Unfortunately, trauma is a part of life for many of us, and oftentimes we experience it very early on in childhood. Trauma is caused during an extreme, highly-stressful event. This can be either a one-time event that can be represented by thinking about what a heartbeat monitor looks like. With each heartbeat, the steady line jumps in an upward spike. Trauma can also be caused by less extreme, but consistent, stressful events.
So how do we deal with trauma if we have experienced it? Research indicates that the impact of trauma is significantly affected by whether individuals are able to seek comfort and safety and gain perspective regarding their traumatic experiences (Walsh, 2007). Where can an individual find comfort and safety so as to gain perspective as they allow themselves to look back on that traumatic impact on themselves and heal? We can start by identifying that:
- You are the victim of trauma and should not blame yourself.
- There is a process of identifying the other persons involved in the trauma, and you do not have to be alone in facing these memories and sifting through what it all means.
- In the process of addressing trauma through Biblical counseling, you can have the strength through Jesus Christ to address any fears, destructive behaviors and lasting emotional pain based on these highly stressful events in your past.
Dr. Daniela Sieff describes “trauma-world” as one of fear, dissociation and shame, and asks and answers three questions: “Why are some childhood experiences likely to leave us traumatized? Why does emotional trauma leave us prone to react in ways that leave us more likely to create new suffering for ourselves? Why is it so hard to change?” Victims of trauma often repeat and recreate new suffering for themselves. If this is describing you, you should ask yourself the question, “Do you believe it is possible to break this cycle?” Trauma does not have to continue to have power over you, disrupt your sleep at night, bring reoccurring dreams to your mind, or interrupt your precious quiet time that you are fighting to protect.
Jesus Christ came to bind up the broken hearted and the wounded. These wounds describe the effects of trauma. It is hard to not feel the pain of an open wound, and through Biblical Counseling an individual is able to be in dialogue, in safety, where those effected areas are treated. The medical field also describes open wounds as “trauma.” This is common terminology in an emergency room or in conversation between surgeons when speaking about damage to the human body from impact of an outside object of some kind. These traumas on the inside are why Christ came to minister, and he is still ministering.
Psalms 147:3 NKJV
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
