Self soothing techniques are ways we can calm ourselves down when we feel overwhelmed by negative emotions. Survivors of abuse and childhood trauma often struggle to self-soothe, partly because of the physiological differences between their brain and that of a neurotypical person- we lack integration between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, meaning that when we become emotional our rational side tends to go “offline”.
In this article, I will explain what emotional flashbacks are, what they feel like from the inside, and how we can both recognise and manage them effectively.
Those of us who had a traumatic childhood or who have been in abusive relationships in adulthood often experience trauma bonding- forming strong emotional attachments to abusive partners. These trauma bonds can be extraordinarily strong and pervasive, and hard for the neurotypical person to understand. “Why does she keep going back to him if he beats her?” they wonder. “Why does he take her back every time she cheats on him?”. Or “why are those two even together when they clearly hate each other?”.
Here are five more ways that have helped me to heal trauma and find my way to inner peace.
A lot of people will tell you to just “get over it” or remind you it is in the past, but those of us who have been through it understand that trauma remains in the mind, body and soul no matter how long ago it happened.
Thankfully, there are many ways to heal yourself from trauma, and I want to share with you some of the best I have found in my own journey to wholeness.