When women have a history of trauma, their mental health is commonly affected negatively. While each woman’s experience is unique, this connection is common. The combination of trauma and mental health challenges is very tough and often makes it difficult for women to heal their mental health and move forward. Fortunately, understanding this connection can help women address trauma that is connected to their mental health difficulties. In treatment for mental health challenges at New Creation Recovery, women are invited to share and receive assistance through trauma treatment. While it is a difficult process, with support, women can face these traumas and ultimately heal their mental health.
Trauma is one or multiple events that cause an individual to experience psychological, physical, or emotional pain. The reaction to trauma is unique for each person, and the reaction can change over time – having a very different immediate reaction compared to a long-term reaction. However, trauma causes an individual to feel stress, fear, hopelessness, or anxiety. Common symptoms of trauma include avoidance, re-experiencing, hyperarousal, and cognitive changes.
Trauma and Mental Health
When a woman has experienced trauma, in a singular event or multiple events, they are at a higher risk for developing other mental health challenges. This is due to the lasting impact that trauma has on an individual emotionally and the structural changes that are a direct result of trauma.
Structural Changes
Research has shown that multiple areas of the brain are affected by trauma. Women who have a history of trauma show changes in the limbic system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and neurotransmitters. These changes are structural shifts in the brain, which impact how the individual feels, thinks, and acts.
The alterations in the brain structure make an individual more vulnerable to substance use disorder (SUD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental illnesses. This is because the brain is very delicate. When the systems change due to trauma, they function in a completely new way. As a result, when a woman has experienced trauma, they can seem very different from how they were before the trauma.
Lasting Impact
The initial impact of trauma is experienced differently in every person. However, it is common for women to feel a sense of shock, numbness, or confusion. In addition, women often feel a variety of emotions, including anger, sadness, or agitation. These initial reactions are normal and part of the processing of trauma.
Significant traumas often have a lasting impact on a woman. Again, this lasting impact looks different for each individual. However, it often includes emotional dysregulation, physical discomfort, and detachment from the event or events. It is important to remember that there is not a specific line drawn in what makes a trauma significant. Instead, different events impact individuals in unique ways and the significance is unique to the individual.
When a woman has a lasting impact from trauma, they begin to change their behaviors. They are more likely to isolate themselves from others, feel less connected to their work and home life, and try to find ways to cope with the change in their lives. This, in turn, impacts their mental health and can contribute to the mental health challenges they are facing.
Healing Through Trauma Treatment
Fortunately, women can heal their mental health through trauma treatment. When women address the initial trauma to which they are reacting, they begin to understand what challenges with their mental health are due to trauma. In turn, they begin to see mental health improvements directly due to processing past trauma.
The specifics of each woman’s trauma treatment are unique. However, it often involves pharmacotherapy, behavioral therapy, and group therapy. Each type of therapy plays an important role. It helps women to heal from the effects of their trauma and reprocess the event or events to move forward in their lives.
Mental Health Benefits of Trauma Treatment
While clients are in trauma treatment at New Creation Recovery, they will experience many ups and downs. However, over time, they will experience many mental health benefits. This change is a result of the work that they are doing in trauma treatment.
One way in which trauma treatment benefits mental health is by allowing a person to process the trauma and move forward from it. As a result, clients learn to manage their mental health symptoms that are directly related to their history of trauma. Secondly, they learn to cope with and heal from feelings of shame and guilt that are commonly associated with trauma. Finally, clients learn valuable tools to reduce triggers and cope with their reactions that are due to trauma.
When a client puts in the work to heal from trauma, they will gain significant relief. However, they also get the added benefit of mental health improvements that are directly the result of trauma treatment.
When women have experienced trauma, their mental health commonly is affected. This connection between mental health and trauma is strong and, therefore, important to take into consideration in treatment. At New Creation Recovery, we know that women with a history of trauma often struggle with their mental health. We provide support and structure that helps women to face and process their history of trauma. In addition, we offer programs that help them to understand what aspects of their mental health challenges are actually unprocessed trauma, and what aspects need more support to heal from. If you are a woman who is struggling with trauma and mental health, we can help. Call us today at (877) 868-5730 to learn more.
