Kennedy Ballam
Registered Provisional Psychologist
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Kennedy
Do you ever feel like you are still being affected emotionally and mentally by something that happened in your life, whether it was three days ago or three years ago? Do you ever feel like you are reliving that same event repeatedly in your head? Do the feelings associated with this event stop you from living your life or doing things you enjoy? Do you ever wonder why you react the way you do to certain things, but can’t quite figure it out? Well, traumatic experiences can do that to us. They can have lasting repercussions on our health and well-being. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes human nature to repress such incidents far out of our consciousness without realizing how this can have lasting consequences for our mental health.
Traumatic events can spring up when we least expect them, significantly affecting our mental and physical well-being. Trauma is an emotional response to accidents, rape, or any other distressing experience or event. Severe trauma can bring variable emotions, flashbacks, relationship difficulties, and physical symptoms associated with re-experiencing the trauma. Trauma can stem from childhood or occur in adulthood; either way, it can be incredibly distressing to our nervous system, mental health, and overall physical health.
The magnitude of a traumatic experience can be big or small, but that is no indication of how debilitating it can be to an individual’s health – we are all unique, and we experience and feel the effects of traumatic events individually and on our own terms. Unfortunately, there is an idea that one person can’t have it “as bad” as another, but suffering from trauma is an entirely individual experience. People are inclined to discount someone’s experience if it seems less significant than their own, which can be incredibly condescending to someone who is suffering and can provoke even more suffering.
Healing from traumatic experiences is not an easy process – there will be many ups and downs. However, it is critical for anyone who has suffered, or is currently suffering, mentally or physically from trauma to seek help to heal what has hurt or scarred them. So much mental strength comes from owning our struggles, recognizing when we are not okay, and seeking help. Of course, it’s okay not to be okay, but if we don’t heal what hurt us, we will bleed onto those who didn’t even cut us.