A traumatised brain can be a lonely experience. One day something stressful happens and a few days or weeks after we start to feel different. We can’t sleep well, we wake with dreams or in a sweat and don’t know why. Unwanted memories of the stressful event slip into our minds at any time of the day, disrupting what we are doing, and it sometimes feels like we are actually reliving the event. We feel anxious and our body displays signs of being burnt out or fatigued. We feel distant and cut-off from other people, and often blame ourselves for what happened or spend long periods of time thinking about what we, or others, could have done differently in the situation. We struggle to feel positive emotions like love and happiness, and feel big negative emotions a lot of the time.
PTSD signs and symptoms.
These are all signs and symptoms of PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder! And PTSD is almost completely curable for one-off traumatic events or a recent series of events, through the use of an evidence backed therapy called EMDR or Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. EMDR is recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
EMDR has also been shown to be a highly effective treatment for Developmental Trauma or cPTSD in the longer term. Have you been diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (previously Borderline Personality Disorder) but are aware that you suffered childhood trauma and feel like your symptoms are connected to the trauma? They probably are. Most of the top trauma experts in the world are now in agreement that most cases of personality disorder are more likely symptoms of childhood trauma. Childhood trauma can change the way your brain develops as compared to a child who does not experience trauma, and can contribute to your struggles as an adult, especially in relationships. The ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study has gone a long way to prove the connection between stressful experiences in childhood and our experience of the world in adulthood.
A smaller subset of traumatised individuals will also suffer from dissociation. This can take different forms such as depersonalisation, derealisation or amnesia, or at it’s worst DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously multiple personality disorder) and EMDR has tools to help work with these issues, albeit the work may move at a slower pace.
So take the first step today. Get in touch to see how EMDR therapy can help you get your life back.
