Trauma? What Trauma?....Oh

Trauma, I guess, is quite a wide term if you think about it. It can be physical or mental, and also cover things that you didn't necessarily class as 'trauma' and just thought of as a 'rough patch'. 

Once my consultants started to ask me about trauma I had a real 'oh' moment. I realised that things I thought of as a 'rough patch' or 'normal' weren't at all. I also realised just how much my mind, and subsequently my nervous system and body, has been through over my relatively short life span. This realisation lead to a lot of 'well sh*t' moments because I suddenly came around to the fact that what I've been through isn't 'normal'. Then there was the things I've never felt able to talk about to anyone, not even previous counsellors; suddenly I had to open up the locked down chest around these things, and it was scary, but at the same time freeing. 

For me the trauma leading to the GBD has all been mental, but I'm aware of others where the trauma was physical. No matter the cause of the trauma, the outcome (as I understand it) is the same, a nervous system overly stimulated and in fight or fight constantly. From this, it's my understanding, that the GBD occurs, the road block in the vagus nerve stopping the correct communication. Or at least that's my experience.

Since beginning to understand the impact of trauma, I've become aware of various theories and psychologists whom look into exactly that. Currently I'm reading 'The Body Keeps the Score' by Bessel van der Kolk, which a therapist recommended to me, and I'm hoping it will help me get my head around how mental trauma can manifest physically. This has probably been one of the hardest things for me to both acknowledge and get my head around.

I feel like this is a bit of a brain dump today, but ultimately Trauma is not to be underestimated and can be the route cause of something very physical in the body. So look after yourself if you're going through a 'rough patch', something that may seem small now may just be another brick in the trauma built wall.

Ta ta for now! 

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