Newsletter August 2020

Newsletter August 2020

A trauma informed view looking at the last few months

Cultural Trauma and Covid 19

Cultural trauma is an attack on the fabric of society, affecting the essence of the community and its members.

Experiences of being helpless, alone, stuck and at the mercy of unpredictable forces.

We all have been affected by it!

It is not an individual failing, but a natural response and we are all impacted but respond in different ways.

It is understandable we might experience denial, become suspicious about our self and others and surprised by our own behaviour, emotions and thoughts.

• Sleep difficulties?
• Felt numb and disconnected?
• Have to adapt to new roles and responsibilities home and work?
• Eat, drunk or self-medicate to cope?
• Spent long time isolated and alone?
• Worried about the wellbeing of loved ones?
• Have you been a key worker and had to expose yourself daily to repeated trauma?
• Financial difficulties?
• Loss of job?
• Loss of close ones?

Isolation, abrupt change and unpredictability might have triggered trauma responses in us, and past trauma might have been as well reactivated.

Although we are generally striving in living a balanced and meaningful life, when trauma kicks in, we no longer have a full sense of control and as we feel powerless, we get in unwanted situations:

• Domestic abuse, family conflicts, violence anger, sexual violence
• Negative and critical self-talk and as result guilt, shame and blame
• Abuse of substances or food, lack of exercise and health deterioration
• Hurt, sadness and withdrawn from activities, depression
• Anxiety and avoidance of activities that are perceived as a treat
• Feeling stuck, loss of perspective and emotional pain and despair
• Disconnection from others and lack of initiative to call for help

Different cultures respond differently, different people respond differently, but in essence we are all having a natural response to powerlessness and this is out of our control.

Sorry for a dark insight into our own very human nature, but it important to acknowledge it so we can work with it and strive to transmute this in resilience, strength and ultimately regain that sense of control and emotional wellbeing.

A few tips here for you

Emotions are there for us! They are not supposed to be denied, believed, or acted upon. We have to accept them and listen to what message they try to give us, as they use a different language.

We are driven by two main inner forces, love and fear.

They are both there with us, helping us to keep safe and enjoy life.

They shelter within our window of tolerance, helping us to be comfortable, safe and function.

Love is helping us to care about ourselves and others and enjoy life.

Anxiety helps us to survive, stress is helping us to thrive, anger helps us to release frustrations and so on.

Becoming powerless, exacerbates the negative emotions within us and we go in an exclusive survival mode, when our logical mind has very little control.

This is a natural process and happens to everyone.

In threatening situations, we go out of our window of tolerance and then our emotions can work against us!

Therefore, it is important to regain control as soon as possible and for this we have to cultivate awareness, self-compassion and use helpful pocket tools.

Recognise trauma responses and get back in control

• Fight: Argumentative, angry, aggressive, confrontational, unable to concentrate, controlling, demanding, inflexible
• Flight: Hyperactive, manic, running away, hiding, can’t follow rules, lonely
• Freeze: Distracted, not listening, wide eyed, pupils might dilate, confused, forgetful, scanning the room
• Flop: Unhappy, low mood, alone, withdrawn, quiet, passive, compliant, not drawing unnecessary attention

Tools to get back into the window of tolerance

• Get yourself back into here and now using grounding techniques *
• Practice Mindfulness
• Exercise your body
• Anchor yourself in the present if traumatic memories pop up
• Own your feelings and experiences, accept them with compassion
• Mark traumatic memories as over

* Grounding techniques. Use your 5 senses to bring yourself into here and now. Sight – Taste – Smell – Sound – Touch.

Helpful attitudes of mind

• Keep things in perspective, look at the big picture
• Stimulate and encourage your curiosity for new
• Keep up towards your goals, make adjustments
• Learn new ways of doing and thinking
• Look for opportunities of self-discovery
• Stay connected with others, even if just online or phone
• Create and keep a daily routine
• Make sure you have leisure and relaxed time
• Be kind with each other and connect
• Communicate and spend time with family, friends and people who inspire you
• Observe and challenge your thoughts

A video about emotions: https://youtu.be/SJOjpprbfeE.

Observe, analyse and challenge your thoughts

Recognise the Negative Automatic Thoughts:

• automatic – they just “pop up” without effort on your part
• distorted – they do not fit the facts
• unhelpful – they keep you low in mood/frightened/depressed and make it difficult to change
• plausible – it does not occur to you to question them
• involuntary – they can be very difficult to switch off

Challenge them by asking yourself the following questions:

• What is the evidence? Do the facts of the situation back up what we think, or do they contradict it?
• What is the effect of thinking the way I do? How does it influence how you feel and what you do? What are the advantages and disadvantages of thinking this way? Can you find an alternative which will have a more positive effect?
• What alternative views are there? There are many different ways to look at any experience. How else could you interpret what has happened? Get as many alternatives as you can and review the evidence for and against them. Which alternative is more likely to be correct?
• What thinking errors are you making? When people have experienced stress or trauma it can change the way they think. They jump to conclusions, over-generalise from specific experiences, take responsibility for what is not their fault, and so on. Which of these errors can you find in your thinking?