Have you experienced any trauma in your life, and now are facing difficulty coming out of it? It’s normal to that extent where it does not interfere with your normal life functioning. Traumatic scenarios leave hidden scars that persist in individuals for some years or even a lifetime until they get treatment. Some people seek help to heal from their trauma, while some find it hard to move on. However, by getting an in-depth insight into the major barriers to healing from trauma, individuals can recover and live a prosperous life.
This article provides a detailed explanation of all the Reasons why people won’t heal their trauma. After reading this article, you will also get an idea about the hidden psychological, emotional, or societal barriers on the road to recovery from trauma, and also the ways to overcome them.
15 Main Reasons Why Recovery From Trauma is Hard
Past traumas have a strong and long-lasting effect on the mental health and overall life of individuals. Those individuals who take a step and find the healing solutions easily recover and cherish each moment of their llives On the other hand, some feel fear to talk about their traumatic life events, and even a single trigger, like some sight, sound, or smell, triggers their traumatic memories, and then they move back into their trauma, which is discouraging and exhausting. So it’s better to find out on an early basis what some major reasons are that you are not getting over your trauma, and how you can do it.
So if you are the one who has experienced any trauma or knows someone, then you should first understand the hidden dynamics that prevent you from getting healed from your trauma and move forward in life.
1. Emotional Avoidance
Emotional avoidance is most common in those individuals who have been victims or witnesses of any traumatic situation. Instead of understanding them or facing them with courage, they experience feelings of fear, rage, and grief. Likewise, instead of processing their traumatic memories, they try to mask or suppress their pain in varied ways, such as
- Trying to forget their traumatic memories, especially at the time of their intensity
- Deny the reality that they are a part of trauma
- Make efforts to distract themselves from getting strongly influenced by trauma.
2. Stigma
Stigma related to trauma is one of the major barriers that restricts individuals from completely recovering from their trauma. They always remain in fear of being judged, criticized, or embarrassed by others. This is the main reason why they avoid disclosing their previous traumatic life experiences with others.
They do not get the support from society that they deserve to come out of their trauma. In most cases, societal attitudes greatly influence their mental health by minimizing the trauma, but this can persist later in life. Children who experience such situations isolate themselves and also face multiple issues in their personal, academic, and social lives. Likewise, the societal stigma also leads to avoidance behavior in adolescents and adults.
3. Broken or Toxic Relationships
Not every individual has strong and positive relationships in their life. Most people have to face various issues in their relationships, and for some, this leads to the breaking of their bonds. In this case, they blame themselves for all their relationship issues.
4. Nature of Trauma
The more intense the traumatic life event, the more you face difficulty in healing. There are some life incidents that a person can not easily forget, and their impact remains on that person for a longer period, such as:
- Death or loss of any loved one
- Professional loss
- Injury or accident
- Trauma
- Chronic illness
5. Lack of Support Systems
Any individual can get into trauma. However, only those can recover easily and rapidly who have an efficient support system, like their friends or family. Those individuals who have spent their childhood in broken, dysfunctional, or toxic families have to struggle more to get support to heal from trauma.
6. Avoiding Validation of Feelings
Don’t ignore your feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Whatever you feel is based on something that you might be aware of or unfamiliar with. However, it does not mean that you start calling every single negative emotion a trauma. Just remember that anything that exerts a negative and lasting emotional impact can be traumatic. So, validate your feelings and emotions to heal from trauma.
7. Sense of Shame or Guilt
Individuals who have faced any traumatic situation always blame themselves. They think that whatever happens is just because of them. Therefore, they feel guilty and ashamed of it. Moreover, they also feel weird about their trauma response. This, in turn, stops them from thinking about their mental health and seeking professional help.
8. Difficulty in Processing Traumatic Memories
Individuals in trauma have difficulty processing their traumatic memories. Initially, they try to stop their memories to protect themselves from the associated emotional pain. If this continues for a longer period, then it leads to multiple issues in the long run.
9. Betrayal
Betrayal is one of the major reasons why people won’t easily heal from their trauma. Broken trust is just like a person close to death. People have several expectations from their loved ones to get love, care, and affection from them. But when they get deceived by them or get emotional betrayal from them, they get completely broken from inside and feel like no one deserves their trust.
Moreover, they develop a strong belief that the support from others is only conditional. If children face betrayal in childhood, then they keep suffering from their traumatic memories. In addition, their toxicity also gets passed with them to their adulthood stages. If their condition is left untreated, then it worsens increasingly.
10. Trauma Shaped their Identity.
Trauma can change the way individuals feel or think about themselves and others. Their personality gets changed to a major extent after experiencing that traumatic life event or the associated memories. For example,
- Individuals think that they are broken from the inside. They do not need or deserve love, or they are unlovable.
- They feel fear that they can’t do anything in their life.
- They remain linked with the victimhood and consider themselves secure.
11. Misunderstanding About Healing
People think that they can recover from trauma within a few seconds. But they need to understand that it’s not magic that you heal from your trauma quickly. Healing is a continuous journey that takes time. Moreover, some believe that if they talk about trauma, their condition can get worse. They feel that they will again get traumatized, and therefore, it is better to forget. Likewise, there are also some other major misconceptions or myths regarding trauma.
12. Brain Rewiring
Trauma also results in some physical alterations in the brain. It causes an increased sensitivity to any environmental stimuli or stress factor. Due to which its ability to process different emotions, thoughts, and memories is also affected.
13. Learned Helplessness
If people fail to escape or take control over their trauma, then they consider themselves helpless. Throughout their life, they keep considering themselves under the zone of hopelessness and therefore avoid seeking help.
14. Physical Symptoms
Trauma can also lead to the development of some common physical symptoms, which include:
- Fatigue or tiredness
- Chronic pain
- Sleep issues
15. Not taking Professional Help.
The decision not to seek professional help is one of the worst decisions. Most people choose not to take any professional help due to stigma, financial strain, and other related factors.
What are the best ways to heal from trauma and move ahead in life?
If you want to start your journey of mental wellness and want to heal, then here are the following main ways that can help:
1. Stop Blaming Yourself
The first thing that you should remember is that you are not the reason for any previously happened tragic incident or situation. So stop blaming yourself all the time. Always remember that everything happens for a reason.
2. Give Yourself Some Credit
Give some importance to yourself. If you have identified a trigger, then what you need to do is find the ways that you can get control over it. Instead of saying to yourself that ‘’ there is something wrong with me. Say to yourself that ‘’I can handle this easily. Positively reframe your thoughts so you break the chain of your trauma and start healing.
3. Identify the Triggers
Identifying the triggers can also assist you in moving out of your trauma zone. For example, after self-evaluation, you might get an idea that you need to avoid someone, a place, or any object that is becoming a trigger of your trauma. Likewise, you start thinking that you need someone to talk with, or you need to transform your negative thoughts. Once you identify your triggers, you can adopt the best strategies to recover from your trauma.
4. Feel Easy & Relaxed
Never take stress on those things that have already happened. Whatever you feel, think that you are normal and your feelings are too. In addition, start thinking that several other individuals have had the same feelings. You can search the online stories of those individuals who have the same previous life experiences. By doing this, you will feel motivated and gain confidence to deal with your traumatic memories, thoughts, and emotions.
5. Get Support
Emotional support is necessary to heal from trauma. Talk to your friends or family members who you think understand you and can support and acknowledge your emotions. Moreover, you can also join the support groups, which are available both in-person and online.
6. Try To Solve One Problem at a Time
Your life might have multiple issues, but you need to work on your existing issue. Rather than thinking about solving all issues, just think about solving your specific situation. Think of ways that you can change your negative thoughts and regain your mental serenity by healing from your trauma.
7. Good Things Take Time
Healing is a continuous process, and it takes time. You can take positive forward steps and also backward steps. The choice is entirely yours. Don’t rush to see the instant results. Just wait for the good things that will surely happen. You just have to stay patient and consistent.
8. Seek Professional Help
No one wants to be affected by anything bad that happened in the past. If you are one of them, then you should never compromise on your mental health. Whenever you feel that your trauma is exerting negative impacts on your life, seek professional help. Talk with experts, share your concerns, and get the solutions to deal with your trauma.
Find Your Way to Healing at Brainpower Wellness Institute.
If you are unaware of where you have to start your healing journey, then the Brainpower Wellness Institute should be the first choice.
At Brainpower, you can find the top personalized mental health treatment plans for children, adolescents, and adults. Talk to our experts, share your mental issues, and get rid of them without any hassle.
