emotions that just won’t let up.
Traumatiziation can also present itself if you are left feeling disconnected, unable to trust other or feeling numb. As human beings, none of us can avoid the difficulties and sometimes traumatic experiences of life. However, we are all impacted differently. If you’ve been impacted by traumatic stress, I encourage you to prioritize your healing so you can get back to a healthy equilibrium. Trauma and stress can be tough, but they don’t need to leave a lasting impact.
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Emotional and psychological trauma come from experiences that, most often, involve a threat to your life or safety. It’s the level of extraordinary stress that robs your sense of safety and makes you feel like you’re powerless in a dangerous world. Now, traumatic experiences don’t need to involve physical harm, per se. The determining factor of trauma is the individuals’ subjective experience. Regardless of the external situation, the more you felt frightened and helpless, the more traumatised you’ll be.
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• Single incident events - also referred to as shock trauma. ex: an attack (physical, sexual), an injury, accident or shocking event. This is especially traumatic if it was shocking to you (came unexpected) and even more so, if it happened when you were young. For more info on the difference between “big T” traumas and “little t” traumas.
• Repetitive, ongoing and consistent stress - is also referred to as complex trauma. ex: ongoing bullying, chronic childhood neglect, domestic abuse, living in a danger zone such as a war zone, or crime-filled neighbourhood, battling a life-threatening illness or facing an ongoing traumatic event.
• The Less Identified Traumas - what I call the “Silent Wounds”. These are the commonly overlooked situations that often cause trauma. ex: experiencing a deeply embarrassing or disappointing experience, losing someone close to you (due to death or moving cities), breaking up with a significant relationship in your life, or interacting with someone who is deliberately cold-hearted or cruel (at work or in personal life). This may also include feeling chronically ignored, unseen, or experiencing chronic stress for example: mum constantly yelling or seeing high conflict (or complete disconnect) in your parents while growing up. More on relational trauma, which is trauma that happens in relationships.
• Traumatic Stress - Traumatic stress refers to the experience of stress related to events you weren’t directly involved in but caused you a lot of distress. For example, when you hear about man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks, mass shootings, plane crashes, or natural disasters, such as a flood, tornados or fires. Although you may not have been directly impacted, watching the news and seeing horrific images can leave an imprint on your mind and body.
One important thing to note is that since we are all uniquely different, we all react differently to emotionally distressing or traumatic experiences. There is absolutely no right or wrong way to feel, think, respond or react. If you’ve picked up a belief or behaviour that is negatively impacting you, please don’t judge yourself; I encourage you to understand it as your mind’s attempt to coping with an abnormal situation.
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How childhood trauma impacts your susceptibility to current trauma.
Trauma isn’t a magnet. It doesn’t know who to “pick” and traumatise, however if you’ve been traumatised before, are under a lot of stress or experienced a recent loss, your system will be more susceptible to being traumatised by a shocking event. This is especially true if you’ve experienced childhood trauma, as those are the developing years where your brain builds neural networks, learn to acclimate to environments as well as practises self-soothing. Common childhood traumas include:
• Being separated from a parent
• Being raised in a chaotic, unsafe or unstable environment (ex. alcoholic or mentally unstable parent/s)
• Experiencing physical, verbal or sexual abuse
• Experiencing neglect - emotional inattentiveness
• Being exposed to or experiencing domestic violence
• Experiencing serious illness
• Going under intrusive medical procedures
• Emotional Abuse
• Sexual Abuse
• Separation / divorce
• Narcissistic parent/s
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A Road to Embodied Living -
The good news is that there are ways for you to let go of the pain, learn to trust yourself, reconnect with others and develop a safer way of being. I’ve worked with courageous individuals who, in their adult years, healed younger wounds. As one individual expressed:
“ I can’t believe this is how life is supposed to feel. I’m getting to knw what it’s like to be emotionally balanced and to feel like the world is a place I’m able to be in. I used to think the world was out to get me. But now I see I was shadowed by fear and easily affected by every small interaction. Now I can move through events and experiences with much more ease and strength.”
Those who took the time to work through traumatic events, memories and self-beliefs slowly reprogrammed their thinking and feeling and learned ways to better navigate the world. Doing this allows the individual to be able to fully dive into daily experiences. Regardless of if the trauma happened yesterday, last year, or a decade ago, your choices today can move you forward in ways that you need.
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There are different trauma therapies to help you relieve the feelings, beliefs, memories or pent-up “fight-or-flight” energy that are stuck in your body. Common trauma therapy methods and methods that we offer are:
Somatic Psychotherapy (somatic experience of sensorimotor psychotherapy)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Art Therapy, Dance Movement and Expressive Arts Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
Parts Work
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• Improve daily functioning and feel more confident in facing daily life interactions in work, family, love and self-care goals
• Provide a safe space in the therapy room and over time, expand that feeling of safety to how you feel in the world (less fearful, and more trusting)
• Help you re-own your personal power, comfortably own your autonomy and improve assertiveness
Help you understand the history of your trauma, and your symptoms and have a clear understanding of who you are, the impact of your trauma, generational trauma and your healing goals
• Significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression
• Ameliorate (and in some cases, eliminate) the uncomfortable triggers of trauma
• Safely process trauma memories
• Successfully shift your focus from the past to the present
• Address and resolve the need to use addictive/self-destructive behaviours that were created to manage your post-trauma pain
• Plan for the expected waves of emotional triggers, and help you to learn to use your toolkit of coping so you regain emotional equilibrium even after difficult moments in life
• Be able to attain dreams and goals that were not possible previously (due to avoidance, fears or worries)
• Find joy in daily life and face your life with more energy curiosity and openness
Let Go of the Narrative of the Past
If you have some form of trauma that’s impacting your body and mind and quality of life, contact Alison so she can help you to let go of the experience in your life that feel heavy and are weighing you down, your life is meant to feel an abundance of FREEDOM and you deserve to live fully, happily and healthfully. Alison will use various techniques that appear of best relevance for you such as somatic EMDR, psychology and counselling and coaching methods that bring you to the here and now and can safely move you away from the there and then (memories of the past that keep you trapped in the now)
If this approach of coaching interests you, you can apply to work with Alison here, or using this link to book a 30-minute consultation.
A note about our fees: we do not offer one-off sessions following a consultation, fees vary depending on the package of your choice and affordability.
Fight-or-Flight vs Rest-and-Digest
Your body’s nervous system consists of the sympathetic nervous system, responsible for the “fight-or-flight response,” and the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the “rest-and-digest system.”
Stress and trauma put your body into fight-or-flight mode, and when your body is in this state, it’s not able to rest and digest, the time when your body can tend to itself and make sure all organs and bodily functions are in healthy working order.
The fight-or-flight response, however, is an evolutionary adaptation to keep us safe from external threats, however our common daily threats and activated triggers are present more and yet can be with us daily, unfortunately for many - all day and all night for all too long. This response can also be triggered by constant stress and unhealed trauma, even when there isn’t imminent danger or an immediate threat –but your brain, and your body believes there is, which leaves you living in a hypervigilent state.
While your body is just trying to protect you, negative effects can occur when your body spends too much time in flight-or-flight mode (sympathetic nervous system - which is actually far from sympathetic if we break it down it is a protective and natural act of survival) . When you face big stressors and you stay in fight-or-flight mode, levels of cortisol (the primary stress hormone) go up, which can weaken or damage other bodily processes over time if constant. Simply put, your body is trying to keep you alive from a perceived (or real) threat, but as it does so, other body processes are deprioritized.
While cortisol is a naturally occurring hormone in your body that’s necessary for much of your functioning, too much of it can be detrimental over long periods which can lead to chronic illness, even deadly ones such as heart disease.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress and long-term exposure to high levels of cortisol increase your risk of developing the following symptoms and health conditions:
Anxiety disorders
Cognitive impairment of concentration and/or memory
GI issues
Headaches and migraines
Heart disease and heart attacks
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Mood disorders such as depression
Muscle pain
Muscle tension
Reproductive system issues
Stroke
Trouble with sleep
Weight gain
If you suffer from any of these symptoms or conditions, it’s very possible that chronic stress may be the root cause of your illness.
PTSD & Chronic Illness
Chronic stress isn’t the only culprit that could be disrupting your health. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can also have detrimental effects on your health. PTSD can develop after you experience a traumatic life event.
Additionally, it’s very common for those with PTSD to have co-occurring mental health conditions. It’s estimated that a whopping 90% of PTSD victims have at least one other mental health condition. The most common conditions associated with PTSD are depression, anxiety disorders, and addiction.
PTSD alone is enough to contribute to physical health problems, but with additional strain on your brain, nervous system, adrenal function, gut health and microbiome, the chances of developing chronic illness are even higher.
Research now shows that there’s a contributing factor to the link between PTSD, CPTSD and certain symptoms and health conditions.
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• Car accidents
• Military combat
• Natural disasters
• Sexual abuse, assault or trauma
• The unexpected death of a loved one
Ancestral Trauma
Divorce
Loss of a loved one
Narcissistic abuse
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• Angina pectoris (chest pain)
• Asthma
• Chronic pain
• Diabetes
• GI disorder
• Heart disease
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Stomach ulcers
• Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat)
this list is not exhaustive by any mans
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Research on the impacts of Trauma is more avaialable now than ever, including the impact biologcally as well as psychologically. Neuroscience - psychology and Somatic therapies are more available now than ever to support moving froma traumatised state to a life of freedom - known as post traumatic growth
Early Life Stress & Trauma as a Trigger
Chronic stress and trauma compound over the course of a lifetime, and negative events that happened in childhood can play a role in developing illness. Functional medicine doctor Tejal Joseph, MD, says that adverse childhood experiences (sometimes referred to as ACEs) that occur before the age of 17 have been shown to increase the likelihood of health issues later in life.
A few examples of ACEs include:
Being neglected
Experiencing or witnessing violence or abuse
Having a family member with substance abuse problems or mental health problems, a narcissistic parent
Having separated parents
ACEs can alter a child and they live in a heightened fight-or-flight responses, hypervigilance, and being in a state of overdrive, exposing them to toxic stress early on in life. The more ACEs you experience, the greater the chances of being negatively impacted years or even decades down the road.
Several health conditions linked to ACEs include:
Autoimmune diseases
Cancer
Depression
Diabetes
Heart disease
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Obesity
Furthermore, research has found that the psychological distress a mother may have endured during pregnancy (in utero) can have an effect on the development of a fetus and child, resulting in health consequences that may be present throughout an entire lifetime.
There’s also the possibility that the effects of trauma can be related to factors before you were even born, in Utero or passed on from ancestors. This is known as intergenerational trauma. In this case, trauma is believed to be passed down from generation to generation, last 100 years evidence of this is for example is the holocost survivors and their children, and grand children.
Even in cases where stress is completely out of our control, before being born for instance, the consequences can have a long-lasting impact long into your adulthood.
Coping with Stress & Trauma
Finding ways to manage stress and trauma symptoms is crucial to improve mental and physical health.
The basics, can sound easy tools, but often when you are living in an unregulated state simple lifestyle wellbeing principles such as getting enough healthy full sleep and eating a nourishing diet, since these are critical to good physical and mental health practicing the best you can will support health and healing.
Make sure you’re getting enough sleep (seven to nine hours per night) and eating a healthy, balanced diet that’s rich in nutrients and low in damaging inflammatory foods is essential as nourishment also supports the nervous system.
You may also consider adding activities into your daily life that can reduce stress.
Practices such meditation, mindfulness, and joyful movement like being out in nature.
As a functional medicine practitioner, Alison offers an individualized plan as to what lifestyle changes will support and be beneficial for you dealing with your individual stress, trauma, and overall health.
Of course, mental health treatments such as therapy can be extremely helpful for learning how to manage with stress and trauma.
Alison has trained as a trauma informed coach and is training in as Somatic EMDR practitioner and has trained as Level 2 mental health awareness professional and is studying Psychology and Counselling degree.
These modalities can help you unpack trauma, and regulate your nervous systems and equip you with tools te re connect with yourself.
learn new ways to regulate your emotions, handle stress, and more. These are invaluable tools that you can carry with you throughout your life.
Countless factors affect your mental and physical health, and stress and trauma are just two that may be the root cause of your illness. Other factors such as chronic inflammation, hormone imbalances, and exposure to toxins are just a few examples that can play into your holistic health and well-being.
As a functional medicine practitioner, Alison can assess all aspects of your health throughout your entire life (your time line) to determine the root cause of your current symptoms or illnesses.
If you’re ready to tackle the root cause of your symptoms, it’s time to get serious about your health and embark on the path toward making more positive, enriching changes.
When you are ready to get started with Alison, you’ll have access to her various modalities to support your health and healing.