How to Cope With Traumatic Situations
Helpful tips to deal with traumatic, stressful situations!
Photography by Getty Images
Helpful tips to deal with traumatic, stressful situations!
Here's how to gain a new perspective.
Although
we all experience trauma in our own way, most people find it difficult
to just “bounce back” — it can take days, weeks, even months. Family
systems therapist and social worker Melissa De Klerk explains how to deal with trauma (see the five methods below), explore your feelings and gain a new perspective.
Common signs that you’re traumatised
Fatigue, lack of energy and health
issues such as tensed muscles, headaches, upset stomach and low immunity
are often experienced during trauma. Melissa has had patients who
report lack of appetite, poor concentration and high anxiety levels.
“Anxiety plays out in problems such as being ‘on edge’ and hyper-alert
all the time, irritability, poor concentration and mood swings,” she
says.
On an emotional level, patients may
experience guilt, self-blame, denial, anger, sadness and emotional
outbursts. Sleep is also affected through disturbances such as
nightmares, flashbacks of the traumatic event, and intrusive thoughts
and memories.
How do you recover from trauma?
Recovery is a process, not a quick-fix —
and the answers often aren’t easy. It’s important to connect with a
supportive mental health professional to be aware of how other past
traumas could also be triggered, to debrief and reflect about its impact
on your life. “Talk therapy in a safe environment enables you to
explore pain, shame, guilt and fear and also to find healthy coping
mechanisms,” adds Melissa.
READ MORE: “How ‘Nature Therapy’ Helped Me Work Through My Grief Far Better Than Any Regular Therapy Sesh”Professional help shouldn’t be intimidating
When working with a victim of trauma,
and often complex trauma (multiple layered trauma over a period of
time), Melissa says it’s important to create a safe space that allows
someone to be vulnerable. “Talking about a traumatic experience is
sometimes difficult, [so we] also make use of drawings, music and
metaphors to express emotional conflict and engage with the self,” she
says. Dealing with trauma is always approached from a holistic
perspective. Risky behaviour patterns and habits will also be assessed,
such as harmful use of alcohol, poor work-life balance and poor
self-care.
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