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Healing Trauma
The horror of the past few months is beyond what most of us Americans have seen in our lifetime. We can’t help but feel helpless, angry, sad, grief, numb, scared, and many other feelings. Being in New York City three days a week has given me some sense of the feelings of the eyewitnesses, the bereaved families and the everyday residents of New York. I know it’s just a small inkling of what these people actually experience. I can feel the grief in the city itself and of all those who died. All the people I see in my practice as a psychotherapist and healer have experienced shattering on many levels. I see the effect it has had on us mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Our personal work, for all of us, not only for New Yorkers, is to experience the layers of our feelings as they arise. We need to allow for all the possible responses that occur during experiences of extreme trauma. For those of you who don’t feel very affected by this event, it might be helpful to wonder why. It is true that there is always suffering all over the world. Whenever we choose, we can tune in and feel this kind of trauma in many other places around the world. It is important to us that we feel kinship not only with our entire country, but also with the whole of humankind. This is a natural part of being human. Sometimes our personal wounding can cause us to feel overwhelmed and sometimes we choose to cut ourselves off from our feelings and from our connection to others. Feeling our own suffering and being able to empathize with the suffering of other people is an important way to heal our selves and our planet. So how can we heal these effects of trauma in our body-mind-spirit? One of the first ways to deal with the effects of trauma is to understand the ways people react in a time of crisis. By realizing how we as people react, we are able to feel more connected to others and ourselves and thereby not so alone in the world. People who have survived a difficult childhood are prone to have a more challenging time with recovery from a traumatic event. Allowing ourselves to learn how to use life’s tragedies to teach us will deepen our awareness and help us have resiliency. This will make the world into a place in which we can learn and grow -- not just a place to feel hurt and victimized. Some lessons are unusually hard to understand and we sometimes feel lost trying to find meaning. Sometimes we find ourselves blaming the victim; this can re-victimize the person. It also prevents us from seeking a larger context to the event in which there can be meaning. Look at our need to blame at all. Certain people could be responsible and our ability to see this larger perspective can help us with the healing. However, there is always the possibility that we may not be able to see and know the big picture at the time, or ever. I would like to describe some common and normal responses people often experience following traumatic events. (You might even see yourself in some of them.) Some of the physiological responses are chest pains, elevated blood pressure, muscle pain and tension, increased sweating, fatigue, flushed or pale skin, headaches, fainting, thirst, teeth grinding, twitches, and stomach upset. Some of the common emotional responses can be powerlessness, shock, numbness, fogginess, dissociation (including being in a daze, apathy, feeling unreal), panic, nightmares, insomnia, aloneness, helplessness, emptiness, uncertainty, depression, guilt, hostility and anger. Some of the mental responses can be short attention span, confusion, blaming others, repeated thoughts of the events and hypervigilance. Some behavioral responses could include withdrawal, regressive actions, pacing, walking aimlessly, impulsiveness, poor communication, different speech patterns, or antisocial behaviors. These are the symptoms of post-traumatic stress and if they persist, it would be wise to seek out one-on-one professional help. Many people have been experiencing a sense of powerlessness. They are looking for ways to cope with all of their feelings, make a difference in the world and therefore make the world a better and safer place. It is important for people to be able to have an impact inside their psyche and also outside in the their communities. How have you found a way to feel that you can make a difference in your world or community? How have you worked with your feelings around this event or other traumas inside of yourself and in your life? Have these ways been satisfying or helpful to you? When you commit to working on all the inner levels of your being, you reconnect with all of you. This then allows you to be able to connect with the outside world in an incredibly fulfilling way. What are the ways that you can feel your personal connection and power in the world? Let’s take a moment to find out. Allow yourself to sit and think about the question now. Read the following to yourself in a slow meditative manner, and take your time. Give yourself a few moments of quiet and reflect on what you have learned. Write your answers down if you want. You can act on these answers or choose to sit with them for a while. Thank you for being willing to do this work. I hope this will be somewhat comforting to you during this difficult time. I will keep my prayers going and my personal work. Until the next time, warm wishes to all. Dr. Jennifer |
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last updated December 18, 2001 |
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© 2001 The Journal of Healing Corp. All rights reserved. Contact: editor@healingjournal.com Designed by Arcadia Web Designs. |
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