*See
article, Healing
from Trauma
Emotional pain and trauma can make it almost
impossible to enjoy life and can manifest as physical pain. Rejection activates
the same pathways in your brain as physical pain. Feelings of rejection disrupts
the need we all have to belong and to be accepted. Rejection can interfere with
your ability to think, make decisions, and to recall memories. Letting go of
rejection can be good for your mental health, but holding onto and
internalizing the rejection can cause mental health issues as well as physical
diseases.
When your nervous system is overloaded with too much
stress and trauma, you shut down. You may feel numb, detached, and disconnected
as a result. You may feel like you are existing but not truly living.
→Emotional pain
actually takes a greater toll on your
quality of life than physical pain.
The stress and negative emotions linked to a traumatic
event can cause physical pain and diseases including chronic inflammation,
headaches, high blood pressure, lowered immune system, and altered brain
chemicals. Emotional trauma and pain can interfere with your ability to enjoy
life and in severe cases one may have trouble with deciding if life is worth
living.
Practical tips to begin healing from
trauma associated with emotional pain:
1. Avoid
ruminating about the hurt and the traumatic memories. When you think about what
someone has done to hurt you over and over again, it can be distressing, cause
depressive emotions and intense anger. There must be closure with whomever
caused you to feel betrayed or rejected. You may never get the opportunity to
speak with the person who has hurt you, and they may never truly apologize to
you. You can write a letter to them and not mail the letter, but instead bury
or burn the letter. You can place an empty chair in front of you and “pretend”
you are telling the person who has hurt you how it made you feel. You can also
place an empty chair in front of you and talk to God about the person or people
who have wounded you. Trauma should not be repressed but in a healthy manner
dealt with by dealing with the pain associated with the trauma. If trauma is
not dealt with properly these memories will be played over and over again in
your mind resulting in Post-Traumatic Stress. Whatever you decided, make sure
you forgive that person, offer them undeserved mercy, and pray a blessing over
them (you may have to do this daily until you feel recovered from your heart
wounds).
2. Let
go of the rejection you may have internalized as a person walking out of your
life, abandoning you or betraying your trust. Internalizing the rejection
implies you believe deep down inside that you did something to deserve their
rejection and that you are not valuable or worthy enough to receive their love.
Dispel and reject all the “seeds” that have taken root to cause you to believe that
you are not worthy, not important, not special, or that you are a failure. ALL
LIES. No matter what you have or have not done in a particular relationship
that does not mean that you are not worthy to be honored, valued or treated
with dignity. You are worthy and more importantly God does not reject you! Pull
out all the “roots” or the lies that you have believed because someone rejected
or betrayed you, and replace all lies with truth in God’s Word.
3. Begin
to accept yourself and the situation that caused you the emotional trauma.
There is a familiar saying,” It is what it is.” Acceptance brings healing.
Reliving the past, trying to figure out why something happened, or replaying
the trauma in your mind brings more pain and increases your chances of being further
traumatized.
4. Begin
exercising. Exercising builds essential brain chemical neurotransmitters like serotonin
and dopamine for mood regulation, and decreasing anxiety. Try and exercise every
day.
5. Connect
with safe people. You don’t have to talk to others about your trauma, in fact
for some talking to others can make their trauma worse. You can have just one
or two people that you share the trauma you have been through. Attend normal activities
that feel safe to you such as church, a bible study, or a lunch date with a
trusted friend. (if you are not able to cope with daily living, are severely
depressed or anxious or unable to connect with anyone you may benefit from
professional help).
There is something known as continued traumatic stress,
this occurs when trauma is repeated such as women and children who are sold
into sex slavery or in abusive relationships. Some symptoms may be: difficulty
regulating emotions, sense of helplessness and powerlessness, feeling like you
are someone you love is always in danger, and not able to trust others. The anticipatory
anxiety that comes from worrying if a threatening situation will occur, whether
the fear is realistic or not can transform how you respond to threats. If there
is a remote possibility the trauma can occur again, you may begin to live an automatic
“flight or fight” mode or on high alert. This can cause an inability to relax
and enjoy life. When you are trapped in a situation that you have little or no
control over a sense of dread can occur.
You have two primary options if you have endured
continued traumatic stress: 1) Medication and therapy and 2) Work through the above
tips on healing from trauma, work through the trauma with someone you trust and
with God, naturally alternative treatments such as Kava and chamomile, speak scriptures
out loud over yourself daily that pertain to your situation, and ask Jesus into
every situation that you are in and for Him to bring the healing to your
memories, body and to your emotions.
Though you may have walked through the fire, God can
not only bring you through the fire but you can come out without a burn or scar
upon you. Jesus Christ is a healer and He does care about all of your trauma.
Seek God for the wisdom for the right direction you should go for your healing.
Healing often occurs in stages in multiple layers. Jesus can and often heals
through many sources, and yes, He can also heal miraculously!
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