How to Figure Out What Your Trauma Is
We’ve been talking about trauma therapy this month, and you may have wondered- do I have trauma? And if I do, what kind of trauma do I have?
This topic can be very overwhelming to tackle, so we want to provide you with a starting point. Woven Together Trauma Therapy focuses on working with trauma, so we have created some resources to assist you in your healing journey. The first resource is our trauma quiz.
After trauma, you might experience the following:
Frequent obsessive thoughts about the trauma you experienced
Dreams, nightmares, or flashbacks about a traumatic event
A sudden shift in your worldview, believing that most things are bad and most people have bad intentions
Avoiding all reminders of your trauma, including people, places, smells, and similar circumstances
Shutting down when things feel stressful because life feels too overwhelming most of the time
Difficulty having functional relationships because of the ever-present sense of lack of safety with others
You might also experience symptoms like:
Upset stomach
Sweaty palms or underarms
Foggy thoughts or frequent dissociation
Depression and anxiety
Getting easily sidetracked with reminders of your trauma
Racing and un-welcomed thoughts
Unexplained physical symptoms
Our trauma quiz provides a simple way to see if you have symptoms of trauma and which symptoms apply to you.
Once you take the trauma quiz, you may have a sense of why you are experiencing these symptoms, or you might be uncertain of the source of your trauma.
Some common causes of trauma:
Sexual assault or sexual abuse
Near-death experiences
Cults or high-control religious groups
Hate and discrimination
Intimate Partner Violence
Physical abuse
Mental abuse
Refugee abuse
Spending time in self-reflection might help you connect some dots between your life experiences and your current experiences.
Some helpful prompts to start with:
Who were the most influential people in my life?
What life events have shaped me?
What are some times that I remember people crossing my boundaries?
Have I had any near-death experiences?
Have I experienced abuse in any of my relationships?
Have I experienced any Adverse Childhood Experiences?
Sometimes talking to trusted people can also help us identify traumatic experiences. We might share stories of what we think were normal, and receive a response of shock that helps notify us that what we went through was not normal.
You can also start therapy before knowing the cause of your trauma. We understand wanting to identify the source of the trauma so that you can find a therapist who specializes in the trauma that you’ve experienced, but sometimes that isn’t possible. Working with a therapist can help you get to the root of what’s going on.
Another resource that Woven has created is our Religious Trauma Quiz. This quiz helps you look through your symptoms to see if they align with religious trauma symptoms.
Do you wonder if your trauma symptoms might be related to your religious/church experience?
If you find yourself asking questions like:
Do I have religious trauma?
Did my church traumatize me?
What are religious trauma symptoms?
Was my church/religious organization toxic?
Our Religious Trauma Quiz can help you figure out if you’ve experienced religious trauma.
Next week, we’ll be sharing blog articles from our therapists about their niches and approaches to healing. These articles can be another source of information to learn more about different types of trauma.
Interested in learning more about our unique approach to trauma therapy?
These blogs talk more about the basics of EMDR:
You can read more about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy here: