Many individuals with substance use or mental health disorders have experienced trauma and struggle with trauma responses. The effects of trauma can impact all areas of your life and how you respond to everyday situations. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “Trauma, including one-time, multiple, or long-lasting repetitive events, affects everyone differently.” For example, “Some individuals may clearly display criteria associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but many more individuals will exhibit resilient responses or brief subclinical symptoms or consequences that fall outside of diagnostic criteria.” The Guest House uses trauma-specific treatment programs to help clients heal from their unique responses to trauma.
What Are Trauma Responses?
Trauma responses are how your body and mind react to experiencing or witnessing a traumatic experience. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), “Traumatic events can create a high level of arousal – or feeling alert or ‘on guard’ – as well, which causes people to react strongly to sounds and sights around them.” People’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors change after they experience highly stressful and emotionally distressing events. The effects may become more severe if you experience more than one trauma.
Everyone has a different response to trauma due to multiple factors, including:
- Mental health
- History of trauma
- Family history
- Type of trauma
- Age
- Support system
- Coping skills
- Access to mental health services
- Genetics
- Current life stressors
Trauma responses generally happen without conscious input. For example, a person who experiences a severe car accident may physically flinch any time they hear a loud car. The reaction is an automatic response to the trigger. Individuals living with the effects of untreated trauma often develop mental health disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma also increases the risk of a person developing substance use disorder (SUD). Recognizing the signs of trauma and getting help reduces your risk of developing severe or long-term side effects.
Common Trauma Responses
People often have specific clusters of responses called the flight, fight, fawn, or freeze response. These responses include physical, behavioral, emotional, interpersonal, and cognitive reactions to trauma triggers.
Some of the most common trauma responses include:
- Physical symptoms, including body aches, muscle tension, and fatigue
- Depressive episodes causing feelings of guilt, shame, or hopelessness
- Changes in appetite
- Sleep disturbances, including insomnia, oversleeping, and night terrors
- Memory issues and difficulty concentrating
- Intrusive thoughts
- Hypervigilance, feeling constantly on edge, overreacting to perceived threats, and becoming easily startled
- Difficulty building relationships, trusting others, and navigating interpersonal relationships
- Self-harm thoughts or other reckless and self-destructive behaviors
- Dissociative events, including flashbacks
You may experience multiple trauma responses, and sometimes they may exacerbate one another. For example, self-harming thoughts combined with sleep disturbances or a depressive episode may cause significant emotional distress or even a mental health crisis. Trauma treatment is especially important for individuals living with suicidal ideation or other harmful trauma responses.
The Importance of Identifying Trauma Triggers
Identifying trauma responses and their triggers provides essential information you can use to make positive lifestyle changes. The only way to know what thoughts and behaviors need to be adjusted is by recognizing how they affect your health and quality of life.
Identifying responses to trauma and potential triggers helps in the following ways:
- Provides essential context by helping people better understand their physical and emotional reactions
- Increases resilience and self-confidence
- Facilitates the development of effective coping strategies
- Increases self-awareness and mindfulness
- Promotes healing and self-compassion
- Encourages people to set boundaries and build healthier relationships
- Increases the effectiveness of treatment
- Empowers people and gives them greater control over their lives
The effects of trauma are often more emotionally distressing if people do not understand the cause. By identifying the triggers, people gain essential context and reduce emotional distress.
Healing From Trauma
Trauma may change a person’s life by making them feel more guarded and unable to trust others easily. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “It’s important for anyone with PTSD-like symptoms to be treated by a mental health professional who is trained in trauma-focused therapy.” The Guest House offers trauma-specific treatments for clients with underlying traumas.
Healing from trauma helps in the following ways:
- Reduces stress
- Increases positivity
- Improves overall health and wellness
Professional mental health treatment is often necessary for those with trauma. People with a history of trauma can learn to successfully process their past and identify how it has impacted their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
How Does The Guest House Help Clients Manage Trauma Responses?
The Guest House offers multiple programs for individuals with substance use disorder or dual diagnosis.
Trauma-specific treatment programs help in the following ways:
- Provides clients with a safe environment for healing and personal growth
- Addresses the root cause of trauma, SUD, and mental health disorders
- Improves mental health
- Reduces symptoms of trauma-related conditions
- Increases self-esteem and self-worth
- Supports healthier patterns of behavior
- Encourages acceptance of the traumatic event
- Reduces the risk of relapse
Addiction recovery and mental health professionals at The Guest House understand that every client requires different types of support and treatment to address underlying trauma. The programs at The Guest House offer tailored treatment plans to ensure every individual receives the level of support they need to heal from trauma.
Trauma responses vary depending on many factors, including a person’s coping skills and support network. Trauma-specific treatment programs provide clients with the support and resources they need to successfully manage trauma responses. Psychotherapy, alternative holistic therapy, and other treatment services help people understand their conditions and address symptoms or side effects impacting their quality of life. The Guest House provides individualized, trauma-specific care to clients diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD) or mental health conditions. Most clients go through a continuum of care to ensure they receive effective support through every stage of recovery. Trauma recovery is essential to long-term positive mental health. To learn more about our programs and services, contact our office today by calling (855) 483-7800.