Our sleep is important to all aspects of our life. Quality sleep impacts our decision-making, energy levels, physical health, and mental symptoms. A lack of sleep can cause mistakes and heightened mental health symptoms in many people. Childhood or recent trauma impacts sleep in multiple ways. Trauma can lead to further mental health issues and exacerbate the physical effects of the trauma. This blog will discuss how trauma can impact your sleep patterns and ripple into everyday life. 

Hyperarousal

One of the most common responses to trauma is hyperarousal. The heightened state of alertness causes individuals to struggle with relaxation. Being able to fall asleep is a luxury when you experience trauma due to frequent nightmares and exaggerated startle responses. 

External stimuli are more effective in those who experience trauma. Even if a trigger is not directly related to your trauma, it can cause a disturbance in your conscious or subconscious thoughts. 

Nightmares And Re-experiencing Trauma

Another way that trauma impacts sleep is by causing nightmares. Many people struggle to sleep because that is when the flashbacks are at their worst. PTSD and other trauma-related conditions can cause fragmented sleep and exhaustion. Even if you sleep for 8 hours, but have nightmares throughout the night, your quality of sleep will be impacted. Deep sleep is just as important as the longevity of sleep. 

Sleep Avoidance

Trauma impacts sleep by causing individuals to have anxiety or hyperactive thoughts leading to sleep avoidance. Many individuals who hold trauma can suffer from insomnia which can make it difficult to get to sleep. The trauma can cause individuals to feel scared of sleep and what may haunt their dreams. Staying up late, watching shows to keep you awake, or partying into the early morning hours can be ways that trauma holders avoid nightmares. 

Changes In Your Sleep Structure

Your sleep structure or architecture makes up quality sleep. Deep sleep, REM sleep, and more are important to gaining the benefits of sleep. For sleep to be restorative, healing from trauma and other mental health issues can help. Taking medication or using sleep aids can help keep your sleep structure intact. 

The Effect On Emotional And Cognitive Function

Our sleep is the biggest contributor to emotional and cognitive function. Getting enough sleep can make problem-solving much easier. When sleep is limited, our brains struggle to manage irritability, anxiety, anger, and depression. Concentration and discernment are impacted when sleep deprivation is present which can be problematic in everyday life. 

Ways To Improve Your Sleep

Improving your sleep can be difficult when you struggle with mental health issues. Taking action to improve your quality of sleep can help during your healing journey and improve your overall health. Here are some ways to help limit trauma responses and get better quality sleep. 

Therapy

Seeking individual therapy is the best way to heal from mental health struggles. A therapist can help you see things with a new perspective, develop coping skills, and prescribe medications. Using talk therapy or cognitive methods can help reroute your thoughts to help you take control of your health. Finding the right therapist can help you better understand why the trauma occurred and that it is not your fault. 

Nighttime Routine

Establishing a nighttime sleep routine can help set your brain up for quality sleep. Create a schedule where you put your phone away about an hour before bed, participate in some self-care activities, limit caffeine, set up some white noise, and make your bed extra cozy. Making nighttime sleep more enticing can help limit traumas’ impact on sleep.

Medication

Sleep medication or SSRIs can help improve your sleep when dealing with trauma. While medication may not be enough on its own, combining it with therapy and meditation can help make falling asleep less of a chore. Many medications can reduce the likelihood of nightmares and promote relaxation. If you are not looking for prescription medication, many vitamins or melatonin can help induce better sleep. 

Trauma Therapy From Ogden Psychological Services

Many individuals will experience trauma at least once in their life. Abuse, car accidents, physical injury, illness, violence, death of a loved one, natural disasters, and abandonment are just some instances that can cause trauma. Our therapists can work with you to learn about different traumatic events in your life and formulate a personalized treatment method. When trauma impacts sleep, it starts to impact every facet of our lives.

Trauma treatment could be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Neurofeedback, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Reach out to our therapists to learn more about their specialties and get started on your healing journey today.

Going through a traumatic experience will result in trauma responses and other mental changes. Some survivors of trauma will develop mental illnesses or trauma triggers that can be debilitating. Working through your trauma is not an easy feat and should be done with the help of a licensed professional. 

Before you begin addressing trauma in therapy, it is important to find the right therapist. Finding one that specializes in trauma is most important, but you should also look for someone you feel comfortable with. Sharing these traumatic experiences can be emotionally taxing so it is important to find a therapist you can trust. In this blog, we will share how trauma is handled in therapy and some tips to help you open up during therapy sessions. 

Types Of Trauma Therapy

Since there are many different types of trauma, there are also different therapeutic approaches to addressing it. Here are some of the most common therapy practices for trauma.

• Prolonged Exposure: This therapy will expose the person to triggers or trauma in a controlled environment. This allows the body and brain to process what is happening to them. Prolonged exposure can also be looked at as facing your fears. 
• Cognitive Processing Therapy: Many trauma holders may believe that the trauma and its effects were based on their own actions. CPT helps to gain perspective on why the traumatic event happened and how you have changed since then. Processing complex emotions and using them as strengths can be done in Cognitive Processing Therapy. 
• Trauma focused CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a common therapy for those with mental illness. It focuses on changing negative thoughts and behaviors by reframing them in your brain. Trauma focused CBT will work to reframe the traumatic events and manage symptoms of stress and anxiety.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: Following rhythmic left and right eye movements can help release blocked emotions. The brain may experience amnesia or dissociation when trauma has occurred. It is hard to work through trauma when the brain has blocked it, so EMDR can help bring these emotions to the surface.
• Somatic Experiencing: This approach emphasizes connection between the body and the mind. Somatic Experiencing works on recognizing the bodies physical reactions to trauma, releasing stress from the body, and developing stability in the body and mind.

Techniques And Exposures

Inside of therapy practices, there are small practices or exposures that can be used to help treat trauma. Exposure therapy is often a way to help people overcome their triggers and learn more about why their brain processed the event as traumatic. 

Exposure therapy, imaginal exposure, and in-vivo exposure are all methods that are used during processing trauma. These exposures will help push patients out of their comfort zone and help them confront their fears. 

Other techniques that can be used for trauma patients include:

• Written account of the event or narrative around how you continue to handle the trauma
• Cognitive restructuring strategies
• Mindfulness or meditation practice
• Acupuncture
• Coping strategies for change
• Neurofeedback

Working Through Triggers

Knowing what fears you have and what triggers a trauma response is the first step in addressing trauma in therapy. Knowing your triggers can help you and your therapist to work through them in a controlled way. This can also help you to avoid them in daily life or face your fears to reframe how you feel about them. 

For example, if a person’s trauma revolves around water or drowning, they may have trouble bathing. A therapist could start by having the patient touch water during the session. A person may need to start with a ‘sponge bath’ and work their way up to a full shower again as they remind themselves that they are safe. 

Decrease Traumatic Stress

Our bodies hold on to trauma and stress, which can cause physical problems in the body. This can lead to pain in multiple parts of the body, difficulty sleeping, digestive issues, and more. Therapy can help reduce the stress in the body and provide a well-rounded healing for trauma patients. 

Tips For Addressing Trauma

Working through trauma is extremely difficult, but working with a therapist can help lessen the load. Learning in therapy is a process, so it is ok to go at a slower pace and face your fears on your timeline.

Go At Your Own Pace

The most important thing to remember when seeking therapy is to only focus on your progress. Comparing your journey to someone else’s is not a beneficial way to heal. Every person will experience emotions and situations differently, so comparing your reactions to trauma is not accurate. Work with your therapist to establish a pace that will still allow you to make progress. 

Set Boundaries

Even if you have decided to seek therapy for a traumatic event, you should never feel pressured to talk about a trauma memory. Gentle encouragement and providing a safe environment is the therapist’s job, they should not force you to confront it if you are not ready. Setting boundaries and creating goals with your therapist will help you address trauma in therapy without furthering your trauma. 

Try Different Ways Of Communication

If you are worried about talking about the trauma and reliving it, there may be alternative ways to express yourself. Using non-verbal strategies can help your therapist learn about how it affected you, without causing you too much distress. Some expression techniques could be art, sand trays, music, or hypnosis. 

Have A Support Group Outside Of Therapy

While a therapist is vital to your healing and trauma work, having friends and family who will support you outside of the session is also helpful. You don’t need to share all of your struggles with those close to you, but going out for lunch, taking a walk, or visiting a family member can be another type of healing on your journey. Feeling less alone can help you navigate the trauma therapy experience.

Trauma and PTSD can impact multiple aspects of your life. Dealing with the physical and emotional toll while fostering healthy relationships can be challenging. Working to form relationships can be difficult when someone has trust issues or memories of abuse. In this blog, we will discuss how PTSD can impact your communication and connection, and how you can improve your relationships. 

Emotional Distance

One of the biggest struggles that PTSD individuals deal with in relationships is emotional distance. Individuals can feel numb or detached after they experience extreme trauma. Making emotional connections can feel draining and it may be hard to connect with others on an intimate level. Those with PTSD may be nervous to talk about their trauma or difficult experiences, which can make it hard to form a legitimate intimate relationship. 

Working Through Trust Issues

Some PTSD patients will have been betrayed by someone close to them. It could be a family member, a partner, a parent, or a superior they trusted. PTSD causes trust issues for many people because it is so fragile. On the opposite side, partners may find it hard to trust someone with PTSD as they struggle to fully open up. Building new trust is a scary part of a relationship, so many couples may struggle amid other challenges in life. 

Educate Your Partner On Your Struggles

A relationship takes two people, so you will need to navigate the journey of PTSD together. Healing from PTSD can be a long and complicated process, that any partner will have to experience with you. 

Talking to your partner about how PTSD affects you and the symptoms you experience is a good place to start. Both partners can learn more about trauma and PTSD together and actively listen to each other’s feelings. Validation and open communication go a long way in helping you form a stronger relationship. 

Setting Boundaries

Respecting your partner can be hard when they struggle to open up. Each partner will need to set boundaries around triggers, symptoms, and their space. Boundaries can feel like a jab to the other partner, but they are essential to help keep your trust on a high level. Setting boundaries is challenging, so working with a couples therapist or individual therapy may be beneficial. 

Ways To Improve Your Relationship

Relationships are difficult, but there are many ways you can work to grow closer together. It may be more difficult to work with a person with PTSD, but working together can help both partners develop a stronger connection. 

Here are some tips to help improve your relationship when you are with someone with PTSD:

• Not seeing or treating the person like they have a permanent disability or are less than
• Learning about symptoms and struggles and understanding the other person
• Be open to attending social engagements on your own
• Work to develop healthy coping strategies with and without your partner
• Avoid being codependent with your partner
• Listen and communicate often with your partner
• Prioritize your self-care as well
• Work with a therapist 

PTSD And Trauma Therapy From Ogden Psychological Services

Ogden Psychological Services treats a lot of mental illnesses and helps patients develop coping skills. Our therapists can utilize modern therapy techniques or use neurofeedback to help restructure the brain wave patterns. No matter what you are struggling with, there is help and resources available. 
Those struggling with PTSD can work with a therapist and other resources to help them avoid negative triggers. Taking time for yourself and working on your healing journey will help improve all of the relationships in your life. Reach out to our therapists to get started today!