Due to numerous challenges faced in the world and recent trends that impacted society, many people are affected by trauma that relates to specific events. Today, traumatic stress is eating away at millions of people. Getting help from Christian counselors near you is a good way of dealing with it. Below we will discuss this phenomenon in depth.
When people experience traumatic events
Traumatic events can impact people in various ways and it can lead to inexplicable emotions, confusion and many other problems. Strangely those emotions are not limited to the people who have actually being involved in the traumatic event. In many cases such events receive extensive media coverage which leads to a situation where millions of people all across the planet are inundated with the images which have been taken at those scenes. This can involve things such as terrorist attacks, violent crimes and horrific natural disasters. The more people are exposed to these things there is an increasing possibility of suffering from traumatic stress. The result is that people can feel helpless and hopeless in a world that seems to be out of order. However, the good news is that both victims of trauma and those who are exposed to those events afterwards can take certain steps to limit the emotional damage which is caused by those events. It is possible to regain control over your life after you have been exposed to a traumatic event.
What exactly is traumatic stress?
Whenever a person is exposed to a traumatic event such as a horrific motor vehicle accident, a violent crime, natural disaster, terrorist attack or plane cash there is a possibility that they may suffer from traumatic stress. It is a well-known fact that many of the horrific events taking place across the planet can be extremely stressful for everyone which is exposed to the horrors which has taken place. This will include both the victims and those who have learned about the events from media coverage. Unfortunately, bad news is a very profitable business enterprise and therefore those horrific images are shown to audiences over and over again. Even though the majority of people will go through life without ever been directly exposed to terrorist attacks or other atrocities, the media ensures that all of us is constantly exposed to situations where people are suffering through traumatic events. Being overly inundated by those horrific images can lead to a situation where that individual’s nervous system eventually becomes overwhelmed and this can result in traumatic stress. This eventually results in a situation where a person’s perception of security is shattered. When this happens an individual can begin to experience feelings of vulnerability and helplessness feeling that they are living in an extremely dangerous world where they themselves could be exposed to something horrible anytime of the day or night.
What can people do?
Fortunately, the reality is that even when people have been exposed to traumatic experiences or have received knowledge about such events by seeing it on the TV there are a lot that can be done to manage those situations and to maintain your personal emotional balance. It is important to be sensitive in order to be able to recognize the warning signs which can indicate the presence of traumatic stress. It is fortunate, that research has identified most of the symptoms and signs associated with traumatic stress. Human beings has been wired to feel scared, anxious and uncertain when they are exposed to things which can be frightening. In some cases, a person’s nervous system can become overloaded when they are excessively exposed to stress. This can lead to a variety of negative consequences such as actual physical reactions and also the inexplicable emotional reactions. These reactions are not constant but in the majority of cases they will come and go. This can result in situations where individuals suffering from trauma can feel anxious and uncertain but it is also possible for people to become numb and to become disconnected from reality.
Other reactions to trauma
In some people there will be intense feelings of sadness and this will happen especially when there has been loss of life and in particular when those individuals were known to them. Some people experiencing trauma will experience intense fear. Many of them will be worried that the exact same thing might happen to them again at some time in the future. They also fear that they will break down or lose control. Other victims of trauma will experience disbelief and even shock. For many of these people it will be extremely difficult to deal with the realities of the things which has occurred. Some people may experience intense anger and some of that anger may be directed at the Creator or anyone else who might have been in a position to do something. Some people will experience guilt especially when there has been loss of life, when they themselves had been spared. They will always fret about whether there was anything they could have done to be more helpful. Other victims of trauma will experience intense helplessness. This is because of the unpredictable and sudden occurrence of a natural disaster, vehicle accident or violent event. These people will experience helplessness and they will feel very vulnerable. Another, often experienced emotion is shame especially when people feel that they have failed to control their feelings or their fears properly. Lastly people will experience feelings of relief when they consider the situation is finally under control and that the threat has passed. These individuals can also experience feelings of hope that finally there is a possibility that life will return to normal.
Trauma is a subconscious phenomenon
There are many people who are able to logically accept that a traumatic experience is something which is unlikely to happen to them. They are able to accept that the law of averages is on their side as far as traumatic experiences is concerned. Nevertheless, the subconscious might still hold beliefs and fears that the possibility of something horribly going wrong is always a possibility. Therefore, the subconscious will erect protective walls in the form of belief systems to protect the person against emotional harm. When people go for counselling these protective structures of the subconscious can make it very difficult to get to the root and the origin of the trauma. Even though people are able to logically accept the fact that their fears are unfounded and illogical they will continue to experience the impact of that trauma until the original situation has been dealt with. This is why counselling is often a long term project and in some cases people are never liberated from the impact of those original traumatic experiences.
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