Experiencing an event or a series of events that profoundly disrupts your sense of safety and security can lead to feelings of confusion, sadness, shock, and, at times, a sense of powerlessness. Such experiences are often classified as traumatic. Trauma can manifest in various forms, whether it is a sudden loss, a natural disaster, an act of violence, or even a significant life change that feels overwhelming.

Individuals who have undergone trauma may find themselves caught in a cycle of reliving the distressing event, whether through intrusive thoughts, vivid memories, or nightmares. This can create a debilitating effect on one's daily life, impacting emotional well-being and overall functioning.

In these challenging moments, seeking counseling can be an invaluable step toward healing. Therapy provides a safe space to explore and process the traumatic experience, allowing you to address your feelings and reactions constructively. A trained professional can guide you through the complexities of trauma, helping you to understand its impact on your life while equipping you with coping strategies.

Ultimately, engaging in counseling can facilitate a journey of recovery, enabling you to reclaim your sense of peace and move forward with renewed strength and resilience. Remember, you are not alone, and support is available to help you navigate the path toward healing.

Types of Trauma

Intense single event

This is a singular event that is profoundly traumatic and unsettling, making it impossible for the individual to cope on their own. Examples of such incidents include car or industrial accidents, muggings or other forms of personal violence, sexual assault, robbery, severe threats to one’s life (either their own or that of a loved one), natural disasters (like earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc.), and acts of terrorism.

Repetitive, ongoing events

This kind of trauma can persist for extended or continuous durations and may occur repeatedly. Examples of such experiences include self-inflicted sexual or physical abuse, severe physical or psychological neglect, witnessing acts of sexual or physical violence against others, enduring long-term illness or undergoing extensive medical treatments.

Combination

Trauma in this category includes repetitive and ongoing events with intense single-event trauma and may occur either at the same time or be separated by long periods of time.

The stress accompanying traumatic events demands coping strategies of the individual that far exceed their capabilities. They develop protective psychological mechanisms to help them deal with the stress, but this comes with a severe penalty. Over time, even after the trauma may be long past, the mind has not been able to reconcile the trauma with the sense of self. Without professional treatment, such individuals eventually become unable to function normally, as they are stuck in the past with these unresolved traumatic memories.

Unresolved emotional trauma can wreak havoc on even the most high-functioning individual. Symptoms of emotional trauma include the following:

• Episodes of lost time or dissociation
• Hopelessness or despair
• Low self-esteem
• Isolation from others
• Intense feeling of abandonment or loss
• Desire to harm one’s self
• Loss of meaning to live or sense of purpose
• Distorted sense of self or body image
• Feeling alienated from others or emotional numbness
• Chronic fatigue, insomnia, lethargy, loss of interest in normal activities
• Chronic anger or resentment
• Poor impulse control
• Obsessive thoughts or worries of an unwanted nature
• Night terrors, flashbacks, nightmares
• Inability to organize, plan or make decisions

TRAUMA COUNSELING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS

Children can experience trauma just like adults. Events such as car accidents, various forms of abuse (including sexual, verbal, or emotional), natural disasters like tornadoes or fires, witnessing a friend's or classmate's suicide, or the death of a loved one can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, or confusion in children.

Often, children who have faced traumatic experiences may struggle to articulate their feelings or communicate their distress to adults. As a result, parents and caregivers might notice changes in their child's behavior or emotional state. Symptoms that children may exhibit include anxiety, sadness, nightmares, crying spells, anger, withdrawal, a decline in academic performance, social isolation, and even engagement in self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse.

Is Your Teenager Continuing to Struggle Emotionally And Physically Following A Traumatic Event?

Has your teenager experienced or witnessed a traumatic event? Since the event, have you observed noticeable changes in your teen’s emotional well-being and behaviors? Perhaps your teen has been experiencing nightmares or flashbacks or seems fearful of people, places or situations that remind him or her of the trauma. Or maybe your teen is constantly angry, acting out and easily triggered. Does your teenager seem edgy, struggle to focus, or suddenly have trouble with peers or in school? Is your teen prone to intense bursts of crying, withdrawing from friends and family or exhibiting other symptoms of depression? Has your teen complained of physical discomforts, such as stomachaches, headaches or other pain? Do you wish you knew how to help your teen feel better and function well again?

Watching your teen suffer from the repercussions of a traumatic event can leave you feeling overwhelmed, frightened and helpless. You may struggle to know how to help your child or how to determine how severely affected your teen is by the experience. It’s important to note that trauma is a highly individualized experience, and the intensity of a perceived helplessness determines its effects. What traumatizes one person may have a lesser effect on another. After experiencing trauma, however, it is not unusual for teens to fear that their current safety is at risk and become unable to trust themselves and others. Emotions can shift from agitation to depression quickly, and many teens either withdraw or act out.

A single incident, such as a serious car accident may have caused your teen’s trauma. Or the trauma may be developmental, which can include child abuse or other types of abuse that occurred more than once, over time. Depending on the nature of your teen’s traumatic experience, he or she may have developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can have enduring effects. And, trauma is not created by the actual event, but rather by your teen’s nervous system and psyche’s inability to discharge shock from the body. When the normal fight/flight response freezes, panic and fear become “stuck” in the body, causing a major disruption to the function of the nervous system – which is why trauma symptoms are expressed physically as well as emotionally.

Teenage Trauma Is Not Uncommon

We live in a demanding, busy culture, and teens are not immune to the stresses and upsets that infiltrate our daily lives. Trauma occurs every day, and some teens are less resilient than others. And, trauma can occur following any event in which a teen feels threatened and helpless. Many teens experience trauma due to divorce, abuse (which can be peer or sibling abuse as well as physical, sexual or emotional), accidents, multiple surgeries and natural disasters.

If your teen has been exposed to a traumatic event and you’re observing major changes in behavior that are not subsiding, getting help as soon as possible is critical.

Therapy Can Help To Mitigate And Heal Teenage Trauma

With the help of a therapist who is specifically trained to treat teenage trauma, your teen can experience relief and begin to heal. Effective trauma therapy is a somatic, purposeful and mindful process. Because trauma is held in the body, somatic approaches are a necessary component of trauma therapy. It’s also important that your teen develops a trusting relationship with his or her therapist, rebuilds the nervous system and feels secure in his or herself and environments again before approaching the traumatic event.

In therapy, your teen can learn to identify, explore and address any erratic, numbing or intense emotions and uncomfortable physical symptoms. They can address the feelings of grief and loss that come after a life-changing event and devise the healthy and effective skills needed to cope during this challenging time. Your teen can also develop an increased self-awareness, build a better understanding of emotional triggers, and learn supportive techniques to use when anxiety or other distressing feelings and sensations surface. Your teen can develop a mindfulness practice and learn healthy ways to handle stress and triggers.

Using modalities and approaches designed and proven to treat trauma, your teen get back on track, re-regulate his or her nervous system and heal from trauma. With help and a slow, deliberate approach, your teen can release painful emotions, increase resilience, restore balance and harmony, and regain their life. Your teen can let go of fear, anxiety and pain and feel whole again.

If you would like to set up a complementary 15 min. phone consultation or schedule an appointment, call 404-386-6130 or email alison@kellycounselingandcoaching.com You can also fill out the form below. Please note that counseling and coaching services are for Georgia residents only. Thank you and let me know if I can be of any further assistance.