Recovery
A Closer Look at what’s involved with Recovering from Toxic Stress, Trauma and Complex Trauma.
Getting Started
1.
Consider Your Symptoms and Struggles as they Might Relate to Toxic Stress, Trauma or Complex Trauma.
2.
Consider Your Stakes. Find reasons to move away from the negative consequences, and towards the many benefits.
3.
Think about the Recovery Changes you want and the Support that would be most helpful.
4.
5.
Start the Counselling Process.
Breakthroughs that Support Recovery
Recovery from Toxic Stress, Trauma and Complex Trauma is not a given simply because the overwhelming circumstances end or time passes.
Recovery is the result of recognition, support, processing, seeing things differently and practicing the right things consistently enough through time that transformation starts to happen.
Recovery is more effective than ever because of SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGHS in our understanding.
We know the brain is plastic and how to use the principles of neuroplasticity to slowly practice differently and change how it is functioning.
We know how the nervous system and its survival hierarchy works and how to support and resolve distress and dysregulation.
We know toxic stress, trauma and complex trauma become stored in the far reaches of the nervous system throughout the body and require somatic attending and release.
We know moral distress, unfairness, betrayal, and/or grief are often part of toxic stress, trauma and complex trauma and need to be mindfully attended to.
We know about the circumstances that can result in toxic stress, trauma and complex trauma relative to different: ages, types of relationships, settings, systemic and social issues.
We know how and where traumatic memory and subconscious emotional learning is encapsulated and stored in the brain and how to process them.
We know regulation and attachment are disrupted in childhood by toxic stress, trauma and complex trauma and how to support their repair.
We know how the SELF can lose worthiness and efficacy and can even become fragmented or filled with shame in an effort to survive and how to help restore this.
We know trauma alters the brain: prefrontal cortex, larger amygdala, attentional bias to threat, reduced right-left brain communication, default mode network stuck in past. This knowing supports rewiring efforts.
We know how toxic stress and trauma can lead to dysregulation of neurotransmitters in the brain e.g., GABA, serotonin, dopamine etc. This knowing supports understanding and responsiveness.
We know how people cope is rooted in brain changes and attempts to deal with internal distress from toxic stress, trauma and complex trauma. This knowing supports compassionate assistance to find healthier solutions.
We know the adaptations people take on to survive toxic stress, trauma and complex trauma e.g., people pleasing, caretaking, self-reliance and how to help recognize and shift into more balanced ways of being.
Recovery and it’s Roadmap
It can be hard to differentiate what’s involved in recovery and where it starts and stops.
Having a roadmap for this is especially helpful.
While the table is linear for ease of understanding, recovery is anything but. Recovery is a messy and elegant multi-related and multi-directional journey through phases and areas. Recovery in any one area starts to shift functioning in the other areas.
The Recovery Roadmap has four phases and typically six areas of focus with different involvement depending on the level of severity (toxic stress, compared to trauma and complex trauma).
There are lots of possible ways to depict recovery from Toxic Stress, Trauma and Complex Trauma, this is but one.
STABILIZATION (first phase) focuses on accessing safety and learning to be real and responding rather than avoiding or reacting.
PROCESSING (second phase) involves moving through stressful-traumatic material until it is an integrated part of your story.
DEVELOPMENT (third phase) involves expanding the self and your abilities including with a healthy lifestyle to better relate with life in self-supportive ways.
MOVING FORWARD (last phase) involves a pulling all of the changes through into your larger life in a manner than reinforces and integrates recovery.
TOXIC STRESS RECOVERY
Stress response activation is a normal, healthy, although complex neurophysiological process that happens automatically and by design in the brain and body in response to perceived or actual, internal or external demands and dangers (stressors).
When stress response activation continues in the brain and body for an extended period for whatever reason, it is very hard (toxic) on the individual and the various areas of life. The nervous system becomes dysregulated and no longer able to move out of the stress response activation. It can lead to a variety of stress related conditions such as burnout, compassion fatigue, anxiety, depression, and addictions. It can also contribute to physical problems like heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity, type II diabetes, sleep problems, reproductive issues, inflammatory and immune system issues.
Recovering involves working with the effects and processes of toxic stress that can result in burnout, and compassion fatigue such as:
- returning to nervous system regulation.
- challenging and updating unhelpful thinking patterns.
- shifting survival based or limiting belief systems.
- moving through and resolving moral and spiritual questioning and distress.
- dealing with unrecognized and unprocessed grief and loss.
- adjusting and improving lifestyle factors, self-care and coping skills.
- improving and widening social supports.
TRAUMA RECOVERY
When stress response activation occurs in response to extreme conditions of danger to safety, security and survival, trauma can be the result.
Trauma is far more common than most people realize. And because of how the brain works, much of it is stored subconsciously (meaning beyond our conscious awareness). We often see the effects but are not readily able to grasp the connection to underlying trauma as root cause unless the symptoms occur on the heels of significant, and known event(s) that threatens safety, survival or security and is regarded as being likely to overwhelm.
The effects impact the brain and basic functioning, often significantly, as well as our ability to relate and create consciously with ourselves, others and the larger world. Individuals can become compromised by the many potential effects of trauma.
Recovery involves working with the typical effects of toxic stress (above) as well as the processes of trauma including:
- addressing intrusive symptoms like distressing memories.
- reducing arousal and reactivity symptoms.
- shifting avoidance symptoms.
- resolving numbing, suppression and dissociative symptoms.
COMPLEX TRAUMA RECOVERY
When there is prolonged on a prolonged and repeated exposure to traumatic events, often of an interpersonal nature, complex trauma is the common result.
Recovery involves working with the typical effects of toxic stress and trauma (above) as well as the additional effects and processes of complex types of trauma including:
- resolving issues with coherent identity, sense of self and/or negative self concept.
- shifting tendencies of self-abandonment and practicing self-care and support.
- addressing alterations in attention and consciousness, including dissociation.
- resolving emotion regulation difficulties and increasing emotional intelligence.
- establishing a lack of mind-body and mind-spirit relationship.
- shifting patterns of learned helplessness or poor efficacy.
- eliminating self-harm and/or suicidal thoughts, plans, attempts.
- dealing with addictions and other means of managing internal distress.
- healing from issues with attachment/insecure attachment that are impairing the development of healthy, reciprocal relationships.
- reducing the presence of somatic distress/somatization of Illness, chronic Illnesses and pain conditions e.g., migraines, GI problems, autoimmune disorders, chronic fatigue, obesity, heart disease etc.
