New Seasons
Your mental health may vary as new seasons come and go. While spring and summer can represent a new beginning for some, they can also evoke a range of unfavorable feelings in others. Continuing to invest in yourself, practice self-care, and be gratitude can be a great start to overcoming those challenging emotions.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, practicing gratitude and self-appreciation techniques can help the reduction in depressive symptoms. Practicing gratitude methods can also reduce the feelings of stress and anxiety. A single act of thoughtful gratitude can make a big difference.
Start participating in gratitude acts. Start with a journal. Write it all down in a notebook or pad. It is helpful to jot down a few things you are thankful for each day. It can then develop into something therapeutic as you make observations and reflections that can make you feel appreciative when you are having a hard time. Make a list of things that made you smile, or write about four things you are grateful for and utilize every day.
Invest into you. Make the greatest decisions for your mental well-being and look for support systems that can help you feel better and heal. Seek out for professional help as well.
At Invisible Wounds Therapy and Wellness, we understand that mental health and wellness are crucial components of overall wellbeing. We offer services for individuals who struggle with trauma and anxiety.
Our therapists, Rebecca Schaffner, Eygpt Buie, Adria Grey, and Zacharia Kabia are here to help you on your healing journey. All therapists’ have special training in anxiety or trauma treatment.
We prioritize your healing journey. Our team of therapists: Rebecca Schaffner, Eygpt Buie, Adria Grey, and Zacharia Kabia are here to offer support.
Rebecca’s Specialties:
First Responder Issues
PTSD
Anxiety
Egypt’s Specialties:
Anxiety
Depression
GREEK (sorority/fraternity) trauma
Adria’ Specialties:
Depression
Anxiety
Military Trauma
Zacharia’s Specialties:
Substance Use Disorders
Trauma
Mood disorders
Start your journey to a healthier and happier life.
The Holidays
The holidays may bring up old wounds that haven't quite healed for some people.
Trauma is the emotional, physical or cognitive reaction as a result of a distressing or disturbing situation that you may have experienced. Trauma is defined as "an emotional response to a traumatic incident," or anything that has caused a negative impact.
Stress and Trauma
The stress or trauma around the holidays is not just about the money and/or gifts. Holidays near the end of the year can be particularly unpleasant for victims of abuse because they frequently trigger painful memories and may worsen symptoms that potentially can negatively affect family dynamics. Stressors may resurface at this time of year due to the numerous emotions associated with gatherings and customs.
Setting up a support system before the holidays is an essential first step in managing high emotions. While your past trauma is beyond your control, you may be able to recognize your emotions, identify your triggers and find helpful ways to combat those prior to engaging in a potentially upsetting situation. You may also want to plan for a “safe person” to spend time with prior, during and/ or after spending the holiday with friends, family, or on your own.
To battle emotions of sadness, trauma survivors may need extra encouragement to exercise self-care during this time.
Loneliness
It's common to experience loneliness during the holiday season. Because loneliness is an emotion, you don't have to ignore it just because it makes you feel awful. All of our emotions provide us with useful information. Even if it might not be the most enjoyable situation, learning to be present with, observe or “sit with” it could teach you more.
Writing down your thoughts and feelings in a journal is a terrific way to be aware of your emotions. It may also be a cathartic release, which can help you focus on how you want to take care of yourself.
Trauma In The Workplace
Workplace Trauma
The increasing emotional strain in the workplace can impact our mental health.Trauma can happen in any employment industry from professionals, healthcare workers, first responders, and caregivers. Stress at work can exacerbate your mental health symptoms as well as lead to anxiety or depression.
For instance, first responders can suffer inadequate or low staffing, working long shifts, and exposure to everyday trauma, making it increasingly more difficult to find a calm head-space while at work and at home. Encountering frequent critical occurrences, exposes first responders to emotional, cognitive, and behavioral struggles that can impair their ability to perform their jobs and function how they desire in their home- life. The signs of anxiety disorders include hypervigilance, anxiety, detachment, intrusive thoughts, poor attention, isolation, and restlessness and may also lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as addictive behaviors. Additionally, some first responders struggle with microaggressions, passive-aggressive behavior, or workplace bullying.
Microaggression
Microaggressions are insensitive remarks, inquiries, or assumptions directed at socially and marginalized disadvantaged groups, and can affect anyone from any background and at any professional level.
Communities or identities that can be targeted include, but are not limited to:
- Race
- Gender
- Age
- Sexual orientation
- Disability
Some examples of microaggression:
“Wow, you're a lot different from other Black firefighters.”
“No offense sweetheart, but I would feel safer with a male [police] partner.”
“You’re over 40 year old, are you adequate for this job?”
Microaggressions can have a big impact since they fundamentally represent inequity and show disrespect; they should be treated seriously.
Passive-Aggression
Passive-aggressive behavior is an indirect form of resistance, in which a person appears to comply with the expectations and needs of others but resists them through behaviors like manipulation, inaction, or playing dumb. This behavior is common among employers and coworkers. It is a tacit but powerful method of avoiding the results of an open discussion and direct disclosure of a problem.
Some cases of passive-aggressive behaviors:
Deciding against taking any action that could stop a problem from happening
Befriending you and other co-workers, but spread rumors about them
Being dismissive about suggestions or ideas
Workplace Bullying
The constant torment is a defining feature of workplace bullying. It may affect your life, job, and even physical and mental health. Additionally, because of many power dynamics and hierarchies at work, many victims of bullying endure their suffering in silence.
Another option is more overt bullying, such as belittling, humiliating, and shunning someone in public. Regardless of the methods employed, office bullies are typically adept social manipulators who advance at work by intimidating others.
Some examples of workplace bullying:
Persistent teasing and pranks that clearly go beyond that of affectionately including someone as “just one of the guys”
Holding targeted officers to higher, even impossible, standards of performance than the rest
Ways for overcoming trauma at work:
Give yourself room to finally experience all of your feelings.
Take a break. Giving yourself time to recuperate is the first step in getting over a distressing professional event.
Report to human resources about the possible discrimination or harassment and how it impacts your work and day- day life.
Seek out the assistance of close friends, family, and professionals in your place of employment.
What is trauma?
What is trauma?
Trauma is the emotional, physical or cognitive reaction as a result of a distressing or disturbing situation that you may have experienced. Although, learning about an horrific event or witnessing it can be enough to feel overwhelming. When people think about trauma and its definition, the initial thought is believed that trauma only occurs as a result of abuse or a natural disaster. At Invisible Wounds Therapy and Wellness, we define trauma as "anything that has had a negative impact on you," acknowledging that no experience is too big or too small to deserve healing.
Understanding trauma, its triggers, and how to recover and manage it is critical. Trauma can transform the way a person views themselves, others, and the environment around them. Everyone's emotional, physical or cognitive response is different and the factors that influence it are distinct. Trauma can occur in adults as well as in children. Traumatic incidents can occur at any age and can have long-term consequences. While we can often “bounce- back” from experiences that have left a negative impact on us, without support, or left untreated, it can turn into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other “clinical” concerns such as depression or anxiety.
There are three categories of trauma: acute, chronic, and complex. Acute trauma is often caused by a single “recent” occurrence (often within the last 3 months). If the trouble you are experiencing as a result of it is left unsupported and untreated, it can lead to chronic trauma (reactions or symptoms lasting 3 months or more). Complex trauma is often the result of multiple exposures of “negatively impacting events,” within a short time- frame or life- time. For instance, childhood abuse or neglect.
First responders, for example, can suffer from chronic trauma and may be subject to complex trauma as a result of their life-experiences as well as demanding and dangerous work environments. According to National Alliance on Mental Illness, “it’s estimated that 18-24% of dispatchers and 35% of police officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder”. Being the first to arrive on the scene, putting their life at risk and assisting people in challenging situations over long periods of time, including possible lack of sleep and self- care, can be very taxing.
The same is true for caregivers who may experience caregiver burnout or compassion fatigue, resulting in physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. Caregivers may witness traumatic incidents such as a loved one's medical emergency, repeated hospital emergency room and ICU visits, acute confusion, or devastating falls and injuries. These events can also be classified as a form of trauma. Caregiver burnout occurs when stressed caregivers do not receive the help they require, or when they attempt to do more than they are capable of, resulting in a shift in feelings from caring to compassion fatigue, a type of stress caused by caring for others. Unlike burnout, compassion fatigue strikes immediately leading to emotional and physical exhaustion and grows over time.
While all of the stress and traumatic events are occurring, it is best to seek help and healing.
Being honest with yourself, seeking support from family and friends and ultimately a professional can begin the step to healing. If you find yourself reacting more quickly than is helpful, experience difficulty sleeping, over or under- eating, nightmares, find yourself sad, isolating or very irritable, and often “triggered,” we encourage you to seek help. In therapy, the goal isn’t to judge or to discriminate, but to offer a safe space for you, a platform to process your history and a way to learn how to manage and experience well-being.