Welcome to the inaugural episode of "Healing Our Hidden Wounds," a comprehensive series dedicated to exploring trauma, PTSD, and the journey toward recovery. In this opening video, Evan, our resident mental health and addiction therapist, lays the groundwork by introducing the complex nature of trauma, delineating what it means to endure traumatic events, and discussing the ensuing impacts on individuals' lives. Join us as Evan sets the stage for this in-depth 16-part series, designed to enlighten, empower, and guide those affected by trauma toward healing and resilience.
What does trauma truly mean and what does it mean to heal from it? In this series, we're going to further break down the science around trauma and the concept of PTSD. Trauma affects us to our core, not just emotionally, physically, but it impacts how we view ourselves and the world.
Our society as a whole is talking more about trauma and how that impacts individuals and the greater culture, and this is extremely important. However, what does trauma truly mean and what does it mean to heal from it? I'm Evan, your resident mental health therapist, and this is the first video in my series where I break down the concept of trauma and how it impacts us, as well as the steps to healing. In this series, im going to go into great depths. This isnt going to be just scratching the surface.
Theres going to be quite a few videos, and some are going to probably be of more interest than others. But if you are fascinated by this topic, like I am, and passionate about healing from trauma and PTSD, come check this out. Trauma is more than just a word or a concept. It is a deep experience that many people have had. In some ways, weve all had something traumatic happen to us, something that has stuck with us. As human beings. We are remarkably resilient. We have things happen all the time.
We've been through wars, famines, and we need to find ways to cope. However, certain experiences are so overwhelming that it takes over our faculties that we're not able to bounce back or heal properly. Very similar to a physical wound. We may have a really bad wound that takes us six months or a year to heal, but it heals. Also, some physical injuries do not, and they stay with us for a very long time unless they're addressed, which can be very difficult. In the same way, trauma is an emotional wound that also impacts us physically.
It's stored deep in our body, and we often don't necessarily know how to heal those wounds, or we're afraid to address those wounds because it's scary, because it's uncomfortable. So let's go ahead and break this down further. In this series, we're going to further break down the science around trauma and the concept of PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, which is at the core of how we diagnose trauma, understand it as well as treat it. Because PTSD, like any other type of severe trauma, affects us to our core, not just emotionally, physically, but it impacts how we view ourselves and the world.
And this is going to be a concept that frequently comes up because we're always forming narratives, stories about ourselves, about others, about the environment we live in. And when we experience something traumatic, it could shake those things up and really impact how happy we are, how we are in our environment, how we see everything, including who we are, at our fundamental core. And further, trauma and PTSD affect how we cope with life. For example, folks with PTSD are much more prone to things like substance abuse, other risky behaviors.
The world becomes. Becomes a threatening place. Anxiety could be overwhelming depression. It impacts every single level and people's relationships as well, the things that we hold most dear. And that's why it's important to really understand it, understand ourselves and what we've been through, to change those narratives and eventually heal. So, are you ready to take this journey with me? I promise you're going to get something out of it. It may be difficult at times, but as someone who is a trauma therapist, I have seen how addressing trauma, understanding it, and treating it could have one of the most profound impacts on an individual's life.
