Let’s talk about how trauma, including PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), affects your anxiety, your inclination to play it safe, and your overall health. If you’re feeling constantly on edge, find yourself avoiding risks, or struggling with your health, you might be wondering if past trauma is playing a role in your current experiences. Trauma isn’t always about the big, shocking events you might first think of. It can also come from moments that might seem minor to others but were significant to you.
Trauma can be as severe as surviving a natural disaster, enduring violence, or experiencing the sudden loss of a loved one. But it can also arise from experiences like birth trauma or medical trauma or illness trauma. These events can leave deep emotional scars, affecting how safe you feel in similar situations later in life. I help people who have experienced trauma to overcome their fears and anxiety in my practice in Bedfordshire.
Less obvious sources of trauma might include being bullied as a child, facing workplace bullying, or enduring relationship trauma. Even undergoing a medical procedure that was frightening, going through a traumatic illness or moving to a new city where you felt isolated and alone, can trigger your mind’s fear responses and have a lasting impact. These experiences can contribute to PTSD, a condition where trauma symptoms persist and severely affect daily living.
Many people with trauma feel embarrassed that it still troubles them a long time after the event. But when it is having an impact on your health and life, it is time to take the steps to overcome it now and have the freedom to enjoy your life and fulfil your goals.
Trauma often manifests as anxiety. It can be either really severe and very obvious or perhaps more frequently a chronic kind of anxiety that affects you extensively but still means you can live your life – though at a lesser degree than being free from it would be. You might notice that you’re more anxious in situations that have a connection to your past trauma, though this might not be something you’re not consciously aware of the connection. This anxiety isn’t just emotional; it can affect your physical health, too. Stress responses can increase inflammation, disrupt your sleep, and even change how your body responds to infections. For many, this stress also exacerbates conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), where gastrointestinal distress becomes a frequent physical manifestation of anxiety and trauma. Could your IBS and anxiety be connected to a trauma? How much longer are you going to wait suffering the debilitating impact of IBS? Maybe you have un-successively tried traditional therapies such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) or anti-depressants and wonder why this didn’t work for you. We use alternative tools such as Havening, Hypnotherapy and NLP in our Bedfordshire practice with great results.
In response to these horrible feelings, you might find yourself playing it safe more often. Avoiding certain places, activities, or even people can be a subconscious attempt to protect yourself from the pain of re-experiencing trauma or triggering PTSD symptoms. Checking always to ensure you have an exit, for example. This cautious approach can seem helpful, but it can also keep you from living your life fully. Moreover, the constant worry about the future—a common symptom for those dealing with trauma and PTSD—can paralyze decision-making and reinforce a cycle of anxiety.
Understanding and addressing this trauma and PTSD is crucial. As a therapeutic coach, my tools of Havening, hypnotherapy, and NLP overcome both historical and more recent trauma. These techniques are designed to help you manage and recover from PTSD, providing relief from the anxiety associated with your trauma. They enable you to untangle the threads of past experiences from your current anxieties, reducing the symptoms of PTSD and helping you take back control.
If you find yourself often anxious, triggered by certain things, overly cautious, or struggling with health issues that don’t have a clear medical cause, it’s worth exploring whether trauma is playing a role. Healing from trauma can free you from these chains, opening up a new, healthier way of living that allows you to embrace risks and experience life more fully.
If you want to discuss what help could mean for you please get in touch.