You thought you had moved on. The years had gone by, life had pushed you onward, and the difficult times seemed far behind you. Then something brought it all rushing back.
Trauma is not necessarily proclaimed when it occurs.
To most individuals, it is only many years or decades later that the actual weight of a painful experience would be understood.
The smell of things, a song, a life change, a still moment can go back through time and bring up feelings that you had forgotten were there.
One of the most significant steps in the healing process is to comprehend why such a thing occurs.
This post will guide you through why past trauma comes back, what to be on the lookout for, and the actual steps that you can take to help you start feeling like yourself once again.
Why Does Old Trauma Return So Many Years Later?
One question that arises is, why then, is it happening to me now, when I survived it and continued?
The solution is in the way the brain and the body receive painful experiences, and it usually has little or nothing to do with being weak or not resilient.
The Brain Stores Trauma Differently Than Ordinary Memories
In case of something that is deeply threatening or overwhelming, the brain’s fear center takes over.
Since the situation requires it to be survival of the fittest, the experience is not encoded and stored as a normal memory.
That is why trauma memories may be so realistic and physical despite the long period of time that passes.
Such accumulated experiences do not just pass away. They remain within the nervous system, awaiting a signal that appears close enough to catalyze them.
When this signal is received, the body reacts as though the original event is occurring at this moment.
Suppression Is Not the Same as Healing
A lot of individuals overcome painful situations by pushing.
You continue to work, continue taking care of others, continue to appear.
This type of resilience is present and relevant. Going on is not equal to what has happened being processed.
This emotional load remains unprocessed and usually tagged under the carpet, usually kept at bay by business, habit, or need.
That repressed pain finds an outlet when life decelerates, when there are significant changes, or when your ability to hold it all together is put to the test.
Common Triggers That Bring Old Wounds Back to the Surface
The triggers are particular events, senses, or situations that trigger a trauma reaction.
They can be explicit, such as news stories of something that resonates with your own experience, or they can be implicit in their manifestations that can only be realized over time.
The most common triggers are:
- Significant life changes like retirement, divorce, parental death, or child departure.
- Changes in relationships that contain the echoes of the initial trauma.
- Sensations such as a certain sound, smell, or place are associated with the initial occurrence.
- Special occasions or birthdays that put the past in sharp focus.
- There is less busyness or a sudden state of calmness that eliminates the distraction of habit.
- News, movies or discussions that relate to anything that happened to you.
- Physical disease or a health alarm that makes one feel vulnerable.
- Turning into a parent or even a grandparent and having your childhood recollected.
The act of identifying your personal triggers is not one to escape life.
It is being familiar with your own nervous system so that you can be able to respond attentively instead of being disoriented.
Signs That Past Trauma May Be Resurfacing
Re-experiencing trauma is not necessarily manifested in tears and obvious suffering. It may manifest itself in silent, inexplicable manners that have no relation to anything you can describe.
These are some of the signs that should be considered.
Emotional Signs
- Sudden depressions, anger, or sadness that do not appear to be appropriate to the current situation
- Being numb or not connected to things and people that you once liked
- Anxiety that comes suddenly and intensely, and its cause cannot be identified
- The feeling of shame or worthlessness that just does not resolve to any current events
- The belief that something awful is going to occur even in situations when nothing is happening
Physical Signs
- Difficulty falling asleep and remaining asleep, recurring nightmares, and sleep disturbances
- Physical tension of an unexplainable nature, especially in the chest, shoulders, or even the jaw
- Headaches, dizziness, or stomach aching, which lack an apparent medical explanation
- Excessive startle reflex, in which common sounds or movements are frightening
- Being physically frozen or physically inability to move at stressful times
Behavioral Signs
- Giving up on social situations and associations that were once comfortable
- The use of more alcohol, food, work, or other distracters as a coping mechanism for hard feelings
- Staying out of some places, people, or even discussions that cause you to recall the traumatic event unconsciously
- Inability to focus or make choices, even concerning small things
- Being out of character and easily irritated or reactive to things that do not ordinarily bother you
Reviving trauma does not imply that you did not have a healing process. It is that your nervous system still has something worthy of actual attention, and of which you can work with the proper assistance.
Why Mid-Life and Later Life Are Particularly Common Times for Trauma to Return
There is a reason therapists and researchers see a significant rise in trauma-related symptoms among people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.
Several factors converge during these years, making old wounds more likely to resurface.
- This is why therapists and researchers anticipate that the number of trauma-related symptoms is growing tremendously among individuals in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and later. There are several reasons that succeed in coming together at these years and result in the likelihood of old wounds becoming renewed.
- Life begins to slow down. The hectic nature of child raising, career making, or even surviving through the tough times of young adulthood may make it hard for emotions to remain at a manageable distance. As soon as that speed is slowed, the emotions thus repressed begin to creep in.
- Loss becomes more frequent. The death of parents, peers, or physical vitality may bring about older, raw grief. The stratifications of the loss layer are on top of each other.
- Identity shifts. Retirement, empty nest, or a health diagnosis can strip away the roles and routines that gave structure to daily life. In the absence of such anchors, there are further questions about the past that are inclined to appear.
- The body keeps the score. The weakness of the entire body that comes with later-life physical health issues replicates the helplessness experienced with previous trauma.
- Time and safety are at last to feel. Ironically, it is because a certain number of individuals are in a stable enough position to allow trauma to resurface in later life. The nervous system kept things together as long as they had to be. It is now seeking a solution.
How to Respond When Past Trauma Resurfaces
When old pain reappears, the urge is to push it down, ignore it, or take embarrassment over the fact that it is even happening to you.
However, how you react during these times plays a big role in whether the trauma will further define your life as part of the background or it will start to lose its grip.
Start by Acknowledging What You Are Feeling
This is not an easy thing to say, and many individuals find it really difficult to do it.
To label what you are feeling without condemning yourself to feel it is the first step to recovery. There is no necessity to explain it or justify it.
All that you need to do is accept the fact that it exists.
Some real-life applications of starting this process:
- Take a little journal in which you record what you are experiencing and what circumstances appear to trigger it.
- Confide in someone and tell them what you are experiencing, without necessarily telling everything.
- Allowing oneself to experience one should be allowed without immediately attempting to correct the experience.
Understand That This Is a Signal, Not a Setback
Revival of trauma can be like taking a step backward.
In fact, the reverse is not the case. When ancient wounds are finally brought to the surface, many find that they have accumulated sufficient inner stability to do so.
Reach Out for Professional Support
The traumatic experience that has been lived in the nervous system over years or decades does not normally solve itself with the use of willpower or even time.
Having an experienced mental health professional helps you with a guided and encouraging environment to work through the events and acquire mechanisms to control your reaction to them.
Effective, evidence-based approaches for trauma include:
- Individual therapy focused on trauma processing and emotional regulation
- Trauma-informed approaches that address both the emotional and physiological dimensions of the experience
- Psychiatric evaluation when symptoms are significantly affecting daily functioning, sleep, or overall wellbeing
- Family therapy when the ripple effects of trauma are impacting your closest relationships
You do not need to have a crisis-level experience to benefit from professional support. If old pain is affecting your quality of life, that is reason enough to seek help.
What Healing Actually Looks Like
The process of healing resurfaced trauma is not usually a smooth sail.
One day you will feel like you are making some headway, and the next day you will feel like you have taken a step backwards to the start.
Both are part of the process.
You can still remember what has happened, yet you no longer feel that it is happening at this very moment.
Your nervous system gets to know that the danger has been removed. Your body learns to settle.
And that in yourself which endured something, starts to occupy more space than the harm itself.
Individuals who do their work through the resurfaced trauma frequently claim to have found something that was not anticipated on the other side of the trauma: they know themselves better, and they are more compassionate.
That type of healing can be done. At any age.
Get Support
At Compassionate Healthcare & Wellness Center in Richmond, VA, we specialize in creating a safe and culturally sensitive space where adults at every stage of life can process old wounds and build a more peaceful present.
Whether you are navigating grief, anxiety, relationship strain or something you have never been able to name, our licensed clinicians are here to listen.
Schedule a Consultation:
www.chwellnesscenter.com
Phone: 804-234-3568
Email: Info@chwellnesscenter.com
2112 W Laburnum Ave., Suite 109, Richmond, VA 23227