Trauma – Death comes near (Welch). An event that is more than we are prepared to handle at the time we experience it. A form of suffering that negatively shapes someone’s sense of identity and causes them to begin to constantly expect or brace against the worst. This category includes: any physical or sexual abuse, significant verbal or emotional abuse, exposure to an act of violence, experience of a disaster, a major loss, or similar experience (Hambrick).
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – the resulting prolonged emotional, relational, and spiritual disruption. Especially when we experience it in isolation. Here are some common manifestations of PTSD:
- intrusive re-experiencing of the event (flashbacks, bad dreams, feeling as if the event were presently occurring)
- persistent and crippling avoidance (of people, places, thoughts, or feelings associated with the trauma, sometimes with amnesia for important parts of it),
- increased arousal (insomnia, hypervigilance, or irritability/anger).
- Sense of helplessness, hopelessness
- Difficulty concentrating
- High levels of anxiety/depression
- Intense feelings of shame
- Strong desire to isolate. Emotional detachment. Trust issues.
- Constant feeling that the worst is about to happen. Paranoia.
- Tendency to interpret communication from others in a negative, pessimistic, uncharitable light (expect to be hurt by others, always attacked)
- Emotional numbing coping strategies like drinking, drugs, smoking, social media…to forget
- Overall – a difficulty making peace with your past. Desire to deny the past, try to forget it, pretend it didn’t happen or doesn’t impact you today.
- Unhealthy/unbiblical responses
- Suppressing it/Denying the pain/event
- Running to things in this world in order to cope with and numb the pain
- Anger at God – need to qualify this!
- Solution defined scripturally
- The key to healing from your trauma (making peace with the past) resides in believing the gospel…namely, trusting that God is good, just, and is for you. Through the cross He is your friend, not your enemy. This is how Job healed from his trauma.
3 Stages of Identity Formation After a Trauma: victim, survivor, steward.
- Victim – Foundation
- Honesty
- Lamenting
- Embrace and live near the compassion and sympathy of God
- Survivor – Horizontal Work
- Talk about your trauma with someone safe/godly
- If your trauma involves another person, are you willing to be biblical in your response to them?
- Survivor/Steward – Vertical Work
- Where is God in your thinking in all of this? Job 9
- Can you thank God for this trauma yet? 1 Thess 5:16-18
- Are you aware of any sin/idols this has uncovered that need to be repented of?
Resources
- Solomon, Curtis. I Have PTSD: Reorienting after Trauma (Ask the Christian Counselor)
- Strickland, Darby. Trauma: Caring for Survivors (Resources for Changing Lives)
- van der Kolk, Bessel . The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Caution: This is a secular book which is written from an evolutionary point of view. Nonetheless, it does have a lot of helpful data/observations regarding people with PTSD.
- Hambrick, Brad. PTSD Workbook and videos.