Trauma Brain III
In our last post, we talked about the changes that happen in the brain when it's dealing with stress. Today, we're going to look at how this stress can show up in everyday things we do if not taken care of. We'll also learn about the different methods that can be used to treat stress-related issues.
Affect on daily life.
It's really important to know that the way stress affects the brain doesn't always show up right away. It can take a while for the brain to change. But once those changes happen, they can really affect your everyday life. These changes include having more stress hormones, an overly active amygdala, a smaller hippocampus, and a slow-to-respon prefrontal cortex. All of this can lead to different problems:
Feeling worried a lot
Having trouble sleeping
Getting annoyed easily
Having strong memories that feel like they're happening again
Having bad dreams
Suddenly feeling really scared
Forgetting things
Not being able to pay attention well
Finding it hard to make choices
Having trouble learning new things
Also, stress can make you feel very tired all the time. Your brain is always trying to protect you, and that can make you feel tired emotionally and physically. Feeling tired like this can make everyday tasks and taking care of yourself feel like a lot of work, even if they're things you used to enjoy.
Having a brain that's always on alert for protection can also make it tough to have good relationships. Feeling like there's danger all the time can make it hard to understand what others are thinking and feeling. This can make talking to people difficult and put stress on important relationships in your life.
Can I heal from this?
In short, yes. While completely getting rid of the memories of what happened might not be possible, you can learn skills to handle how you feel and the problems it causes. These skills can help you live a better and happier life.
There are different types of therapy that experts suggest, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR). You can also try talking with someone alone, with a group, with your family, or in special sessions about trauma. The important thing to remember is that you can get better and move forward!
Recap.
We know that trauma can hurt us, and lots of people want to avoid dealing with it. But there's a bit of hope. Learning about how trauma affects the brain and understanding why we feel and act certain ways can help us start healing.
When we learn how our brain works and what happens when we go through stress, we learn what we can change and what we can't. This helps us set healthy goals for feeling better. Sometimes, using medicine can also help fix the chemical imbalances in our brain caused by stress (but you don't have to take medicine if you don't want to). What's important to know is that if we don't get proper help for stress, things might not get better and could even get worse.
Trauma happens to more people than you might think. Like the COVID pandemic we're going through now – it's a difficult event that has affected everyone, even if they weren't directly involved. Some people might feel some of the symptoms that we’ve discussed today because of it. If you relate to any of this, thinking about getting therapy is a good idea. There are methods like CBT, DBT, and EMDR that can help with stress, and talking one-on-one with a therapist is a good place to start.
This concludes our "Trauma Brain" series. Our aim has been to provide you with insightful knowledge, helping you in understanding the consequences and symptoms of trauma from a variety of perspectives in moving forward.