How Unresolved Trauma And Grief Impacts Our Lives

Trauma is a severely destructive response to extreme levels of stress. Destructive responses are the result of having suffered a one-time event or numerous disturbing experiences. Trauma can also occur by being a witness to or hearing about the sufferings of others. One of the signs of trauma is becoming easily overwhelmed, often. Lacking in the ability to manage your emotions as well as facing out-of-control thoughts are indicators of trauma. 

Furthermore, you might feel scared, helpless, anxious, and depressed frequently. Enduring domestic violence, being sexually assaulted, going through childhood abuse or neglect, and physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual are some examples of events that typically cause trauma to develop. Other happenings that can generate critical reactions to intense amounts of stress include natural disasters such as pandemics, hurricanes, tornadoes, or personal tragedies such as your house burning down, car accidents, work-related adversities, in addition to other misfortunes.

Unresolved Trauma

When trauma is unresolved, it means that the pain and distress associated with your disturbing event has not been sorted out. Sometimes, there are multiple wounding situations that have not been attended to. Leaving these devastating concerns unconfronted typically leads to an intensity of symptoms. Added to that, lies, deceptions, and warped ways of believing and thinking develop, referred to as negative messages. These negative messages must be identified and processed. 

As long as the trauma remains untreated, you will likely experience anxiety, an overwhelming expression of fear; the body will scan for environmental threats; feelings of irritability, unwanted memories, nightmares, as well as other symptoms will persist. To further avoid the pain connected with acknowledging the truth, you might defend yourself by engaging in defensive behaviors, denial, and suppression of feelings. 

Prolonged Grief

Regular qualities of grief consist of shock, disbelief, depression, anger, and a sense of longing for all that was considered lost. There tends to be a preoccupation with the loss as well as experiences of anxiety, changes in typical ways of socializing, thought processes, and difficulty connecting to peace, hope, and comfort.

When grief is prolonged, emotional aching feels extreme. You might notice an alteration in personality traits, belief systems, values, enjoyment, and displeasure. Other displays of persistent sorrow include problems adjusting to life following the trauma, numbing, meaninglessness in life, difficulties believing the reality of the loss, and strong feelings of isolation, in addition to staying away from reminders of the injury. 

Resolution

Failure to deal with the trauma will overpoweringly impact the grieving process by disrupting your ability to cope in healthy ways and triggering unpleasant memories. You must come to terms with all that you have suffered to escape prolonging grief; leaving you unhealed, constantly reacting to situations, people, or objects reminding you of the initial damaging event.

To reach a point of resolution means to work through the many damaging parts of the trauma. Working through means being completely honest about the traumatizing event, how you feel about it, and making appropriate and necessary decisions. Question whether or not you desire to experience healing and what it will take to live a healed lifestyle.  

Behave compassionately, patiently, and act respectfully towards yourself. This creates a constructive atmosphere for developing resolution. As you gain insight and clarity about all that you have suffered, your thought-life will foster a truth-based perspective. Living from a truth-based perspective usually prevents relapsing into unhealthy patterns of existing. 

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