When we talk about emotional trauma, the image that may come to mind is usually of something catastrophic. However, trauma is much more than that, as we are exposed to micro-traumas from birth.
Our body considers a traumatic situation on an emotional level any event for which we are not prepared and that generates a strong burden of emotional pain
Since we do not have the necessary tools for our system to store it in memory in a healthy and adaptive way, what our brain does with this painful information is encapsulate it so that it can continue functioning in the healthiest way possible for the person. But it is precisely the fact of blocking it that makes it become a trauma.
Its psychological consequences
Unresolved emotional traumas may be associated with the development of mental disorders that lead the person to organize their own perception of reality and lifestyle around said problem.
Among the usual consequences that begin to affect our lives we find the following.
1. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Known as the pathology of trauma, it occurs in situations in which the situation is relived in the form of intrusive memories in memories. When the associated emotional impact is very high, the person can “disconnect” that information from their head, giving rise to dissociative disorders, which in a certain way becomes the person’s only resource to be able to continue living with that trauma
2. Anxiety and panic attacks
Associated with the emotion of fear, it places us in a constant activation point when various emotional memories connect with some aspect of our life
3. Depression
If after the trauma the person begins to feel emotions of guilt, helplessness and disappointment a depressive condition may develop.
How to overcome it?
Processing emotional traumas is necessary, since it is the only way in which information, stored in a pathological way, can be reconfigured by changing the psychological impact it causes.
To carry out this re-processing of information, there are various cutting-edge techniques that help more quickly establish new “corrective” emotional memories regarding that painful information. This new processing of painful information is the stage in which the change is made between “living accepting the past” and “fighting with the past in order to live.”
Given that childhood is the time in which our “I” begins to be built, and that our brain develops 80% in the first two years of life, a child whose parents are unable to recognize his or her basic emotional needs can develop an attachment problem that carries and maintains into adulthood. This is why secure attachment in childhood is discussed as a protective factor for mental health in adulthood.
Making reparations for a trauma often leads us to work on some aspects of childhood that may be forgotten or even to which we have not paid attention in years, but which have nevertheless served to organize our system in a certain way around them. this information.
Paradoxically, it is sometimes believed that a trauma such as an accident, an earthquake or a flood is difficult to overcome. But, contrary to this belief, psychologists know that the traumas that we call complex are those that come from ruptures in attachment with such a simple basis in trust with the other, which in childhood is translated by the caregiver’s ability to look at us, care for us, give us security and, above all, give us love.
Author: Ana Carcedo Bao, Psychologist
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This article has been reviewed by our editorial team at PsychologyFor to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to evidence-based research. The content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice.
