Healing From Trauma

As a hypnotherapist helping clients heal from trauma, I am often asked ‘how much of the past does one need to resolve to move forward?’

This is a very good question, to answer this question we need to understand a little about the effect childhood trauma has on your present and future, and how this impact is dealt with to move forward.

Trauma and the brain

Each experience creates an emotion, when it is an unpleasant emotion your body naturally sends signals to the subconscious and marks it as dangerous. Your mind will protect you from feeling that way again with various defence mechanisms which will sometimes only come into play years later due to a trigger. Even though, the initial cause could have happened years prior. This is how disorders such as social anxiety, or other fear-based issues, can occur and develop over time. It is simply the mind raising awareness of the “danger” and attempting to protect you from what is seen as a threat, because the associated emotions suggest danger. Protection from danger is a vital part of your mind’s function.

The experience itself is not the issue, but the triggers, just like the way an allergic reaction works. The fact that your body is fighting a perceived danger is good but because the “danger” is not a threat, the reaction is only self-destructive and this is essentially what happens with anxiety, panic attacks and fears. Thinking back a few thousand years ago when encounters in the wild were a part of everyday life, it is clear how essential fear is. It allows your body to think and run faster, therefore making you more effective at avoiding danger.

So what happens to all those unpleasant experiences particularly those from childhood? The childhood years are the most crucial as that is when the brain is developing and learning new skills creating neurological pathways. For the brain to develop healthily the child needs to feel safe both emotionally and physically.

Trauma can change your brain on many levels, from the way you make decisions down to your immediate, subconscious responses to the world around you.

According to a 2006 study by NIH, trauma mainly affects three important parts of your brain: the amygdala, which is your emotional and instinctual centre; the hippocampus, which controls memory; and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for regulating your emotions and impulses. All three parts work together to manage stress.

When you are reminded of a traumatic experience, your amygdala (emotional and survival centre) goes into overdrive, acting just as it would if you were experiencing that trauma for the first time. Your prefrontal cortex also becomes suppressed, so you’re less capable of controlling your fear--you’re stuck in a purely reactive state

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Meanwhile, trauma also leads to reduced activity in the hippocampus, one of whose functions is to distinguish between past and present. In other words, your brain can’t tell the difference between the actual traumatic event and the memory of it. It perceives things that trigger memories of traumatic events as threats themselves.

Trauma can cause your brain to remain in a state of hypervigilance, suppressing your memory and impulse control and trapping you in a constant state of strong emotional reactivity.

Children who experience repeated trauma/negative experiences lose their sense of safety and their unconscious is on high alert looking out to protect them from ‘danger’, their next trauma/negative experience.

Hypnotherapy and Trauma

The good news is that this damage is often reversible in two ways: neutralizing the emotion attached to the trauma and rebuilding the sense of self. Through trauma dignity, respect and self-love are often lost, by re-instating these values you can move on without the event/s interfering.

It might seem like trauma does irreversible damage to your brain--that’s not true. Your brain is extremely adaptable. Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new connections, explains why you can rewire your brain to reverse trauma’s damaging effects. When you learn something new, you create new connections between your neurons thus rewiring your brain to adapt to new circumstances. Hypnotherapy focuses on creating these new neurological pathways that will help you move forward and become the healthier version of yourself.

During hypnotherapy, you are first disassociated from the event so that the triggers can be removed and allow your mind to reassess what is a real danger. By neutralizing the negative emotion both parts of your mind can work more cooperatively, which would make sense with the way logic seems to disappear in times of panic. Hypnotherapy therefore enables logical reasoning during events that would have previously been a source of stress.

How long does it take to heal trauma?

Your brain is more susceptible to change than many people think, and even though overcoming trauma is a difficult process, you are actually changing the way your brain works: adding new pathways, increasing the functions of certain areas, and strengthening connections. It’s the same mechanism that allows you to grow and change through learning.

During the healing process, you can rewire and retrain your brain to reverse the effects of trauma. You can reinforce your prefrontal cortex and get back rationality and control. You can strengthen your hippocampus and help your memory work how it’s supposed to. And you can subdue the hyperactive amygdala, which will help bring you peace.

In situations of abuse, letting go of the pain of the past is a process that involves healing as well as forgiving oneself.

Naturally, an isolated incident is easily cleared and a person can regain self-respect and love within just a few sessions (in such incidences the building takes longer than the clearing).

Another factor is the degree of trauma, with abuse leaving the deepest scars and sexual abuse leaving far deeper scars than physical and emotional abuse.

From experience helping men and women overcome abuse, building self-esteem, love and confidence is a crucial part of the process, however this can only be done once the rawness of the pain has been cleared and the length of time this takes varies from person to person whether it is weeks, months and in extreme cases 1 – 2 years. Once the pain has been significantly cleared that is the point at which it is time to close the door on the past and focus on moving forward. Yet this can only be done when the pain has cleared enough that it is no longer a trigger. You know when it is not a trigger when you can look back at the event and it no longer stirs emotions, you can look back at it as a matter of fact. As a result you can respond to events/situations rather than react.

Once this stage has been reached the focus is on building the person’s self-esteem, self respect and confidence.

These are just some comments received from clients who have been helped through hypnotherapy.

¨????? ‘I had a great session with Yocheved where I was able to release some strong emotions that had been stuck in me and had been triggering me for a long time. I felt stronger and happier after our session.’

¨????? Yocheved – thank you for your patience as I was ready to give up on myself and yet you showed me that I can do it! By over coming a childhood trauma – isn’t easy and I had been in a dark place.

Thank you for literally giving me life. I feel reborn!’

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¨????? ‘I don’t know what you did but it works!

I am amazed how quickly you helped clear what was blocking me.’

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¨????? ‘After 50 years of being on anti-depressants I have finally started reducing my dose (under guidance from my doctor) I am elated!

I cannot thank you enough, I am finally able to be myself and totally free from my past.’

Yocheved Levin is a Sleep, Trauma, Anxiety and Bereavement Specialist, fully qualified and experienced Hypnotherapist and NLP and Mindset Coach working locally and internationally changing lives. Yocheved can be contacted on +447855 940 741 or [email protected]. For more client testimonials visit www.trancework.co.uk/testimonials or visit www.trancework.co.uk/contact ?to book a free consultation.