Have you recently experienced a situation that felt like it changed your life forever?

Instead of feeling like your normal self, you might feel like you’re carrying around a ton of bricks. Perhaps this heavy feeling just won’t go away.

Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes. It can also stop life right in its tracks. Simply said, it can be disheartening, devastating, and debilitating. That’s putting it lightly. So, how do you get through something so intensely negative? Forgetting the pain would be a reprieve, but you can’t forget. It’s like your body, heart, and soul are struggling simply to survive right now.

Be encouraged that I understand your pain. I also know that there is freedom from what seems like a never-ending dark night in your life. Sometimes it gets difficult to know when to lean on someone else for help. Consider the following when you’re trying to figure out if it’s time to call a trauma therapist.

1. You’re Exhausted

When you experience trauma, your body often gets stuck in a state of hypervigilance. This intense state is like a vehicle operating in overdrive all the time.

You may be feeling overly tired, tension in your muscles, and chronic headaches or an upset stomach.

In short, it’s exhausting to carry around the burden of trauma. A trauma therapist can teach you how to anchor your senses back into the present so you don’t have to merely survive in an exhausting state of overdrive anymore.

2. You Feel Alone

The feeling of being alone is common after trauma.

Even among friends and family, you might feel like no one really knows how you feel. Sometimes it’s even hard to voice your emotions because what’s happening inside of you is so confusing. It’s difficult to sort it out most days.

Trauma therapy will help you to defeat that feeling of aloneness and debunk any false notion that you have to face all of this by yourself. You absolutely don’t have to go through it alone.

3. Unable to Concentrate

It can get hard to focus after dealing with a traumatic experience. Whether you’re at work or home, you may be having trouble concentrating.

Your thoughts sort of float away from you causing trouble with achieving your daily goals.

Trauma sends your mind into a whirlwind of chaos. Therapy can help to refocus your thoughts and strategize a pattern to overcome the mental roadblock.

4. Nothing Makes You Happy Anymore

More times than not, a traumatic experience can alter how you enjoy life. It may even prevent you from enjoying it at all.

The hobbies and activities that you used to love often become pushed to the side. You just can’t find any enjoyment in them anymore.

Trauma therapy can help you reclaim your life and help you capture those moments of happiness again. Although it might seem impossible to discover yourself again, know that it’s not.

5. You Rely on a Substance to Cope

When you’re trying to cope with life after trauma and nothing seems to be working, it’s easy to turn to substance abuse.

A cool beverage or a quick high can feel like such a relief during the hard times. Slowly these little moments of relief become daily and even hourly.

Some people get to the point where they can’t even face the day without the help of a substance. You might be in this position now.

If this is where you are, it’s time to contact a trauma therapist. Yes, you do need relief. Substance abuse will end up hurting you more than it helps, though. Your therapist can offer other forms of relief that will have a positive long-time influence on you.

6. Your Relationships Suffer

It’s not fair, but often relationships take a huge blow after one person experiences a traumatic event.

You might not feel like you connect with your partner anymore. Maybe you can’t talk openly to your best friend or sibling. It could even be that you just don’t have it in you to be social any longer.

Therapy can help you sort out all these feelings and offer some positive communication tactics to employ so that your relationships can be rejuvenated.

7. You Feel Sad and Hopeless 

Frequently, people who undergo trauma often don’t feel like themselves. Maybe you weren’t Sally Sunshine before, but now you have a sinking feeling of hopelessness that you can’t kick. the future may feel too uncertain, pointless, or frightening.

You may even feel numb and that you just can’t connect with others or with yourself.

Trauma produces a tangled mess of emotions. Your trauma therapist can help you navigate these negative thoughts and feelings.

Together, you can crush depression, sadness, and hopelessness. In time, you can feel whole again. Reach out and reclaim your life!