What Does a Realistic Trauma Recovery Look Like?

The trauma recovery process looks different for everyone. Healing is less about you "getting over" what happened to you and more about integrating your traumatic memories in such a way that they no longer hold such emotional weight.

Like any mental health issue, healing from traumatic stress isn't linear, and it's normal to experience various ups and downs within your recovery. Over time, however, you will feel less reactive to your traumatic experience, allowing you to feel more connected to yourself and your daily life.

You Can Acknowledge Glimmers of Progress

It's often said that progress isn't linear when it comes to treating mental health, and trauma recovery is no different. You can't forget the traumatic events, and you'll likely always have some emotional reactions about what happened to you.

Some people don't realize their progress until looking back. For example, after a few months, you might notice how you no longer feel as debilitated or dissociated by certain painful memories. Or you're able to cope with dysregulation more steadily and predictably. You may realize how you move out of flashbacks faster or engage in deep breathing exercises more automatically.

You Become More Aware of Your Body

We store trauma at the cellular level, and unprocessed trauma can often manifest into physical symptoms, including headaches, gastrointestinal distress, muscle aches, fatigue, and more. Some people also experience chronic dissociation, where the emotional numbness makes it so they don't feel connected to their bodies at all.

Somatic awareness helps you listen to your body and respond to it accordingly. This supports your nervous system regulation by ensuring your basic needs, including your need for rest, safety, food, and movement, are met. People who are attuned to their bodies tend to experience a more profound trauma recovery- they can recognize the impact of ongoing stress and aim to take care of themselves regularly.

You Recognize Your Triggers and Cope With Them Adaptively

All trauma survivors experience different triggers, and these involuntary emotional responses may never go away fully. However, over time, you recognize these triggers in advance.

With this, you can better prepare for how you will manage stressful situations when they arise.

And if you can't avoid them altogether, you develop more adaptive responses for coping. With that, trauma survivors often benefit from developing a greater sense of self-compassion. You don't need to cope perfectly all the time, but you can focus on being gentle and loving toward yourself, even when you make mistakes.

You're More Discerning in Your Relationships

Trauma often erodes trust within relationships, particularly if you have a history of codependency or abusive experiences from others. If you experienced childhood trauma, you may struggle to feel secure in your attachment to others- it can feel like you're either much too guarded or way too permissive with others.

Healing from this kind of emotional trauma takes time, and it often means reevaluating how you show up in relationships and what intimacy means to you. If you recognize that certain people chronically evoke a sense of stress, you may reassess your level of closeness with them.

Subsequently, you might also find yourself seeking more secure people in your daily life. Sometimes people first experience meeting this need while working with a therapist. Others find it in a healthy support group or with safe, like-minded people.

You Feel Emotions More Viscerally

Although this can initially feel disorienting, trauma recovery often entails becoming more aware of your emotional states. You're more aware of anger, sadness, loneliness, and anxiety. At the same time, you can also access deeper forms of joy, gratitude, excitement, and feeling connected to the present moment.

You Feel Less Shame or Brokenness

People often internalize prolonged or repeated trauma, causing them to believe they either caused what happened to them or that they deserved what happened to them. If this is the case for you, you may hold a deep sense of shame or a very negative self-image. Relationships may feel overwhelming, and you might also have other mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and more.

Over time, as you heal from the remnants of complex trauma, you start feeling more "whole." When you experience emotional distress, it no longer feels like it defines you. You realize how you are so much more than any trauma response.

Recovering from Trauma with Resurface Group

At Resurface Group, we honor all the nuances associated with your unique healing process. We deeply understand the intersection between trauma, mental illness, and substance use. We help individuals learn how to reduce stress and feel more engaged in their everyday lives.

Our trauma-focused therapists can help you better understand your trauma symptoms and move you away from chronic fight-or-flight mode into a more regulated mindset. No matter what happened to you, you deserve to experience joy and reap the benefits of healthy relationships and good self-care. If you resonate with having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or chronic trauma symptoms, we can help you lay the groundwork for this recovery.

Please contact us today to learn more.