What is Trauma and How to Begin Healing
*** Possible Trigger Warning ***
Going through a traumatic event or having post-traumatic stress disorder is exhausting and overwhelming. Our hope is to inform those who have not been a victim of trauma and provide additional resources for those who have. Read on to learn more about the effect of trauma on the body and new ideas about healing.
We know now that genetics play a role in how one responds to trauma. This occurs via epigenetics: which is when your external environment and experience of your ancestors determine how your genes are expressed. For example, if either your mother or father experienced a traumatic event, your genes may be more responsive to trauma. Even smaller stressful situations may feel particularly more stressful due to the expression of your genes.
Trauma not only affects our mental health causing PTSD, anxiety, and depression — it can also manifest physically because these conditions rev up our fight or flight response, which when activated over long periods of time can lead to inflammation. Chronic inflammation causes a host of different diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. For those interested in learning more about trauma’s effects on the body, Dr. Tetlow highly recommends the book, The Body Keeps the Score.
While we might not be able to prevent traumatic events from happening, medicine, and particularly integrative and functional medicine, are learning new ways to approach healing. Each person who has experienced a traumatic event has a unique path and rate to healing. From an integrative and functional medicine standpoint, inflammation may be a promising area to address healing and prevention.
New research is suggesting that individuals with high inflammation levels prior to experiencing a traumatic event increase the body’s stress response, whereas, those with lower levels of baseline inflammation had a higher aptitude for resiliency in the face of a traumatic experience. While more research is certainly needed, this is information is promising because it means those who have not experienced trauma, may be able to prevent a strongly adverse reaction in the event they do, and for those recovering from trauma, the burden may be able to be lessened by following an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, in addition to using other therapeutic modalities. Additionally, considering the genetic impact on trauma, diet may play a role in healing and prevention as well. There are specific diets that can affect the way gene expression occurs and possibly alter one’s physiologic response to stress and trauma.
PIM wants to hear from you! Have you overcome a traumatic experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below or on our Facebook and Instagram!
Looking for a more comprehensive, empowering approach to medicine? Schedule a 20-minute free consultation or an appointment with Zoie Phillips, MSPA, PA-C or Lynda Sherland, CRNP, FNP-C today! Not quite ready to schedule and have questions? Quickly get in touch with us today!
Sources:
Fitzgerald, Kara. “Trauma, Biological Embedding, and the Prevention of PTSD.” Kara Fitzgerald ND Naturopathic Doctor, 7 July 2021, www.drkarafitzgerald.com/2021/07/07/trauma-biological-embedding-prevention-of-ptsd/?mc_cid=d6e59cc425&mc_eid=830f16c8e9.
Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen. "Psychological trauma and physical health: A psychoneuroimmunology approach to etiology of negative health effects and possible interventions." Psychological Trauma: theory, research, practice, and policy 1.1 (2009): 35.
Mehta D;Miller O;Bruenig D;David G;Shakespeare-Finch J; “A Systematic Review of DNA Methylation and Gene Expression Studies in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Posttraumatic Growth, and Resilience.” Journal of Traumatic Stress, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31951051/.
Ryan, Joanne, et al. "Biological underpinnings of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: focusing on genetics and epigenetics." Epigenomics 8.11 (2016): 1553-1569.