Psychological trauma can be similar to physical trauma in many ways. Both can leave you with upsetting memories, emotions, and unrelenting anxiety that just refuses to go away. Moreover, just like injuries of the body, injuries of the mind can also have physical symptoms, such as muscle tension, aches and pains, agitation and edginess, nightmares or insomnia, and more.

When you go through a traumatic experience, it can take a while for your mind to heal completely and feel safe again. However, just like physical injuries, the right support and self-help strategies can speed up your recovery.

Psychological Trauma: The Symptoms

Now that we’ve provided a brief overview of the similarities between physical and psychological trauma, it’s time to delve deeper into how mental disturbances affect us.

The most important thing to understand is that everyone is unique. We all react to mental disturbances and psychological trauma in different ways, experiencing a wide range of emotional and physical reactions. There’s no “wrong” or “right” way to respond, feel, or think, which is why we should never judge our own reactions, or those of others’. Always remember: your responses are NORMAL reactions to ABNORMAL circumstances.

In addition to the physical symptoms we’ve mentioned in the first paragraph, psychological trauma also has some emotional symptoms, including:

• Difficulty concentrating, confusion
• Self-blame, shame, and guilt
• Depression
• Feeling sad and hopeless
• Mood swings, irritability, and anger
• Feeling numb or disconnected
• Shock, denial or disbelief
• Withdrawing from others

Healing from Psychological Trauma

Typically, the symptoms of psychological trauma last from a few days to a few months. As your mind becomes capable of processing the unsettling event or circumstances, they fade gradually. However, if the symptoms of psychological trauma persist for a prolonged period of time and show no signs of easing up, you may be experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While it’s quite normal to experience emotional trauma after a disturbing event, it becomes PTSD when you remain stuck in a state of psychological shock.

Fortunately, there are effective self-help strategies that accelerate the healing process, and help you return to being the best you can be. These include:

• Maintaining a healthy diet
• Exercising
• Participating in social activities
• Joining a support group
• Volunteering
• Making new friends

How Hypnotherapy Can Help You Heal

Psychological trauma changes us. It alters memory, mood, personality, motivation, perceptive, and cognitive function. By extension, it alters our behaviors and our relationships. It forces us into forming new, negative conclusions about ourselves and other people.

So, where does hypnotherapy come in? Well, hypnotherapy, in all essence, opens a portal into your subconscious. With the help of a skilled hypnotherapist, an individual can access the pivotal events and circumstances that caused their trauma during careful and modulated regression. In a state of hypnosis, they’re clearly able to see and experience the moments in which their conclusions and perceptions became negative. The hypnotherapist then helps the patient to change those distorted beliefs and reclaim what is lost. For instance, a negative perception such as ‘everyone hates me’ is replaced with ‘I am loved’.

Our hypnotist Rekha might be someone you could connect with. She works effectively with anxiety, depression, rage and even helps clients with smoking cessation and weight loss through hypnosis. Book a free consultation at our office in Rochester, NY. Rekha also offers Skype sessions for clients not residing in Rochester, NY.

Not ready to book an appointment? Learn how self-hypnosis can help you recover from PTSD and depression.