How Do I Know If I have Trauma

When you think about trauma, do you think about accidents and child abuse? Trauma may be the biggest health issue that isn’t recognized. It touches our lives in so many ways. Traumatic events vary as do people’s responses to events that we deem scary. How do I know if I have trauma is a common question I get from patients.

To start, we need to define what trauma is. Trauma is any event that occurs where the nervous system gets activated but doesn’t reset. I explain the details in another post. But the basics are this. Something happens that causes us to be on alert. Our sympathetic nervous amps up, causing our heart to race, pupils to dilate, and glucose gets mobilized so we can fight or flee. (This is the fight/flight response.) When the danger passes, ideally, your system calms down. Say you have a near miss accident while driving. In milliseconds, you respond to the threat so you can react to the situation. At the last minute, you swerve to avoid the wreck. Some people pull over after this type of experience to calm themselves. They may shake, scream, or somehow discharge the pent up energy. But what if you don’t do that? Sometimes, that event leads to what I’m calling trauma. The energy gets stuck. And that energy can affect mind, body, and spirit.

Examples of Trauma

What are some examples of trauma? Surgeries, poorly performed procedures, accidents, and adverse childhood experiences such as bullying at school or verbal or physical abuse are examples of trauma. But many times, the event is one we never considered traumatic because we rationalized it away. For example, many patients never considered a surgery traumatic because the procedure went well. But the body responds as though there is a threat. People remember little from the time they were preverbal (around 2 years of age). If anything happened, your body might remember it, but you would have no recall of the event. Finally, there is evidence that some trauma is epigenetic. This means that we may experience situations as traumatic because one of our ancestors passed that to us. You can read more about this in my report.You can read more about this in my report.

How trauma affects mind, body, and spirt?

Before I answer that question, we need to discuss shame and trauma. Shame is a form of developmental trauma. It leads to a similar type of avoidance. If your arm hurts, you don’t move it around. If you have a psychological wound, you don’t poke at it. Regardless if you are aware of trauma, it affects your mind, body, and spirit. How? Below is a list of typical reactions people have both right away or ones that are delayed.

Effects of Trauma on Mind, body, Spirit

Immediate Emotional Reactions Numbness and detachment Anxiety and/or panic Guilt (Either survival guilt or guilt for causing the problem) Exhilaration as a result of surviving Anger Sadness Feeling helpless or out of control Feeling as though you are watching your self (depersonalization) Disorientation Denial Feeling constricted or overwhelmed	Delayed Emotional Reactions Irritability and/or hostility Depression Mood swings, instability Anxiety (e.g., phobia, generalized anxiety) Fear of trauma recurrence Grief reactions Shame Feeling extra vulnerable or seen Emotional detachment
Immediate Physical Reactions Nausea and/or gastrointestinal distress Sweating or shivering Faintness Muscle tremors or uncontrollable shaking Elevated heartbeat, respiration, and blood pressure Extreme fatigue or exhaustion Greater startle responses Depersonalization	Delayed Physical Reactions Sleep disturbances, nightmares Increased focus on and worry about body aches and painsd Appetite and digestive changes including nausea, gas, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea Lowered resistance to colds and infection Chronic fatigue Elevated cortisol levels Hyperarousal Long-term health effects to any body system including autoimmune disease
Immediate Cognitive Reactions Difficulty concentrating Rumination or racing thoughts (like replaying the traumatic event in your mind) Distortion of time and space (like everything happened in slow motion.) Memory problems or misremembering events Strong identification with victims	Delayed Cognitive Reactions Flashbacks/intrusive memory of event or worse memory Previous traumatic events are reactivated Self-blame Difficulty making decisions Magical thinking: belief that certain behaviors, including avoidant behavior, will protect against future trauma Belief that feelings or memories are dangerous Avoiding similar situations to the traumatic event Suicidal ideation
Immediate Behavioral Reactions Startled reaction Restlessness Sleep and appetite disturbances Difficulty expressing oneself Argumentative behavior Increased use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco Withdrawal and apathy	Delayed Behavioral Reactions Avoidance of event reminders Easily startled Social relationship disturbances Decreased activity level Engagement in high-risk behaviors Increased use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco Withdrawal and apathy
Immediate Existential Reactions Intense use of prayer Restoration of faith in the goodness of others (e.g., receiving help from others) Loss of self-efficacy Despair about humanity, particularly if the event was intentional Immediate disruption of life assumptions and predictability of life	Delayed Existential Reactions Questioning “Why me?” Increased cynicism, disillusionment Excessive self-confidence and risk-taking Loss of purpose Renewed faith Hopelessness Reestablishing priorities Redefining meaning and importance of life Reworking life’s assumptions to accommodate the trauma (e.g., buying a gun)

Adapted from Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 57. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2014

While many diagnoses fit these symptoms, the similarity to pyrrole disorder and/or autoimmune conditions jumped out at me. For a long time, we have suspected that pyroluria is a physiologic response to trauma. It may or may not be but in another post I will discuss how trauma directly affects the body.

Trauma clearly affects many aspects of our lives. Because it is an energy block, trauma can block our creative force, particularly if you don’t remember the trauma. It could limit your life in ways that you don’t understand. If you freeze when trying to do some forms of work, such as writing an article about trauma, you may not get a promotion. Or if you are afraid to fly, you won’t be able to go to business meetings, or a family reunion in Hawaii.

What to Do About Trauma?

What do you do about trauma if you realize that it exists in your life? For the moment, working with a therapist (or me) is the best option. Working with me is a great option if you have pyrrole disorder or other health issues happening. While taking vitamins won’t take the trauma away, it often makes the process easier. I am working on an online course. Join this new mailing list to learn more.

How Do I Know If I have Trauma