Fundamentals of Trauma Recovery, Part 2

By: Chava Lederer

Many people who suffer from traumatic stress, and especially PTSD, suffer from flashbacks or somatic (body) symptoms, so that mentally, physiologically, and emotionally it can feel as though the event(s) are still happening.  During the event itself, high stress hormones flooding the brain suppressed the hippocampus — part of whose job it is to make chronological sense of our experiences, putting everything in its proper place of past and present, and send it for long-term memory storage.  The hippocampus suppressed means that the trauma doesn’t get encoded as “over.”  

Living Your Epilogue

A significant piece in feeling better, and more in control, in your daily life, can be to remind your body and brain that you survived.  You survived! If you are reading this now, it is inevitable that you made it out, and made it alive. You can help your hippocampus work properly to relay the message to the rest of your brain, and, in turn, your body, if you expand on your epilogue.  Make it alive.  This can include journaling, celebratory activities, sharing with supportive loved ones, saying it aloud, and especially taking in all the sensory input you can that testifies to this truth. You are here, now – you survived.

(Cautionary side note:  If your trauma is not fully over, it is appropriate to put this tool on hold for a while.  Some examples are: if court proceedings are pending, living conditions are unstable, abuse is ongoing, if there is any other unresolved threat.  It is fine if you’d like to read further and find ways to adapt the suggested exercises in a way that suits your circumstances. Always remember to engage your mindful gauge as to what is right for you, and when.)

Below are some ideas of how you can encourage your hippocampus to integrate the truth that you survived.  Whenever you  try any of the following, check in with your gauge – if it feels comfortable or not, and whether you’d like to continue.  If it is feeling helpful, you can amplify the effects by noticing any sensory input. Where does it feel good inside? Are there words to describe the good feeling? What do you notice about your posture, muscle tone?  Perhaps your breathing has shifted, or you register some different sights, sounds, smells from your surroundings? If you become uncomfortable, remember that you decide when to stop and when to go.

  1. Saying it aloud, and saying how you know.  “I know I survived, because I am here.”  You might add more details as to “how you know”; “…because I’m 53 now,” “because I have my children,” or, “…because I’ve graduated and found a job.”  Find words and phrases that fit for you. Notice what else happens when you say them.

  2. Journaling, or writing your epilogue.  You can write out all the major and minor life milestones that you’ve gone through since the even.  Starting from the present moving backwards: where have you been, what have you done, who have you met?  Highlight the aspects that emphasize the distance in time between now and the past events.

  3. Celebrate your survival.  No need to wait until you feel you’re 100% recovered – you can start celebrating now.  You might choose to do this with supportive friends or family, and/or you can mark it in a private way.  

  4. Buy yourself a gift, or gifts!  Buy something that symbolizes your survival, or your “here-ness.”  Perhaps you’d like one special item, or choose to buy something at intervals in honor of living your epilogue. When you make those purchases, or when you look back at them, pay mindful attention to what happens inside when you know you’ve made it here, you are here, now.

You might choose to remind yourself of this on certain occasions, anniversaries of different kinds, or you may want to make it ritual; each morning upon awakening, before bed at night, or to mark the end of the week.  Your mindful gauge is your best determinant of what, how, and when to use this tool.

Perhaps you will feel the effects of living your epilogue right away, or it may take some review and repetition to settle in.  In helping your brain to register that you survived — you are here now — it is likely you will experience more stability and presence in your daily life.