How Can Trauma Affect my Physical Health?

How Can Trauma Affect my Physical Health?

I have many clients that come in wanting counseling for various issues.  When I do my initial assessment, I ask about patterns in sleep, appetite, and overall physical health.  About 90 % of my clients list some sort of physical complaint such including headaches, stomachaches, insomnia, or changes in appetite. The more I work with clients in the private setting, as well as my student in the school setting, I am finding that the mind-body connection is something we all need to address at some point in our lives.

If you have been struggling with physical complaints, you may be addressing the symptoms, but not the cause, which is likely something emotional that has not been addressed.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Have you had unexplained headaches, stomach issues, or twitches that seem to improve minimally with medication or traditional remedies?
2. Do you have any life disturbances or trauma in your past history that has not been addressed?
3. Are you struggling with sleep- falling asleep, staying asleep, restless sleep, nightmares more than once or twice per month?
4. Are you struggling with low energy?
5. Do you find yourself struggling to care about things at work or home, even things you used to find enjoyable?
6. Are you easily distracted or do you have trouble concentrating on anything?
7. Do you "zone out" frequently?
8. Have the quality of your relationships changed?
9. Do you have flashbacks or memories that are intrusive?  (Meaning they come at times that are disruptive to your life)
10. Do you have an overall feeling of unease or anxiousness?

If you answered yes to more than two of these questions, you may have some emotional issues or unresolved disturbances that are affecting your physical health.  I find that most of my clients are often surprised at what I classify as trauma during our interviews.  They don't consider themselves to have experienced a trauma, but in fact,  most are struggling with unresolved trauma that has been causing serious stress in their lives, and wreaking havoc on their physical well being.

According to Jaffe, Segal, and Dumke (2005),  research has shown that emotional trauma can include events such as auto accidents, ending of significant relationships, humiliating or deeply disappointing experiences, a life threatening illness, loss of pets, loss of control, and other life experiences that may not have necessarily caused physical damage.

There are three elements in emotional trauma:
- The event was unexpected
-The person was unprepared

- There was nothing a person could do to prevent the occurrence


An important thing to understand is that trauma can be addressed and "reprocessed."  This means that despite the things you may have experienced, even in early childhood, can be reprocessed with the help of a therapist trained in EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing.)  As scary as this sounds, most of the clients I see benefit from EMDR for one issue or another.  This technique has been the most effective for my clients for issues such as anger, addiction, abuse, grief, divorce, headaches, depression, anxiety, and various other concerns.

Trauma has become a large focus in my practice and treatment with clients, so I will undoubtedly be writing more about trauma and EMDR.  For today's post, I would like to leave you with one client case to consider to help you evaluate if trauma could be affecting your life and taking away energy from areas you want to see more progress.

I had a client who came to me after being in the hospital, we will call her "Ann".  Ann was hospitalized for seizures, which were medically unexplained.  After days of tests, she eventually saw the psychiatrist who diagnosed her with a conversion episode, meaning her body had converted mental and/or emotional issues into physical symptoms, resulting in seizures.  During my assessment phase with "Ann",  I asked about life history, physical symptoms, and current functioning.  To keep this brief, "Ann" shared that she had some struggles in her relationship with her mother, and had been struggling with intense headaches for months, which were managed by migraine medication.  "Ann" had a habit of zoning out during our sessions, very briefly, but enough to forget her train of thought. (She had mentioned several of her friends thought she was "spacey" because of her habit of zoning out, which had been happening for a couple of years.)

I spent several sessions working with "Ann" on building trust and assessing her timeline.  It turns out that "Ann" had been sexually assaulted when she was 17 and had spent several years repressing this memory, or convincing herself the event had not occurred.  Through EMDR, she was able to work through that trauma, in addition to several other key events related to the sexual assault and some other "smaller" traumas.  Amazingly, she worked through most of her issues in less than 2 months, which is incredible for anyone who has ever been to therapy.   Her headaches subsided and she no longer needs medication.  She has not been zoning out, her sleep has improved, and she has been able form more meaningful relationships and friendships.  This is just one of my more intense cases where EMDR worked so effectively, that it even amazed me as the therapist.

If you are struggling with any physical symptoms, no matter how minor it may seem, consider working with a therapist to address any emotional reasons that you may be struggling physically. Stay tuned for more posts on trauma and EMDR, and please contact me with any questions.

Resources:

Jaelline Jaffe, Ph.D., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Lisa Flores Dumke, M.A., contributed to this article. Last modified on: 9/16/05.Emotional and Psychological Trauma: Causes, Symptoms, Effects, and Treatment

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/emotional_psychological_trauma.htm