THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO HEALING TRAUMA HOLISTICALLY
Have you been working to heal from trauma but find that current methods aren't addressing the root cause or giving you the peace you're looking for? I get it. The truth is, everybody is impacted by trauma––whether it’s debilitating, or not.
“Having trauma” isn’t a bad thing, and it doesn’t mean there’s something “wrong” with you. In fact, it’s a normal part of being alive! Many times people think that just because nothing “really bad” happened to them, they’re not impacted by trauma.
I created this guide so you can deepen your understanding of trauma, how it impacts you, and the several types of trauma someone can experience. You’ll also learn about PTSD, its symptoms, and how and why trauma can become PTSD.
Most importantly, in this guide, you’ll find important basic tools to start healing from trauma. You’ll understand why traditional healing isn’t giving you the peace you’re looking for. I’ll also share about the three dimensions of healing, and how to address trauma and PTSD holistically.
UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA AND PTSD
“Trauma, simply put, arises when there is a lack of choice, something from which we feel unable to escape and is overwhelming to the nervous system, which leads to disconnection from ourselves and others, and impacts our ability to be present.” - Dr Peter Levine (1997, p. 23)
I share this quote because it’s important to understand that everyone experiences trauma. But trauma isn’t only about “what happened”. It’s also about what happened after—did you have support to work through the experience? Did you have a safe space to process?
A difficult event can be resolved within your body if you have the tools and support after the fact to process it. It’s when you don’t, that the trauma can become stuck in your body.
Trauma isn’t always a single event either. It can be when we have little support for too long, in neglect, or when there’s too much stress for too long without adequate support.
Asking yourself “How might I be unconsciously carrying the impact of past trauma?” allows you to explore deeper within and begin healing. According to the National Center For PTSD, in 2020 nearly 13 million Americans had PTSD and about 20% of people exposed to trauma will develop PTSD.
Trauma isn’t just something stressful, it’s an event that can be seen as an emotional or psychological injury—and it can have different roots. In fact, there are 10 different types of trauma that someone can experience.
The 10 Types of Trauma
It’s common for people to think that trauma only happens to people who experienced war or other forms of extreme abuse. In reality, trauma shows up in many ways. It’s important to understand where trauma comes from, so you can take the steps to work on it.
These are the ten types of trauma people can be exposed to throughout their lives.
1. Acute
Acute trauma happens when a traumatic event causes immediate distress and it’s ‘too much too quick’ for your nervous system. Examples of this are car accidents, assaults, natural disasters, or medical emergencies.
2. Chronic
This type of trauma happens when someone experiences repeated exposure to stressful events over an extended period of time. Examples of this are bullying, domestic violence, neglect in childhood, or witnessing abuse.
3. Developmental
Developmental trauma happens when there’s a disruption in early life development that prevents meeting major developmental milestones. This can happen when there’s a loss of a parent or caregiver early in life.
4. Interpersonal
This type of trauma refers to traumatic experiences that happen in relation to another person. Examples of this are betrayal, infidelity, or religious extremism.
5. Vicarious
This type of trauma develops by exposure. This means being exposed to something traumatic by witnessing it or hearing about someone else's traumatic experience. This occurs in healing professions like ER providers, First Responders, and Therapists.
6. Complex
Complex trauma develops when someone is exposed to multiple types of traumatic events like Acute and Developmental.
7. Systemic or Collective
Systemic or Collective trauma refers to the shared traumatic experiences of a specific group of people or community, usually upheld by practices and systems that target these groups. Examples of this are racism, loss of land, displacement, or segregation.
8. Medical
Medical trauma happens because of a challenging medical procedure, treatment, diagnosis, or early-life medical conditions. Examples of this are surgeries, cancer, or being hospitalized.
9. Transgenerational
This type of trauma happens when the consequences of traumatic experiences continue through generations—meaning that trauma is passed down from generation to generation.
10. Cultural
Cultural trauma impacts a specific cultural or ethnic group over a long period of time. Examples of this are slavery, ethnic cleansing, or genocide.
Understanding your personal exposure to trauma is important but so is understanding the exposure to trauma in your ancestry and lineage. This can help get to the root cause of your suffering.
When you name the trauma, you can heal and grow from it. When we heal our trauma, we each contribute to making the world a safer place.
WHEN DOES TRAUMA BECOME PTSD?
PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it develops when a person doesn’t have the opportunity to heal and integrate from an emotional or psychological injury they’ve experienced or witnessed. It’s a complex condition and it can affect your mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
When you’re experiencing PTSD, your brain’s alarm bells for danger become overly sensitive, triggered easily by situations that are not life-threatening or dangerous.
This means that even though you might know you’re safe, your body doesn’t. Unfortunately, you don’t have control over this, as this is an automatic response of the Autonomic Nervous System. The logical part of you may know something isn't a risk but the body has a different perspective.
This mind-body disconnection is the main marker of PTSD. When this happens, the body is stuck in sympathetic activation or, “flight- flight-freeze”.
When you’re living stuck in sympathetic activation, grounding or being present can be very challenging. It can also lead to experiences of hopelessness, numbness, anger, avoidance, or people-pleasing.
The symptoms of PTSD are complex and can be unique to each person, but there are four main categories. And each category has a set of symptoms. Someone may experience one, or multiple symptoms within different categories.
The 4 Categories of PTSD Symptoms
These are the four categories of PTSD symptoms with the related manifestations for each.
1. Intrusive Thoughts
Recurrent, distressing memories or nightmares of the trauma with themes of being in danger.
Flashbacks. Feeling as though the event is happening again.
Intrusive thoughts focused on safety assessment.
2. Avoidance
Avoiding thoughts or feelings about the trauma.
Avoiding talking about it.
Avoiding external reminders like places, people, or activities associated with the trauma.
Avoiding any activity where you would feel anxious or distressed.
Feeling emotionally numb or emotionally limited.
3. Negative Alterations in Cognition and Mood
Memory gaps of the trauma or time periods (ex. no memories of childhood).
Persistent negative beliefs about yourself or the world.
Blame and guilt.
Negative emotional states like fear, anger, or shame.
Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed OR having no activities or hobbies (uncertainty about what you enjoy).
Feeling detached from others.
Inability to experience positive emotions
4. Alterations in Arousal and Reactivity
Irritable or aggressive behavior
Reckless or self-destructive behavior
Feeling on edge or keyed-up
Hypervigilance and exaggerated startle response
Concentration problems and difficulty with focus.
Sleep disturbances, difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up feeling keyed-up.
HEALING FROM TRAUMA HOLISTICALLY: THE 3 DIMENSIONS OF HEALING
Trauma and PTSD are complex—they affect each person differently, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to healing. This is where the Western approach to treating PTSD can fall short.
Western medicine focuses mostly on evidence-based approaches that use either psychotherapy or medication. Although these can help, trauma impacts so many areas of our being that healing needs a holistic approach that takes into consideration the whole picture.
A holistic approach to healing means addressing 3 interconnected dimensions of healing:
Physical Realm
Energetic/Emotional Realm
Consciousness/Astral Realm
Let’s dive into each dimension, so you can understand how to address each one and what healing modalities you can rely on.
Dimension 1: Physical
The Physical dimension of healing PTSD involves addressing the impact of trauma on the physical body and all things stemming from the material form. This includes thoughts, cognitions, emotions, memories, or anything communicated with words and concepts.
Most clinicians work with the Physical realm.
Healing Modalities
To begin or expand on your healing in this dimension, these are a few different therapies and tools you can use:
Somatic therapy emphasizes the mind-body connection, becoming aware of the somatic experience while using techniques like body awareness, bodywork, breathwork, and movement to release stored trauma from the body.
Cognitive therapy helps with identifying and challenging negative thought patterns developed from the traumatic event, allowing cognitive restructuring and emotional regulation.
EMDR utilizes bilateral stimulation to process traumatic memories to reduce the emotional charge and integrate the experiences, facilitating healing at the neurological, emotional, and psychological levels.
Dimension 2: energetic/emotional Body
This dimension focuses on the energetic impact of trauma and how it affects your emotional body. The Energetic Body is an electromagnetic field that surrounds the body and reflects on one's physical and emotional health.
A Magnetic Field is an energetic area emanating from an electrical charge. All beings produce a magnetic field and we are impacted by the energetic fields around us even without knowing it.
Healing Modalities:
If you need healing in this dimension, these are my favorite tools to work with:
Floral essences. They’re derived from specific plants and flowers and they work to re-harmonize the energetic field. Different plants and flowers offer different kinds of support. For example, St. John’s Wort flower essence can lift the spirit and bring light into your life.
Sound healing utilizes vibrational frequencies to restore balance within the body's energy system. You can practice sound healing on your own by chanting or by taking part in sound healing therapy.
Biofield therapies, such as tuning forks and reiki, work with the body's energy field to clear blockages and promote energetic flow.
Dimension 3: Consciousness Realm
The Consciousness/Astral dimension represents our unconscious mind, it encompasses the deep programming of our current lifetime as well as that of previous generations. Here reside defense mechanisms protecting us from forgotten memories, ancestral traumas, and all aspects unknown in our conscious awareness.
This dimension explores the spiritual and consciousness aspects of trauma recovery.
Healing Modalities:
To work on this dimension, these are the practices you can tap into:
Trance states. This encompasses practices like hypnosis and meditation that elicit a trance-like, relaxed state where one can access these other realms of consciousness.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy. You can work with different medications, plants or deep breathwork to pause the inner defense mechanisms and allow exploration into the unconscious. Aftercare and integration are essential.
Spiritual Rituals. This refers to practices involving prayer and connection to nature or realms outside the physical that can allow for explorations of the unconscious.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy, when conducted in therapeutic settings, can allow you to explore different stages of consciousness. This enables you to heal unconscious drives and painful memories, and connect with the collective unconscious. Working with a therapist to prepare and integrate the experience is essential for best results.
TAKING THE NEXT STEP TO HEAL TRAUMA HOLISTICALLY
Having trauma or PTSD doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you; it’s just a sign of your human-ness. Identifying the cause allows you to make changes and heal. Taking time for self-reflection and therapy can be a big step in healing yourself and not passing down those trauma patterns to the next generation.
The journey to healing from PTSD is unique and personal for each person. The first step is taking stock and then reaching out for help.
Services at Golden Path Journey are individually designed for people suffering from stress, anxiety, relationship problems, PTSD, or C-PTSD. Our approach to treating PTSD is different. We address your concerns through a holistic lens, ensuring you’re relieved of your symptoms and equipped to handle future challenges.