5 Characteristic Psychology That Helps in Trauma Healing

 Psychological trauma, also designed as the experience of an event where a person feels their life is in some kind of threat or danger, may be accompanied by a sense of helplessness, horror, or numbing as the internal alarm system becomes activated.

Reaction to trauma differs from person to person. Certain factors put us at risk for more severe psychological difficulties which are explained by the experts in the trauma healing centre in Nashville, TN. Fortunately, there are qualities we can build on to help us manage our reactions to traumatic events.

 

Experts have divided the reaction to trauma into four categories: emotional, physical, cognitive, and interpersonal.

 

●       Emotional reactions are anger, shock, shame, fear, helplessness, grief, sadness, denial, numbness, confusion, abandonment, depression, denial, and anxiety.

●       Physical reactions include bodily tension, insomnia, feeling fatigued, racing heartbeat, startling easily, change in appetite, nausea, digestive problems, chills, or profuse sweating.

 

●       Cognitive reactions differ from person

to a person. They might include problems with intrusive or unwanted memories, concentration, difficulty making decisions, indecisiveness, and concentration. You may notice thoughts such as, "How could someone do this?" or, "It felt like time stood still."

 

●       Interpersonal reactions involve feeling a sense of distrust, increased conflict with others, experiencing a loss of intimacy, isolation from others, or problems at work or school.

 

These are common reactions to trauma. Some less common and more severe reactions need professional intervention. Those reactions are:

 

●       Extreme emotional numbing that leads to a sense of emptiness

●       Emotional reactions include intrusive or unwanted re-experiencing of the event after it has happened such as nightmares, flashbacks, and terrifying memories.

●       Potentially harmful attempts to avoid intrusive experiences through alcohol or substance use, lying, self-injury, or suicide attempts

●       Ongoing anxiety, uncontrollable worry, obsessive or compulsive behavior, and helplessness

●       Physical reactions that involve hyperarousal, rage, panic, extreme irritability, rage, restlessness, violence, and agitation

●       Dissociation (or sense of being separate from one's body), lack of awareness of surroundings, having fragmented thoughts, or involuntary spacing out

●       Ongoing anxiety, uncontrollable worry, obsessive or compulsive behavior, or helplessness

 

It is to be noted that everyone will not develop a mental health condition or post-traumatic stress (PTSD) following a traumatic event. There are certain risk factors that increase the chances of experiencing more severe reactions to trauma, including severe exposure to a disaster, low socio-economic status, having a pre-existing mental health condition, being part of an ethnic minority, lacking social support, and lacking social resources.

In fact, there are some factors that increase the risk of severe trauma reactions, there are also at least seven personality characteristics, described below, that can help a person successfully cope with or manage trauma.

 

Locus of Control

The extent to which we believe or expect we can control the outcomes of events that affect us is called locus of control. Our locus of control may be internal or external. If we have an external locus of control, we believe our behavior is guided by fate, luck, or other external forces. Contradictorily, our behavior is driven by our own decisions and efforts, and the outcomes are related to our actions if we have an internal locus of control.

Crises pose a big challenge to our beliefs and expectations about the level of control we have in the situation. Attempting to assert some degree of control following a crisis can aid in more effective coping and can help create a greater sense of meaning and consistency. Researchers have often observed that an external locus of control is related to learned helplessness, a condition in which a person perceives no sense of control, expects that there can be no escape, and believes any attempt to escape will result in failure.

 

While an internal locus of control can have positive effects in moderation, those who attempt to unrealistically control events may need assistance adjusting their expectations about outcomes. For example, if someone has an unrealistic belief that they could have prevented a crisis on their own by doing A, B, or C may need help focusing on what they can realistically control.

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is our belief about how capable we are to handle situations. If we have high self-efficacy, we exert effort to overcome challenges. We avoid actions we think will exceed what we’re capable of if our self-efficacy is low. Self-efficacy builds on itself as we add to our successes. It is often thought that people who expect to cope successfully with their emotions and moods are likely to be proactive in their healing and to seek out something positive in threatening situations.

Hardiness

Hardiness as a personality characteristic describes someone who is curious, actively involved, believes they can influence outcomes, expects that life will present changes and tends to believe that challenges are opportunities for development. People with hardiness wish to learn something valuable and implement those lessons into their lives. Hardiness is simultaneously associated with active coping and decreased emotional distress.

Optimism

Optimism is holding hope and expecting that good things happen. Optimism is focused on a desired outcome and not on who is in control or how capable one is for reaching the outcome. Optimists emphasize the positive during difficult situations and have been found by some researchers to be less anxious, depressed, hostile, and self-conscious than those with pessimistic attitudes.

 

So, now you know what trauma can do to you and how important it is to seek help from trauma healing centre in Nashville, TN. Not only you, anyone very close to you can suffer from severe trauma. Check on your dear ones and take proper care of everyone.