- Trauma can cause symptoms of anxiety, depression, grief, and physiological changes.
- While trauma can be a lifelong journey, with proper support and healing tools, a happy, joyful life after trauma is possible.
- Minimizing or comparing your trauma to another can delay the healing process, disrespect your own experience, and discredit your emotions.
- Every person’s journey to healing from trauma is different.
When the World Trade Center was hit on 9/11, Helaina Hovitz Regal was just blocks away, attending seventh grade at her school. Living through the immediate tragedy and the aftermath as a resident of New York City caused her to grow up with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Our brains and our bodies change after experiencing something traumatic, and that can look different in many people for many different reasons. Across the board, however, it informs how we experience the world around us and our own inner worlds, and it is almost never good. Yet, we rarely find out what actually happens to children and adults as they try to move on from a devastating tragedy, whether that crisis is personal or global,” Hovitz Regal told Healthline.
Her experience moved her to become a mental health advocate, public speaker, journalist, and author of the memoir “After 9/11.”
Five years before Hovitz Regal endured Sept. 11, Angela Rose experienced trauma as a teen.
Rose was abducted in the parking lot of a mall outside of Chicago by a murderer and rapist on parole.
After working to put the man behind bars for life, Rose founded PAVE (Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment).
“I think that most people misunderstand that trauma can cause a myriad of emotional, spiritual, and physical health issues, most of which are misunderstood by not just loved ones but often by the survivors themselves,” Rose told Healthline. “It’s crucial for trauma survivors to know that they are not alone and that healing is possible, though oftentimes it is a choice to seek the support and help.”
Both Hovitz Regal and Rose continue sharing their stories in hopes of helping others with similar experiences find their path to healing and better understand how trauma affects our lives.
Source: healthline