Introduction
An individual’s health is one of the most important concerns of modern society. The ability to enjoy benefits available to people nowadays depends on the degree to which they feel sound. At the same time, the modern approach to health implies that physical and mental issues are equally significant. It means that disorders impacting individuals’ thinking, behavior, and emotions acquire the top priority as one of the critical elements of health. From this perspective, psychological trauma is one of the fundamental notions in psychology and care provision. Traumatized people face numerous problems impacting the quality of their lives and suffer from the inability to enjoy life. They also acquire numerous physiological manifestations and chronic diseases. It evidences the strong connection between the body and brain and the critical importance of addressing mental disorders and trauma to help individuals stay healthy and integrate with society.
Trauma
Speaking about mental health, it is critical to admit that mental disorders are not rare. Trauma might happen to every individual because of various events occurring in their lives (Van der Kolk, 2014). Statistics show that one in five Americans was sexually molested in childhood, one in four suffered from physical abuse, and one in three couples engaged in physical violence (Van der Kolk, 2014). It means that traumatizing events might be present in the life of every individual and influence his/her life and the people around him/her (Van der Kolk, 2014). Trauma is also unbearable and intolerable, and attempts to push it out and act as usual will lead to undesired outcomes and more complicated symptoms and adverse effects (Van der Kolk, 2014). The part of the brain responsible for survival can trigger the release of stress hormones long after the trauma and cultivate undesired emotions or behaviors (Van der Kolk, 2014). For this reason, managing trauma requires an enhanced understanding of its mechanisms, the conditions that led to its emergence, and the peculiarities of the brain’s work. Knowing the fundamental processes underlying trauma might help to reverse the damage and help individuals live better (Van der Kolk, 2014). Otherwise, if left unaddressed, it might become more complex.
War holds the first place among traumatizing events that might lead to severe changes in people’s behaviors and health. Working with veterans of the Vietnam War, specialists had the chance to notice the peculiarities of their conditions. They had nightmares, disturbed sleep patterns, and bad memories that triggered changes in their mood (Van der Kolk, 2014). However, the more complex problem was that they had the altered work of the brain, which evidenced the severity of trauma. It also means that traumatized people have a tendency to superimpose their trauma on the world surrounding them and have difficulties with using their imagination (Van der Kolk, 2014). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the major mental health problems associated with undesired past experiences. Thus, trauma might result in the radical reorganization of the brain and mind’s perceptions (Van der Kolk, 2014). It impacts individuals’ capacity to think and the ways they analyze reality (Van der Kolk, 2014). It means that addressing the problem requires understanding specific structures of the mind, how they work, and how they can be healed.
Brain and Trauma
Nowadays, the connection between the specific changes in the brain and people’s suffering is evident. It means that advances in science help to detect the reasons for people’s mental suffering and address them. However, previously, specialists lacked the understanding of how specific symptoms, such as insomnia or problematic speech, were linked to trauma (Van der Kolk, 2014). It resulted in the reduced effectiveness of treatment and the inability to help patients cope with post-traumatic stress. The emergence of drugs focused on managing the work of the brain revolutionized the approach to trauma and its treatment. It means that a significant shift in understanding the problem emerged. The traumatized people and their symptoms should be viewed regarding their brain function and the necessity to address changes that emerged as a result of threatening events in the past. Moreover, people suffering from severe trauma might lack effective coping mechanisms, meaning they can return to events or experiences that made them suffer. For this reason, addressing the issue is critical to ensure that the individual is safe and healthy.
The development of neuroscience and the emergence of new investigation tools also help to understand trauma and the way it impacts the work of the brain. The changes in individuals’ behaviors, specific responses to stress, and reactions can be seen using imaging methods. Traumatized people have specific areas of the brain activated when undesired thoughts or flashbacks emerge (Van der Kolk, 2014). The limbic area and the fear center trigger stress hormones, which might affect a person many years after the event (Van der Kolk, 2014). Moreover, trauma might impact Broca’s area, or speech center, which impacts the ability to express feelings and thoughts by using appropriate words (Van der Kolk, 2014). It can help to understand why individuals with trauma have difficulties expressing their fears and formulating ideas about issues that cause anxiety in them (Van der Kolk, 2014). At the same time, investigations show that areas responsible for adrenalization release might also be affected (Van der Kolk, 2014). It explains the fight or flight reaction, as individuals might have a fear of events or, on the contrary, mobilize to struggle (Van der Kolk, 2014). In such a way, the advances in neuroscience help to understand how trauma works and its severe impact on individuals.
Moreover, the discoveries mentioned above promoted the shift in methods used to work with patients. Today, specialists better understand symptoms as manifestations of the instinctive brain and specific survival responses existing within a body (Fisher, 2014). For instance, the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for danger scanning, can become more irritable if a person grows under the constant impact of various stressors (Fisher, 2014). As a result, the dysregulated nervous system emerges and impacts individuals’ coping mechanisms and responses to various threats (Fisher, 2014). It also led to the emergence and evolution of somatic psychotherapy, which focused on understanding patients’ feelings at various periods of time (Fisher, 2014). That is why working with clients requires considering all its aspects and the work of the brain.
Understanding Survival
Understanding trauma also requires understanding the peculiarities of survival and how it works. The major problem is that in PTSD, the body continues to defend against the threat that emerged in the past (Van der Kolk, 2014). As a result, a person remains in a mobilized state with activated defensive mechanisms (Van der Kolk, 2014). It critically impacts the quality of life and the brain’s work. The activation of the brain’s alarm system triggers the release of chemicals that impact the functioning of the body (Van der Kolk, 2014). For this reason, having no visible fear factor, individuals might have a stimulus to run, freeze, hide, or feel horror or anxiety (Van der Kolk, 2014). Being critical for survival during disasters, war, or other traumatizing events, these actions are not necessary for people in ordinary life (Van der Kolk, 2014). However, the problem is that individuals with severe trauma live in past memories while they do not know how to respond to current events (Van der Kolk, 2014). The brain constantly shows signals of danger that require mobilization and appropriate responses. For this reason, a survivor acquires a set of psychological and neurological problems that should be resolved to ensure he/she can enjoy life.
In such a way, the enhanced understanding of survival mechanisms helps to look at patients’ symptoms from a new angle. They can be considered instinctive brain and bodily responses to threat and stress (Fisher, 2014). Sympathetic activation increases rage and anxiety levels, while parasympathetic dominance leads to passive-aggressive behavior (Fisher, 2014). Survival mechanisms might also lead to verbal or physical aggression and violence, which might be turned against the self (Fisher, 2014). As a result, a client suffers from a set of symptoms that are closely connected to one of the major functions of the brain, which is to ensure a person can survive and resist a threat coming from external sources. Common interactions might cause severe distress and bursts of strong emotions, leading to problems while interacting with family, colleagues, or close people (Fisher, 2014). Understanding this factor is essential for working with patients who have PTSD as it helps to address the core causes of their inadequate responses to various triggers or factors that make them feel uncomfortable.
Furthermore, in many cases, traumatized patients suffer from dissociation, which is linked to past experiences. It can be viewed as an essence of trauma as the experience is split into fragments, and emotions, sounds, images, thoughts, and feelings linked to the threat and event exist separately (Van der Kolk, 2014). Being replayed repeatedly might trigger the release of stress hormones, which might also deteriorate the state of a person (Van der Kolk, 2014). Depersonalization is also peculiar to patients with trauma as they often see events outside their bodies, splitting from their selves (Van der Kolk, 2014). It helps to reduce negative feelings and pain from the past. Thus, it means that survivors of stressful events require a specific approach to manage their problems at different levels.
Connection Between Body and Brain
Working with trauma and traumatized patients, it is also vital to consider the fact that the work of the body and its responses is closely connected with the brain. For instance, the safety systems of the brain might release specific hormones activating changes in the work of the various systems, such as increased heart and respiratory rates, sweating, and muscle contraction (Van der Kolk, 2014). For patients with PTSD, these effects are stronger as they do not feel safe because of the past traumatizing events and the reoccurring flashbacks (Van der Kolk, 2014). As a result, they feel sudden impulses and desires affecting their interactions with others and their existence in society. For this reason, helping individuals with trauma requires addressing the emotional engagement and safety systems of the brain as they regulate most responses. If the memory of trauma is encoded and exists in various parts of the brain, it is critical to implement specific therapeutic assumptions helping to manage the problem and ensure that the body and brain function appropriately.
Trauma might also alter the person’s perception of his/her body and self. Self-harm is one of the common behaviors peculiar to people with PTSD or other mental disorders (Van der Kolk, 2014). Being one of the symptoms, it can also be viewed as an attempt to control the body and feel it (Van der Kolk, 2014). Moreover, numerous traumatized patients report problems with feeling the whole areas of their bodies (Van der Kolk, 2014). It can be viewed as an important aspect of any mental issue, as losing the body means losing the feeling of self and acquiring the fear of it. Additionally, people with chronic traumas or distress feel unsafe within their bodies, which causes them much discomfort and pain (Van der Kolk, 2014). It leads to depersonalization and attempts to analyze the situation from the outside while the sensitivity of their bodies decreases. Understanding this factor is essential for helping people with trauma. Therapies such as massage might help them to open and feel better because of regaining control over their bodies.
Trauma and Memories
Another critical problem linked to the issue is traumatic memories and their impact on individuals’ behaviors. The degree to which a particular event is remembered depends on its meaningfulness for a person and the emotions linked to it (Van der Kolk, 2014). Speaking about terrifying experiences characterized by the release of a high level of adrenaline, the system becomes overwhelmed and breaks down (Van der Kolk, 2014). It results in the formation of traumatic memories impacting a person for an extended period of time and leading to bursts of defensive reactions (Van der Kolk, 2014). An individual might not remember details, but he/she feels strong emotions leading to extremely strong responses (Van der Kolk, 2014). These memories are one of the complex trauma-related issues that should be addressed to help a client and guarantee he/she recovers.
A traumatic memory can also be one of the leading causes of PTSD disorder and the further deterioration in people’s quality of life. WW II contributed to the severe reconsideration of the approach to addressing trauma and understanding the events that triggered it. Repressed memory is one of the possible symptoms among survivors who have experienced a disaster or catastrophic events (Van der Kolk, 2014). Speaking about traumatized patients might have some gaps in events that caused severe stress; however, these memories always remain strong and lead to the development of complex psychological problems and responses. For this reason, such mental issues as PTSD are associated with the heaviness of remembering and recalling things that cause strong emotions and critical outcomes.
At the same time, it is critical to remember that not all stressful events will lead to the development of severe mental health issues. Most people are resilient to traumatic events and can cope with them independently (Howes, 2022). It means that it is critical to speak about potentially traumatic events as, in most cases, the worst of disasters will not trigger the development of PTSD for every person (Howes, 2022). The research shows that only a minority of individuals can acquire lasting trauma reactions (Howes, 2022). That is why it is vital to avoid overusing the term trauma and PTSD, speaking about individuals with various psychological problems (Howes, 2022). Instead, it is vital to focus on determining the reasons for the emergence of specific issues and avoid using labels.
In this regard, the spread of PTSD can be explained by the increased interest in the issue and its research. After its formalization as the diagnosis, new investigations and case studies on disorders caused by trauma emerged (Howes, 2022). The availability of information and its massive spread preconditioned the emergence of the idea that PTSD can be found in everyone because of numerous events in the past that might be stressful (Howes, 2022). However, when working with trauma, it is critical to realize the fact that its prevalence might be overestimated (Howes, 2022). On the one hand, the advances in its research enhanced the understanding of its importance and how to work with it. It also showed the necessity of addressing the problem due to the severity of symptoms and the connection between body reactions and the brain. Thus, on the other hand, diagnosing numerous patients with PTSD might lead to distorting the actual image and numerous misunderstandings.
Under these conditions, determining and correctly understanding trauma is essential. It is key to working with patients who had serious traumatic events in the past and assisting them. Moreover, approaches used to work with clients should also differ regarding the complexity of every case and its peculiarities. For instance, muscle relaxation therapy might show perfect results for individuals who remain under stress because of the activation of their survival mode due to stress (Howes, 2022). Working with the body might help make a person more open and allow them to share thoughts and emotions that were previously hidden (Van der Kolk, 2014). When choosing the method, it is critical to realize that trauma might be excruciating, but it does not mean that every person is traumatized. To avoid wrong assumptions, it is vital to focus on determining this state and its investigation.
Conclusion
Altogether, trauma is a complex psychological issue that requires further investigation. The current understanding of traumatized patients and their peculiarities considers the neurobiological aspects and the critical impact of stressful events that occurred in the past. The constant activation of the centers responsible for stress and scanning for threats results in changes in how the body copes with adrenaline and responds to various stimuli, even ordinary ones. For this reason, patients might suffer from flashbacks that impact their reactions and trigger strong and undesired responses. The lack of relaxation and the inability to understand the nature of overreacting causes additional discomfort and increases the level of fear the patient has because of his/her trauma. The recent advances in neuroscience helped to understand the nature of trauma better and introduce new approaches to working with clients who suffer from severe outcomes and symptoms. Addressing trauma requires managing a set of symptoms, working with traumatic memories, and the changes in the brain. It would help to improve patients’ quality of life and ensure their recovery.
References
Fisher, J. (2014). Putting pieces together: 25 years of learning trauma treatment. Psychotherapy Networker, 38(3), 32-39.
Howes, R. (2022). Rethinking PTSD: How should we be defining trauma? Psychotherapy Networker, 46(6), 63-65.
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score. Penguin.