Everyone responds differently to highly stressful events. Some of these stressful and traumatic events include accidents, loss of loved ones, domestic violence, sexual assault, natural disasters, and even wars.
However, there’s a lot of variability in how people respond to trauma, as well as their process of healing from trauma. Trauma may cause short-term effects that can last for a few days or weeks or long-term effects on someone’s well-being that might take even years to resolve.
In this article, we’ll discuss the types and signs of trauma, how it affects the nervous system, and how to reset your nervous system after trauma.
re-origin offers a brain retraining program that helps you learn to regulate your nervous system and resolve emotional dysregulation, whether from chronic health issues or trauma. To take the first step in your recovery, learn more about the re-origin program.
What is Trauma?
The American Psychology Association (APA) defines trauma as an emotional response to stressful events like terrible accidents, rape, domestic violence, natural disaster, loss of a loved one, or war..
Types of Trauma
There are different types of trauma2; however, this article highlights the following types of trauma:
- Acute trauma: Trauma that results from a single stressful occurrence or traumatic event.
- Chronic trauma: Trauma resulting from prolonged traumatic events like child abuse, domestic violence, bullying, or sexual assault. It is also known as repetitive trauma.
- Complex trauma: Trauma that results from exposure to various traumatic events like domestic violence, child abuse, and losing loved ones almost simultaneously.
- Complex developmental trauma: Trauma that occurs early in a child’s life e.g. childhood trauma.
Signs and Symptoms of Trauma
While everyone may have a different trauma response, the following are some of the signs and symptoms that you should look out for. The moment you notice some of these signs in you, family members, loved ones, or a friend, it is advisable to seek the help of a qualified mental health professional. Remember, with the proper tools and support it is possible to work towards healing and resetting your dysregulated nervous system.
Emotional Effects of Trauma:2
- Depression
- Sadness
- Confusion
- Shame
- Guilt
- Hopelessness
- Difficulties in concentrating
- Numbness or being on high alert all the time.
- Fear, anxiety, panic attacks
- Denial
Physical and Psychological Effects of Trauma
- Headaches
- High blood pressure.
- Digestive system problems
- Fatigue
- Sweating
- Racing heart
What is the Nervous System?
The nervous system is controlled by the brain, which is your body’s command center. The nervous system plays a vital role when it comes to body processes like healing, movements, and automatic responses to stress.
How Does Trauma Affect the Nervous System?
The autonomic nervous system consists of the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system. Chronic stress and trauma can cause dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system and affect the immune system, thus impacting overall health..
The activation of the body’s fight or flight response occurs anytime a person encounters stressors. You can self-regulate your nervous system during stress, which helps to returntake it back to normal as soon as the stressor has passed, a period called the window of tolerance.
It is normal for the nervous system to go through a healing process after traumatic experiences, which can take approximately one month or more. Remember, everyone has power and control over their body, including stress hormones. Once you have decided to heal and begin practicing ways to self-regulate, – your body is equipped to return to homeostasis.
7 Ways to Reset Your Nervous System After Trauma
Traumatic experiences affect the brain and our mental health, which is why taking the necessary steps to recovery is important.2 Here are several tried and true methods that can help you reset the nervous system after trauma:
1. Brain Retraining
While undergoing the healing process after trauma, it is advisable to rewire and retrain your brain to transpose traumatic effects and replace negative thoughts and behaviors with new, empowering choices. re-origin offers a science-based brain retraining program that has helped countless individuals reset their systems and reclaim their well-being.
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2. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
The healing process starts with your mindset—accepting your situation. As paradoxical as it may sound, it is actually the first step to shifting it. Whatever path you take, your chances of recovering faster require your full participation, which can only come from acceptance and a commitment to a new course of action. Support might come from your loved ones, friends, colleagues, psychotherapy sessions, or participating in coaching programs like re-origin.
3. Somatic experiencing
Somatic experiencing is an approach to somatic therapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine. It prioritizes mind and body connection while administering treatment for physical and psychological signs of various mental health issues. The approach is based on overcoming the freeze response and the idea that traumatic experiences can disrupt the normal functioning of lead to dysfunction in the nervous system, preventing making someone from fully processing those unable to process the experiences fully..
Hence, somatic experiencing is helpful when trying to reset your nervous system after trauma. It helps people notice bodily sensations resulting from mental health issues and then uses that awareness to accept and integrate those sensations.
4. Buteyko breathing
This is a breathing technique by Dr. Konstantin Butekyo of Russia. It was created in 1952 to help people develop healthy breathing habits and patterns. Since then, it has been used to treat neurological and respiratory issues. According to various research conducted, several people have testified that Buteyko breathing has cured their anxiety issues.
Buteyko helps reset the dysregulated nervous system by promoting relaxation, which helps people relax through slow and deep breathing, which also saves the body’s energy by slowing the heart rate. While practicing this technique, the parasympathetic nervous system activates and calms our body’s stress response, making ourthe minds calm and bodiesthe body feel safe.12
5. Practicing Self-Care
It is highly recommended that you practice self-care regularly during your healing process to help you reduce stress. Always set time aside for self-care routines like taking a bath and doing other things that make you feel good.
6. Movement and exercises
Several exercises and physical body movements have been demonstrated to improve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Through the release of endorphins and other processes, exercise has been widely accepted as something that can help people to heal and improve both their mental and physical health.
7. Anti-inflammatory Foods
It is also worth adding foods that reduce cortisol, the stress hormone in your body, to your diet. Some anti-inflammatory diets high in omega-3 fatty acids14 are avocados, oysters, mackerel, sweet potatoes, bananas, broccoli, melon, or spinach.
Reset Your Nervous System With re-origin
In conclusion, resetting your nervous system after trauma is a crucial step toward healing and recovery. It can be a challenging process, but with the right techniques and support, it is possible to overcome the debilitating effects of trauma. Additionally, brain retraining techniques such as those found in the re-origin program can be powerful tools to help rewire your brain and restore your sense of safety and well-being.
By committing to the process of resetting your nervous system and exploring the benefits of brain retraining, you can take control of your life and reclaim your sense of agency and vitality. Remember, healing from trauma is a journey, but with patience, self-compassion, and persistence, it is possible to restore balance and achieve lasting transformation and renewal. Learn more about the re-origin program today.
