“When you can tell your story and it doesn’t make you cry, you know you have healed.”
– Karen Salmansohn

From my own experience, living with trauma means suffering a lot in silence, pretending to be fine in situations where I am not fine at all, and trying to keep these horrible memories buried in the back of my mind. It means being convinced that nobody would understand me anyway, so no point in telling anyone why I feel different. Much easier to pretend everything is normal. But in the long run, is it really easier? 

Trauma is formally defined as an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being (SAMHSA). Short-term reactions such as shock or denial are typical. Long-term reactions and effects include bipolar disorder, uncontrollable flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia, nightmare disorder, difficulties with interpersonal relationships, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Physical symptoms including migraines, hyperventilation, hyperhidrosis, and nausea are often developed.

Trauma is not the same for everyone. What is traumatic to one person may not be traumatic to another. And not all who experience adversity will become traumatized.

There are three main types of trauma: 

• Acute trauma results from a single incident.
• Chronic trauma is repeated and prolonged such as domestic violence or abuse.
• Complex trauma is exposure to varied and multiple traumatic events, often of an invasive, interpersonal nature.

Therapie is of course a very good way of healing trauma (it is the way I was able to heal). But sharing our story with people close to us as well can be a relief. Not only for ourselves but also for those around us. It helps them to understand why we behave the way we do.