Summary: Trauma-informed massage therapy is an approach to practice and not a massage technique. It's built upon four principles: trauma awareness, safety and trust, collaborative choice and connection, and strength-based skill-building.
Trauma massage therapy can alleviate pain by releasing muscle tension and improving blood circulation. Improves Mental Health This therapy can significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The physical touch and relaxation techniques help calm the nervous system and improve mental well-being.
It starts by establishing safety and trust. Over time, the therapist and individual work together by processing or exposing traumatic experiences. Throughout therapy, the individual may learn how to understand their trauma, build healthy coping mechanisms, and begin to heal from the past.
Mindfulness and relaxation techniques
Meditation encourages relaxation and mindfulness, helping individuals process and release trauma. Breathing exercises, such as deep breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, or box breathing, can calm the nervous system and reduce stress through deep breath.
The process of addressing trauma in therapy can be emotionally taxing, requiring people to confront and unpack painful memories. It's not uncommon for those beginning therapy to feel overwhelmed or even re-traumatized initially.
The Cons of Trauma Therapy
Emotional Discomfort: Delving into traumatic experiences can be emotionally painful and challenging, especially in the initial stages of therapy. However, this can get easier over time. Time-Consuming: The process of trauma therapy can be lengthy, requiring commitment and patience.
Trauma is not physically held in the muscles or bones — instead, the need to protect oneself from perceived threats is stored in the memory and emotional centers of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala. This activates the body whenever a situation reminds the person of the traumatic event(s).
Crying or Laughing: Unexpected bouts of crying or laughter can be a physical sign your body is releasing trauma. These emotional releases are natural and therapeutic. Mood Swings: Fluctuations in mood, such as feeling elated one moment and sad the next, can indicate that deep-seated emotions are being processed.
Emotional blocks can have physical manifestations. Chronic stress or emotional suppression can lead to headaches, fatigue, and other physical ailments. For instance, a person dealing with unresolved grief may experience physical symptoms like body aches or digestive issues, further complicating their emotional health.
Trauma dumping: With trauma dumping, you overshare difficult or intimate personal information without the other person's consent or during inappropriate times. You don't consider how your words impact the listener, and you're not open to advice or solutions.
Overall, PE, CPT and EMDR are the most highly recommended treatments for PTSD and have strong evidence bases. Components of these treatments have been combined with other interventions, with no support for improved benefits over the standard treatments alone.
The hips serve as a storage facility for emotional tension, stress, and trauma. Due to our sedentary lifestyles, poor posture, and emotional suppression, many individuals accumulate tension in the hip region. The hip muscles, particularly the psoas muscle, are notorious for harboring emotional stress.
Created by Gunilla Hamne and Ulf Sandstrom, the Trauma Tapping Technique is considered first aid for trauma. It is easy to learn and has the advantage of being primarily non-verbal. The process is a neurological intervention that helps the body quickly re-regulate itself should it get triggered or activated.
Common Physical Reactions: Toxins and Inflammation
This process can cause flu-like symptoms such as pain, muscle soreness, headache, nausea, and fatigue. Feeling weak and shaky after a massage can also be attributed to this toxin release, as the body works to remove these substances.
Physical sensations such as tingling, warmth or a sense of energy may occur. Some people experience muscle twitching or shaking as tension is released. These sensations are often temporary and can indicate that your body is working through and letting go of past stress or trauma.
If you are storing trauma in your body and you're having trouble releasing it, you may benefit from chiropractic treatment. With a holistic, patient-centered approach focused on the mind and body connection, chiropractors offer many creative ways to help unravel long-standing physical effects of traumatic experiences.
The approach is based on the idea that the body stores emotions after experiencing trauma, which may cause physical symptoms. Techniques such as somatic exercise aim to release those stressful feelings. It involves slow movement to relax your muscles, lower stress, and promote mind-body awareness.
A study conducted by a Columbia University has discovered that traumatic childhood experiences can cause stomach or gut problems which may manifest in adulthood as mental or emotional issues. As a psychotherapist, I often see clients who feel grief, anger, sadness and anxiety in the gut or stomach.
Symptoms of facial aging and trauma can range from wrinkled, drooping skin to injuries that cause pain and interfere with sight, smell, speech and breathing. Symptoms of aging skin can include: Fine lines and wrinkles.
There is increasing evidence to suggest that the younger a child, the more serious the post-traumatic problems.
Practice self-care
That's why self-care can be an empowering way to make time for yourself — your inner child or simply your past self — who has endured the trauma. Activities like yoga or exercise have been shown to be beneficial in healing from (or at least alleviating) the effects of trauma.