Trauma Therapy III

"Some of these factors (that affect recovery) you cannot change. For example, you cannot control whether you have experienced more than one traumatic event."*

While many mental health professionals may have their hearts in the right place, be sympathetic in their approach, and even have experienced the same kinds of trauma, there is still a flaw in the above approach. It's true, you cannot control whether you have experienced more than one traumatic event. But you also cannot control whether you will experience more trauma in the future.

Now, that may not sound very actualized (I'm still processing and working out all of this) but how exactly does trauma therapy account for the fact that if are a marginalized identity - women, lgbt, poc, dalits etc - then you are highly likely to experience not one, but multiple traumatic events? That it is practically inevitable?

How do you process trauma when you're on tenterhooks, waiting for the next axe to fall?

Trauma compounded by multiple events is that much more difficult to process. It reduces chances of recovery. Right? So maybe the approach needs to be adjusted a little?

One of the beliefs of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is that you cannot control other people and their actions, only your own. And this works on a very narrow, focused perspective, but the minute you let your thoughts move on to the bigger picture, you are more likely to lose heart.

And to top it all off, trauma can have significant impact on your physical health as well:

"Trauma survivors may turn to smoking, overeating, alcohol, risky sex or drugs to cope with their negative emotions. These behaviours provide a certain amount of short term relief from the pain of negative emotions. However, in the long term, they lead to dangerous diseases like obesity, heart disease and cancer. ... Trauma survivors report higher levels of chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, lung and breathing problems, gynecological problems and fibromyalgia."*

From Twitter user @roocheetah, a trauma therapist and mental health advocate.

"Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and the links to Physical Health (emphasizes mine):

An ACE is defined as an experience of any of the following before the age of 18:

• Recurrent physical abuse 
• Recurrent emotional abuse 
• Sexual abuse 
• Alcohol and/ or drug abuser in your household 
• An incarcerated household member 
• A household member who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized or suicidal 
• Your mother being treated violently in your household 

The study found that compared to people with an ACE score of 0, participants with a score of 4 or more were 60% more likely to suffer from depression, 260% more likely to suffer lung problems (possibly due to high rates of smoking), and 250% more likely to have a sexually transmitted disease.

Over time, there may be biological changes due to chronic stress - increased blood pressure, heart problems and poor physical health.**

The amygdala, part of the brain involved in emotional arousal, seems to show more activity in trauma survivors."

 

* Quotes from Overcoming Trauma and PTSD: A Workbook Integrating Skills from ACT, DBT and CBT by Sheela Raja 

** Kimerling, CLumb and Wolfe, 2000; Zoellner, Goodwin and Foa, 2000