Psycho trauma arises from the incapacity to process hurtful experiences. As a result, the experience remains locked in your body and mind. A trauma can happen in childhood, but can also occur later in life. The feeling of safety and trust is damaged and you could experience feelings of powerlessness and a negative outlook on life.

Repetitive behavior often occurs as a result of trauma. For example, repeatedly tending to choose a partner, who just like your father or mother, expresses dominant and distant behaviour. This is a contradictory attempt by your system to integrate the trauma and heal it that way. To avoid the palpable pain – to avoid the distance between you and the other – you unconsciously choose the well-known patterns. That’s why you’re stuck in trauma. Needs and behaviour are contradictory and that creates serious tension.

A trauma isolates and alienates. This process disrupts your self-esteem and manifests itself in complaints such as reduced emotional regulation, dissociation, distrust, unhealthy or obstructive beliefs, confusion and loss of spirituality. Maybe you feel you are always wearing a social mask. Or maybe your actions are contradictory in relation to your needs, for example; overeating, having sex, shopping or drinking instead of settling down on the sofa because you need to relax. Hypersensitivity or dependency are also common symptoms and often affection as a means of exchange is used in contact with others. This can be expressed in ‘false’ high sensitivity, pleaser-behavior or co-dependency.

An important aspect of trauma is loss or reduction of coping skills. Some examples are: loss of (self) confidence and sense of identity; autonomy; taking initiative; effective handling of stresses; sharing intimacy; communicating effectively and expressing your competencies.

Connection with others

If these coping skills are restored, a sense of ‘grip on your life’ and connection with others can be built. As these skills should originally be created – in relation to others – so they should be restored after the trauma. Recovery is not possible in isolation. Your environment can be supportive by providing advice, help, affection and care, but cannot heal you. You do that yourself developing about strength and autonomy.

When you are ready to face your trauma, fear may arise. Fear of losing yourself in an abyss of pain, fear of rejection when sharing with someone, fear because you don’t know how to manage your thoughts and behavior patterns or fear of the unknown. The more fearful you are, the more control you think you need to have. Excessive need for control ensures that you are always preoccupied with the future and continuously experience a hyper-vigilant and rushed feeling, also at the physical level. This, in the long term has a very exhaustive effect.

Recovery begins when you can accept that you have a chronic problem. If you are traumatized, you must first get the chance to mourn what has been lost, such as loss of self-esteem, relationships, a safe childhood or precious time.

Renewed autonomy

Therapy at Natural Health Curaçao is concrete and solution-oriented. The purpose of the therapy is to assist the ‘renewed autonomy’ element, so that you can again manage your own interests. Together we explore the past, which gradually creates insights. Then you can confront the trauma on a deeper level and you learn to grow through the experience. This transformation teaches you to deal with your problem and eventually process it.

Therapy clarifies the nature and meaning of the disturbed self-esteem and gives insight into the contradictions between emotions, needs and behavior. The trauma or the pain energy, provides the fuel for inadequate behavior. Pain energy is forceful because your system tends to suppress it. Release of pain energy provides relief and healing.

Your qualities have made it possible for you to survive, despite or even because of the trauma. Those qualities can be; persevering, fighting, loving or believing in the ‘good’. Through therapy, you will learn to use these qualities for yourself instead of merely surviving the painful situation. Trauma experience integration enables you to reconnect with your strength, inner wisdom, insight and self-confidence.

Natural Health Curaçao is a natural medicine practice with a holistic approach applying a wide range of treatment options. Trauma symptoms can be very effectively treated with a combination of homeopathy, EFT, counseling, body-oriented therapy and orthomolecular therapy. Trauma healing can be quite a mission and love for the healing process is needed to keep the process ongoing.

 

Common symptoms of psycho trauma

  • Reliving the traumatic experience
  • Feeling stuck
  • Feeling of helplessness and powerlessness
  • Need for power and control
  • Inability to respond adequately
  • Lack of context or story structure
  • Depressions, often without an actual cause
  • Fixation
  • Arrested development
  • Repetitive urge
  • Fragmentation and dissociation
  • Lack of balance in personality
  • Contradictions in behavior
  • Self-limiting survival strategies
  • Distorted self-image and memory loss
  • Panic attacks and anxiety
  • Feeling desensitized, lifeless or dull