Shining in my WHOLENESS

Imagine we are in a group walking in the forest, enjoying the beautiful trees, the light breeze and the sounds of birds chirping above. 

I get distracted by some amazing little mushrooms growing on the side of a tree and I lose track of the group.

Suddenly out of nowhere an angry wild animal begins to growl viciously and chase me. I run and run and run but it catches me. It hurts me but after some time I manage to escape.

I run until I find the group and I tell them what happened. They do not know what to do, having had no personal experience of this before. They briefly comfort me before continuing to walk.

I am scratched, shaken and terrified. People keep telling me it is over and I should stop worrying about it because we are all together now and nothing is going to happen.

I keep experiencing a lot of fear, bad memories and pain but no one seems to understand, in fact they seem to switch off every time I try to talk about it.

Over time I talk less and less about what happened to me and everyone forgets.

So now let’s imagine for a minute that the wild animal is…. a bully or an…. abuser.

This becomes the development of trauma and two things can happen here, 
either I keep remembering it and experiencing it all over again OR I push it down and consciously forget about it too.

HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO MENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES?

Many perspectives of mental health come from a deficit model where by there is an assumption that there is something “wrong” with the individual and they need to be “fixed.” 

Outdated perspectives may attribute a person’s symptoms to simply being the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain, which is a theory that has been considerably refuted. You can read about that here. Despite that, people experiencing disturbing mental responses are frequently medicated, based on this assumption.

Medication may be of benefit to some people and it is important for people to have a good understanding of how this works and what are its benefits and limitations. This must be backed up by evidence and a clear explanation of what the medication is doing.

As a teenager I was given anti-depressants for the treatment of depression. From that moment onwards I was led to believe “there is something wrong with me”. No one ever told me exactly WHAT was wrong with me but just that what I was feeling was wrong and needed to be stopped.

WHAT WAS RIGHT WITH ME?

From my perspective, what I was experiencing was actually a sign that my nervous system was working as it should, to protect me from harm. It was sending signals that what had happened to me needed to be processed so that I could feel safe again.

The incomplete processing of harmful events means that they get stuck in the body and/or mind, waiting for completion.  

My brain and body were actually trying to protect me and help me to seek completion.

The practitioners I went to saw these symptoms as a problem and medicated me so I would not feel this way anymore, leading to a further repression of trauma.

I also learnt that difficult feelings are wrong and I should try to dampen them and get rid of them, rather than feel them and allow them to be expressed and released.

At no point did any professional work with me on what happened to me, they only addressed the symptoms.

10 years ago I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, predated to that time.

Again, between a doctor, psychiatrist and mental health nurse no one addressed what had happened to me. They medicated me again and I had some severe reactions.

Mental health research and understandings have come a long way in the 25 years since my first presentation to the doctor, however these outdated harmful practises and perspectives are sadly still common place.

I have studied neuro-biology and somatics with many of the world’s leading trauma researchers, psychiatrists and psychologists including Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, Ariel Schwarz, Peter Levine, Scott Lyons and Deb Dana.

Their research and clinical work is revealing the great depths to which trauma impacts the brain and the nervous system, and how to holistically treat people for trauma.
They demonstrate that the symptoms of many “disorders” are related to traumatic life experiences.

CAN’T YOU JUST GET OVER IT?

No. Incomplete processing of harmful events leads to trauma which will remain unless treated.

This may present as substance misuse, aggression and violence, disassociation and withdrawal, physical illness, repressed emotions, anxious tendencies and in many other ways.

Societal views of human behaviour are often very misguided, with many people explicitly stating that what happens to a person is no “justification” for their current responses. 

Actually it is. 

When a person is experiencing a trauma response, the rational part of their brain switches off and the flight/fight or the disassociative part of their brain is activated. A person may in turn respond to a perceived threat, that is not actually there.

Our brain responds to the external world based on what it has experienced before. An example is when you are driving at night and think the shadows of the trees on the side of the road are a kangaroo. This happens because your brain is using visual memory to try to make sense of what it is perceiving. You can learn about this here.

A child who has been abused physically may flinch at the slightest movement towards them because their brain perceives a potential threat, even if it is not actually there. This is the direct result of trauma.

This is why trauma treatment is so vital for people experiencing mental distress. Their current experiences are regularly impacted by past experiences and it can be very difficult to be able to manage present when the past is in the way.

ARE YOU SAYING ALL MENTAL ILLNESS IS JUST TRAUMA AND NOTHING ELSE?

No, my perspective is that all people presenting with any form of mental disturbance MUST be treated for trauma, and given the opportunity to process it in the mind and body FIRST. My experience and that of many others is that underneath a lot of mental disturbances and ill health there are traumatic imprints.

Once a person has been given the opportunity to process trauma then they then can be reassessed and provided with appropriate care, if needed. The failure of the system to treat trauma effectively regularly sees people being treated for the symptoms, not the cause.

We must also recognise the environments which people live in, from the micro and their living situation all the way up to the macro of the world and everything in between. People live within a context and it must be recognised that the environment plays a very big role in the ways people develop, grow and belong. Many people are also still living in circumstances that inhibits their mental well-being.

This is turn impacts on how people feel about themselves and how they manage well being.

I ponder often about how we are witnessing an incredible increase in the presentation of people with mental ill health, despite all the treatments, technology, knowledge and resources that exist in the world. Our constructed modern world environments are perhaps not conducive to people being mentally well.  

We are trying to live within the context of a society that is focussed on individualism and capitalism. Every day we are exposed to news of chaotic world events and sometimes we are actually caught up in them. These exist within the deeper context of underlying individual and collective trauma, that we are not equipped to cope with. This has resulted in a lot of disregulated nervous systems intermittently reacting, all combined with unhealthy coping mechanisms that are sold to us as entertainment.

We ask ourselves, why are so many people struggling with mental ill health and yet we live in a world that is often divisive, competitive and driven by the need to survive within capitalism. These are the things that were bothering me at 16 years old, I didn’t feel as if I belonged in this kind of world, especially while I was carrying so much pain that went largely unacknowledged.

WHAT DOES TRAUMA THERAPY INVOLVE?

This depends on the therapeutic modalities a therapist is trained in.

I use EMDR, Hypnotherapy, Energy and Body therapy to process trauma with the people I work with. We work at all the different levels at which trauma may be stored and be impacting a person, consciously and subconsciously. You can read more about EMDR here.
 
People who have been affected by trauma sometimes feel as if their inner light has been dimmed or even blown out. This feeling may not be at all times, it may come and go, thereby impacting the quality of their lives.

I offer a program called “Glow Beyond” and it is designed for people to safely process trauma and bring renewed energy to their inner light. It equips people with beneficial emotional tools so that they may create their lives with new positive beliefs about themselves. 

I understand trauma from both a lived experience and from a holistic clinical perspective. I do NOT think there is anything wrong with people who are responding to hurt and I treat people as whole beings, regardless of what they are experiencing.

Image description: Black background with a graphic of stars and a woman carrying sunflowers holding her hat in the air. Text, “Shining in my WHOLENESS. www.glowwellbeing.com.au.”