In our culture there is a lot of misinformation about trauma, what it is and how it can be treated. First, trauma doesn’t affect you because of “what happened,” it’s because of the way the nervous system responds and tries to protect us. How you experience something is specific to each individual. Something that traumatizes one person may empower someone else. When one’s system has experienced threat or has felt greatly overwhelmed, a range of symptoms may develop as problems unless the high level of activation gets properly discharged through the body.
The idea that symptoms of PTSD never really go away but can only be managed is false
The treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder traditionally has included immersion therapy, medication, counseling, or behavior-modification approaches, which can be lengthy, emotionally exhausting and often end with disappointing results. Trauma happens because of disregulation of the nervous system. When our natural self-healing responses have been interrupted or damaged is when we experience symptoms of trauma. The misconception that trauma is a disorder of the mind is what keeps us convinced that trauma isn’t curable. That’s not entirely true. It is curable but not by psychology alone, because it isn’t a mental problem. To achieve true resolution of trauma the nervous system must be addressed and healed.
Read Van Horn’s entire article on this topic.