In Part 2 of the "Healing Our Hidden Wounds" series, Evan, our resident mental health and addiction therapist, delves into the two general types of traumatic experiences encountered in therapy: single-event traumas, such as natural disasters, and complex traumas that span throughout an individual's life. Evan explores the distinct implications and the underlying similarities between these forms of trauma, providing insight into their unique treatment approaches and the journey towards healing. Join us as we continue to unravel the complexities of trauma and its impact on mental health.
Evan: trauma is often broken down into two main categories, simple trauma and complex trauma. The first step to healing is understanding trauma and the science around it. Let's go ahead and break down these two forms of trauma to give you a better understanding.
A simple trauma really impacts how individuals view themselves and the world. Complex trauma can be a little more tricky, because they're woven into the fabric of who we are as children. Throughout this series, we're going to talk about a variety of different trauma therapies that are proven to help.
What a lot of folks don't understand about trauma is it's often broken down into two main categories, simple trauma and complex trauma. I'm Evan, your resident mental health and addiction therapist. And welcome back to my series, healing our head and wounds. A deep dive, my breakdown on trauma. Now, when it comes to the healing process, I find a really important first step is understanding trauma and the science around it, how it impacts our minds, bodies, and, in many ways, our spirit. So let's go ahead and break down these two forms of trauma to give you a better understanding and insight into yourself and your experiences.
All right, so let's go ahead and start simple with simple trauma. And this typically refers to single event traumas. For example, let's say you were in a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Or I like to reference here in Minneapolis, where we had the I 35 w bridge collapse, where people who were driving over the expressway during rush hour had a bridge collapse falling into the Mississippi river. Imagine if you go through something like that, how that can impact you in every single way of your life.
Now, individuals who have been through these simple traumas have very much the same symptoms as the individuals we will talk about who have had series of traumas throughout their life, often in childhood. Now, simple traumas typically happen at any point in the lifespan. A simple trauma really impacts how individuals view themselves and the world. There's a big element of fear. For example, if you were on that bridge, you may have an altered belief that driving is extremely dangerous. Though it is dangerous, that individual is going to have an outsized fear of that.
They may not even drive on a bridge, even though the odds of something like that happening again are infinitesimal. Now, even though these intense fear based trauma reactions are quite burdensome, you could see how they can be protective. The body, the mind, wants to protect you from having something like that happen again. Now, even though these experiences are quite overwhelming, many trauma experts believe that these simple traumas are a little bit easier to heal. They're a bit more contained.
They're not woven into the fabric of who you are, unlike complex traumas, which we'll break down now. Now, when it comes to complex trauma, we're referring to an individual who has experienced prolonged and repeated traumatic instances throughout their life, very often in childhood. For example, many people with complex trauma have had emotional neglect, physical neglect, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse from a parent or caregiver throughout their life. It could have been teasing or being bullied.
A lot of my LGBTQ clients have had complex trauma, whether it be from not being accepted from their families, being verbally put down or bullied in school. Now, complex trauma could be a little more tricky. Hence complex, because they're truly woven into the fabric of who we are as children. Our brains are developing at such a fast rate. They're more malleable, flexible. And when you have this overwhelming input, these fear responses, it really impacts your core view of yourself and the world. It tells you something about who you are in the environment you live in.
And that's why it can be so much trickier, because it's such a part of who you are now, even though both of these kind of traumas can really rock you to your core, how they could stay with you and have a negative impact on your life, they are very treatable. And throughout this series, we're going to talk about a variety of different trauma therapies that are proven to help. I do them myself. I have seen them work. They are absolutely transformative. So if you're interested in learning more about trauma in the healing process, stick around.
It's going to be worth it.
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