From traffic accidents to plane crashes to terrorist attacksand assaults, people experience traumatic events all the time. Their trauma usually arises from feelings of shock and fear.Another thing to note is that a person does not necessarily have to be present in a situation to go through a traumatic experience.
As per Jonah Engler, when people experience a traumatic event, they are more likely to feel numb and overwhelmed. However, there are several ways to overcome and cope with a traumatic experience if the person is willing enough. Proper diagnosis and treatment can further prevent the effects of trauma on your well-being and mental health.
Here is everything you might need to know about coping with a traumatic experience!
Tips by Jonah Engler to Effectively Cope with Trauma
While everyone experiences traumatic events at one time or another in their lives, every person reacts to them differently. Some people find it easier to cope with such experiences and get past them quicker than others. There are also people that take extraordinary stress and keep reliving the moments over the years. This is one of the most harmful habits to develop as it can disrupt your mental health, according to Jonah Engler.
If you find it hard to cope with traumatic events, here are a few things that you can do:
Don’t Stay in Denial and Feel Everything
When it comes to letting go of the memories from the past, the best thing to do is to face them. You cannot stay in denial that nothing happened and expect everything to become better with time. Trauma needs acknowledgment in order for people to get past them. Unless you do not accept that you’ve been through something difficult, you cannot overcome it.
To start off on your road to recovery, you need to feel all thoseupsetting feelings and memories. After that, you can start thinking about how you can cope with them. Express your feelings before family, friends, therapists, or anyone that you think will listen and understand you.
“Practice Compassion & Love for Yourself” – Jonah Engler
When a person starts treating themselves with kindness, love, and forgiveness, it means they are practicing self-compassion. There is no need for you to criticize yourself over and over again, says Jonah Engler. Taking responsibility for a certain event is something else, but you should not keep blaming yourself for causing a mishap.
You can start by keeping a self-compassion journal and talking to yourself in a more positive tone. Rather than being critical of yourself, you can think about how you can remedy the situation or avoid it in the future.
Accept Help from People Who Support You
Jonah Engler says you cannot go through the process of healing and coping all on your own. If there are people in your life who care enough to offer help, you need to learn and accept it. Receiving all the support and encouragement that you can get from your family or friends is the key, as per Jonah Engler. You can even join a support group or seek help from a therapist if you think you need positive support in order to cope.
Parting Remarks
Traumatic experiences are inevitable in life as you might have to go through one at some point or the other. According to Jonah Engler, you need a positive outlook and willingness to get past them.
You need to make sure that you are practicing self-compassion and are not in denial for the trauma to pass. Moreover, your family and friends are one of your greatest lifelines, so you should try talking to them and accept any kind of help that you can get.