꩜ Trauma
Trauma is a GIANT umbrella term that goes way beyond what I thought when I was a brand-new therapist. Trauma is natural disasters, assaults and accidents, right? Well, yeah, but there’s A LOT more traumas than the obvious ones.
If you came to this trauma page because it was linked to situational anxiety, it’s about to make sense.
Simply put, trauma is when something causes you to stop being the real you even when it is safe again. It doesn’t matter what causes this, just that we water down or lock up who we really are.
Situational anxiety is when your nervous system has associated that situation with a feeling of threat. Sometimes this makes complete sense. If your teacher is a jerk to you when you answer a question in class, you learn not to ask. That’s called adaptive behavior, and that’s NOT trauma - it’s survival. It makes sense for the situation.
Fill in your own blanks here. I don’t __________ because it makes me feel ______________ when I try or even think about trying it.
One of the most fulfilling experiences is when clients learn to reduce and manage their anxiety, feel confident enough to try, and really start living their lives. That’s trauma recovery!