How To Heal From A Past Trauma

Recovery from trauma is a long and challenging process. When it comes to mental-related wellness and learning how to heal from a past trauma, it can be a recovery that is a long road. A very long road.

It is important to realise that that past trauma, no matter what happened, can take a long time to get past. It can feel agonising to have these thoughts, these feelings every single day.

Sadly, trauma can manifest itself into becoming addictions, anger, intense anxiety, abuse, and so much more.

This is why there needs to be an emphasis on confronting your trauma.

When confronting past trauma, you don’t always need to find closure. But it’s still important to address it head-on.

Here are some helpful tips to get yourself to heal from past trauma. The key is to not give up on this.

1) Join a support group

One of the best ways to help yourself heal from a past trauma is to join a support group. These groups help individuals with mental, physical, and emotional health issues.

Some of the most common groups include, but are not limited to online forums, Facebook groups, support groups in your area, etc. Group counseling is considered to be much cheaper, so even this could be something that could help.

A lot of these group members are going to be going through and dealing with emotions and thoughts that are similar to yours. Plus, support groups are there to help each other out.

2) Write your story down, what happened to cause past trauma

A lot of people struggle with past trauma, especially when it is hard to find the words for how that event made them feel.

Writing your story down might take a bit of time and effort, but it’s a great way to organise your thoughts. This gives you the chance to confront yourself, and analyze for yourself what has happened.

It is understandable that the massive wave of emotions that you’ll go through during all of this remains too powerful to handle.

But, one step at a time, it is going to help.

3) Talk to friends and family about what happened to you

Many with past trauma will pent up their feelings to the point where it may turn into an addiction (sometimes this could be as “small” as turning to cigarettes) and they may need a nicotine prescription.

Sometimes it can turn to more dangerous drugs, gambling and other addictions.

This doesn’t happen all the time, but usually, if someone is addicted, it is used as a way to escape their feelings.

This can even include feelings that were created due to past trauma.

4) Find someone who has also gone through similar experiences

Many people have gone through difficult experiences that have changed their lives forever. If you are trying to heal from a past trauma, finding someone who has dealt with the same thing can provide insight and comfort.

Sometimes, but not always, there may be a therapist who has similar experiences.

They will specialise in that, such as an addictions therapist. But, you don’t always need to see a therapist if you’re looking for someone with similar experience.

5) Share your feelings with the world

This doesn’t instantly mean that you should post on social media platforms. But if you do, that’s completely up to you.

Nowadays, a lot of people are using the internet as an outlet. Not only to get their voices heard but to just release what they’re feeling.

Just like “crying it out” has been proven to make people feel better, it’s fairly similar to this. While it is entirely your choice what you choose with how you want to outlet your feelings, one way is through writing for many, as mentioned above.

This can include online forums about specific past traumas, a very popular forum-based website would be Reddit, but it’s up to you about what you’d want. Also, there is online journaling.

It’s essentially like a blog, but you let your feelings come out.

Both forums and online journals can be a way to share what you’re feeling but at the same time, you still maintain anonymity if that’s what you’re after. This can be a fairly nice balance.

6) Make art or write poetry in order to express yourself emotionally

Some of the biggest artists to ever live would use art as an outlet. This was especially more apparent centuries ago when mental health wasn’t addressed. Writing poetry or creating art is a way for people to express themselves.

It brings up emotions like fear, anger, happiness, and more that people may not be able to easily put into words. This can help the process of healing after difficult times in one’s life.

…But it doesn’t just need to be about poetry.

Music, which can essentially be poetry with a tune can be a great way as well.

For others, it may be painting or drawing as a way to cope with their feelings about past trauma.

Having this outlet allows you to express yourself while still feeling some comfort. You’re confronting your emotions and the state of what you’re currently feeling while at the same time releasing it into a work of art.

This can be powerful, so there isn’t any shame at all for doing this either.

7) Watch movies or read books that are related to your experience of trauma

One of the most common experiences of trauma is a post-traumatic stress disorder. People with PTSD have a lot of trouble with daily life, relationships, and work.

Many are finding that watching movies or books about their experience can help them feel better and be more in control. It sounds odd, right? Almost as if it is counterintuitive.

But, this has actually been proven to work out. While this doesn’t work for everyone, it just has been known to work.

By all means, if something even remotely similar to your past experience and trauma makes you feel triggered then its best to just avoid it!

Watching or reading media is supposed to help, not make it feel worse. So never force yourself to re-feel those terrible emotions that you once have to feel.

You may not want to to try things this way, because there is a chance that it makes it worse.

8 ) Read books that are related to your experience

This doesn’t need to be fictional books either, but sometimes, just reading about the psychology, others’ experiences or even just advice on what you’re experiencing can really help out.

As stated above, fictional work can potentially help. It allows you to know that you’re not alone and to a degree, it helps give you a whole different perspective on the experience.

But fiction can also sort of making you take back control.

Reading books, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction could very well be a while to make yourself feel better on the matter.

Just keep in mind that not everything listed may help and it’s entirely up to you and what you believe could potentially help.