Life After Trauma

Mar 20, 2013 by Melissa

Life After Trauma

 

Are you a victim of a traumatic event that continues to impact your life, or from which you seem unable to move forward with your life?  Sometimes it seems as if we have moved past these events, but we realize later that we are still carrying a burden..

 

Some people can continue on with their lives as  if the event never happened, but others develop symptoms of PTSD, such as anger, depression, anxiety, isolating behavior, nightmares, flashbacks, sleep problems, a feeling of numbness, or avoidance of certain situations.

 

Talking about the traumatic event is the first step toward healing.  If you cannot bring yourself to talk to a therapist, friend or family member, write your feelings down in a journal.  This allows you to fully process the experience with the aim of reframing or renegotiating your story.  It is best to do this with a professional so that you do not end up simply retraumatizing yourself.  It is often through our suffering that we achieve our greatest transformations.