If You Really Think About it, We ALL Experienced Trauma at Some Point of Our Life!
Hello everyone! I am late to post this blog this month and I really do not like to postpone my duties but I guess having a busy practice, along with raising two babies that are 11 months apart can make that affect on people đ I also know that this is not the first time I write about this topic, but as I get more training about trauma and work with cases of trauma I realize more how deeper this topic goes. By now, I can definitely say that I have totally found my niche and that helping people overcome traumatic events that happened to them makes me really happy. There is something so fulfilling in seeing someone smile joyfully after being able to process their trauma. There is a reviving feeling to processing trauma, as if a heavy weight was lifted off your shoulders – I know because I was able to experience it myself.
One of the reasons I am talking about the trauma topic again, is due to this training I attended last weekend. Three full 8 hours days to get trained in Trauma Incident Reduction (TIR) when I was dead tired were the most energizing and revitalizing experiences I have had in a long time.Â
TIR speaks about trauma in a very unique way that made a lot of sense to me. They approach trauma with the mindset that trauma is any experience that left us with an emotional charge, or how they describe it to be an “incomplete Cycle.” Meaning, the experience we went through was incomplete in some way and still has an emotional affect on us. Pavlov’s experience speaks about classical conditioning and the sequences we can relate between one memory to another. (watch a quick video about this here). Humans have the ability to have infinite sequences, which results in infinite “triggers”  between one memory and another. To try and simplify it to you, what it means is that we can subconsciously link one experience we had to another by noticing items present in one memory and carrying over the emotions related to that memory to another one. We do it by viewing a similar items in an unrelated new memory and our mind link the emotions since they are stored in a disorganized way in our brain when we experience trauma. This concept probably confused you even more but in real life it is easy to explain and understand!!
A quote that I believe makes a lot of sense when trying to explain what trauma is this:
“Unlike other forms of psychological disorders, the core issue in trauma is reality.â -Bessel A. van der Kolk
This is why it make sense that we all most likely experienced some kind of trauma at some point of our lives. Some people more than others, but we all had our shares of disappointments, misfortunes and sad experiences.  These experiences many times linger in our subconscious and affect us negatively in new experiences, relationships, and day to day life. Part of the reason why it is so important to go to therapy and process your emotions is to understand the root of an issue and be able to wok through it. I like to say that everything in life happens for a reason, as well as that every emotion is temporary. Some emotions linger longer because they are linked to other emotions and therefore affect us more. If we work through our issues and detach from some of the links it can change our lives significantly. I really hope that if you or anyone you care about feel that they have some incomplete cycles they would seek the proper help and achieve inner peace.