Understanding PTSD

PTSD AND YOU

What Exactly Is PTSD?

Trauma impacts everyone in a different way. Post-traumatic stress disorder is not an indication of how “strong” or “weak” you are. It’s simply a reflection of your natural attempts to process what’s going on. This condition forms when a traumatic event, such as abuse, violence or a disaster, overwhelms your ability to manage it — and that capacity is different for everyone. Even seemingly less significant events can have a profound and painful impact on you.

PTSD often co-occurs with addiction and other mental health disorders. This condition can also lead to addiction, as trauma sufferers sometimes use alcohol and other substances to self-soothe painful symptoms and emotions.

Trauma is stored in the body, relived in the mind and held captive in the soul. This is why PTSD has physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual effects. Releasing past trauma is essential to a whole-person recovery process.

BODY

Our bodies contain a record of everything that’s ever happened to us. To heal the physical aspects of trauma, you must release it from where it’s held on a cellular level.

Through detoxification and a healthy diet, we help to encourage healthy serotonin production. We also provide movement therapies and bodywork to help you physically let go of trauma.

MIND

To get beyond managing symptoms, you must understand what’s causing them. Most things that drive behaviors and patterns in your life reside in your subconscious mind — including unresolved traumas, wounds and dysfunctional beliefs. To heal these, we have to access the subconscious parts of the mind and bring them into the light. Once you're aware, you can process deep-seated trauma in talk therapy and start to feel better.

SOUL

The soul is our essence — our truest and most authentic nature. It’s who we are before all of our wounds, traumas and addictions. Your soul is where you derive your meaning.

Experiences of trauma can teach you that it’s not safe to be yourself. That it’s not okay to express who you truly are. When that happens, you begin to separate from that essential self.