At some point in your life, you may be subjected to a traumatic event. Many things can cause you to feel like this, and not everyone will react the same way to the same trauma. However, research conducted on the brain shows that you have a 10-day window immediately following such an event before significant psychological damage can occur. To help prevent this, you need to find out how to deal with traumatic events and how to cope with your emotions.
Seeking Help As Soon as Possible
Soon after the event, whatever it was, you will probably feel numb and perhaps feel like it has happened to someone else. Although this can be a normal feeling, you shouldn’t think that you are ok. It is important that you try to seek some help as soon as possible after the event. It might be that you need to organize other things such as birth injury claims or a personal injury claim, but you should try to put yourself first before dealing with these other issues. There might be someone that can start work on these other problems so that you can seek the help you need.
Your Doctor
Your first port of call will be your family doctor. They may already know about the traumatic event, but it is still important that you tell them what happened and how you feel. Your doctor will have experience dealing with these types of issues, though they will likely refer you to someone like a therapist for more specialized care.
Share with Others
It can be easy to try and dismiss your feelings or try to hide them from others, but this can be counterproductive and even cause longer-term problems. If there are friends and family that you can confide in, then try to speak to them about how you are feeling. It can be an effective way to let your emotions out and get the problems out of your mind. You might even find that others have had similar experiences and can offer some guidance and understanding.
Therapy
In most cases, your first referral will be to a therapist; they are specially trained to listen to your problems and try to help you work through them. Even if your traumatic event was a while ago, you could still seek the help of a therapist. You might need to see your therapist for some time, depending on the level of your problems and how you respond to therapy. Depending on the trauma you have experienced and the problems that have developed, you may be offered other therapy such as CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing or even meditation.
Experiencing a traumatic event is a difficult time for anyone. There can be a mixture of emotions that can be hard to process which can lead to many mental health issues. The support of your doctor, therapist and your friends are vital to helping you overcome these problems and move forward.
