The Mental Load of Trauma

Many of the clients that I work with have endured some degree of trauma in their lives. From big, life altering moments, to smaller more manageable pieces of pain, they all can have a lasting impact. One of the most common things I hear clients say about their traumatic experiences is the mental load and capacity that trauma occupies in their brain on a daily basis. It’s almost as if it's a horror movie playing on a loop quietly in the background. Most of the time it's just there being annoying or draining, but sometimes the volume gets turned up louder with moments of hyperarousal or when a trigger happens. 

If you can imagine our brain as a pie chart and one half or more is coloured in with the lingering loop of trauma, it doesn’t leave much room for other typical life stressors before the chart is full and we've run out of space. This is a main reason why folks who have experienced trauma have an increasingly challenging time coping through typical life stressors. 

One of the ways we can work on creating more space is by working through the traumatic event(s) in counselling. Mapping how the event has shaped and impacted you, and how it still occupies your mind. We can explore ways to ground through panic, identify your trusted support system, turn down the volume on the movie and create a little more space on that pie chart. If working through trauma feels like a scary journey, just know that we can work at your own pace, take breaks along the way, and make sure that you feel safe and in control. I’m here for you.