Medical trauma takes many forms. For example, the basic reality of suffering a serious injury or illness is potentially traumatic. The treatments and procedures are intense. On top of that, there are logistics involved in hospital stays and interventions. Healthcare workers are often stretched to their limits and, thus, subject to medical trauma. Then there’s the frightening fact that one of the primary causes of death in the U.S. is medical error.
People with disorders like anxiety, chronic pain, depression, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can tell you all about EMDR. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a potent therapeutic approach to improving one’s mental health. Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR utilizes eye movements by the client and hand movements by the therapist. This facilitates a state of mind in which the client can safely process trauma and other form of mental distress.
Codependency, on paper, may sound like you’ve found your soulmate. Meanwhile, it actually involves a marked decrease in independence as you gain more and more of your value from something external: your relationship. To keep this going, you must make unhealthy sacrifices and avoid analyzing your emotions.
Grief is a painful experience for everyone. It is shared regardless of age, gender, class, or race. Yet we allocate so little time to talking about it. This makes grief to be more than painful. It’s confusing, too. We’ve suffered a loss and, because the topic is somewhat taboo, the best we get from loved ones is platitudes. They mean well but only add to the puzzlement.
The concept of codependency was long associated with addiction but it covers a lot more ground than that. In fact, it is more often used today to explore the dynamics of dysfunctional, one-sided relationships. Such patterns usually involve boundary issues. A codependent couple is made up of two partners who seem to have lost track of the line that separates them.
A “toxic” relationship can exist between any two people. For this post, the focus is on a married couple. For that marriage to be toxic means, it contains insecurity, instability, controlling and abusive behaviors, and more. A toxic marriage brings out the worst in the partners; typically, one is victimized.
If we were to believe in pop culture, we’d trust that retirement is a stress-free paradise. In reality, like any of life’s major transitions, it is a mixed bag of obstacles and revelations. “Stress-free” is not a realistic appraisal of any period in our life. Someone who is about to retire may have genuine concerns about adjusting to “free time” and a loss of identity.
Everyone has had some negative experiences in the past. As a result, those painful memories can sometimes be triggered and cause fresh discomfort. For someone with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, such triggers can induce frighteningly extreme reactions. Put simply, they’ve endured a traumatic event and the trigger makes their brain react as if it is happening again.
For most people, conversations about inherited characteristics involve things like eye color or height. But there’s a deeper and darker discussion to be had on this topic. Generational trauma is a term used to describe how psychological and emotional tendencies can also be passed down in families. Trauma that occurred very long ago can create circumstances that end up impacting family members several generations later.
Ask someone to describe anxiety symptoms. You’ll probably hear plenty about sweaty palms, shaky voices, and racing heartbeats. Probably the only aches that stand a chance of being mentioned is a headache. In reality, chronic pain is a common indicator of an anxiety disorder. It can range from unexplained tension and pain to diseases like fibromyalgia or arthritis.
You can’t be anxious. These are your golden years, right? Ideally, we’d treat all of our years as golden but retirement does have a unique status in modern society. You’ve paid your dues and now come the rewards. No more daily grind. You’ll have more time than ever before and with that, an opportunity to try out ideas, hobbies, and pursuits that were previously put on hold. So… why does it all feel so stressful?
Anxiety has a bad reputation. To most people, that word evokes images of stress, worry, fear, and dread. In reality, it’s a normal and inevitable emotion that can be mighty helpful. Anxiety is our body’s alarm system. It has the potential to warn and protect you. However, when you feel anxious too often — when danger is not present — it can turn into an unhealthy cycle.
Author Joan Didion once remarked that “virtually everyone who has ever experienced grief mentions this phenomenon of waves.” Everyone must, of course, experience and process grief in their own way. There is no one “right” way. But no one fully avoids the sensation of waves. Sure, there are stages of grief but they are not linear.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health condition on the planet and are inextricably connected to physical pain. It’s been observed that at least 75 percent of medical doctor visits are related to anxiety. Even when you make an appointment for chronic pain, you may actually be talking about anxiety.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a popular, effective, and highly regarded psychological treatment. It’s applied to many conditions and problems — including managing painful or traumatic memories. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is also a popular, effective, and highly regarded form of psychological treatment. While it is, in some ways, influenced by CBT, EMDR has some very unique characteristics. It’s best known for its stellar record with people struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Trauma is a result. When someone endures or witnesses a horrific event, there is the potential for them to experience trauma. Such events may include neglect, abuse, assault, loss, violence, illness, and so much more. Whether or not we are traumatized depends on several specific factors. What matters most is how we experience the events and what impact it has on us (and our life).
