10 Jan Trauma and Your Health
What exactly does trauma mean as it relates to your health? At a previous employer where I wanted to begin a trauma program, the board of directors thought I meant something like what happens in an emergency room. Haha! That was clearly not what I meant. What I meant by trauma is “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience”. Another definition is “physical injury” as Oxford defines it. Clearly a physical injury can be a very traumatic and distressing emotional experience that can lead to such things as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And traumatic emotional experiences can subsequently cause a physical impact. Think about verbal abuse. It doesn’t overtly cause a physical injury but what we know is that any kind of extended trauma, including verbal abuse, can cause physical symptoms and impact your health. How does this happen, you may ask?
When your body becomes stressed you produce more adrenaline. Adrenaline is a hormone and neurotransmitter that is basically your “fight or flight” response. Adrenaline causes your heart to race and prepares you to react to whatever stimulus is causing you anxiety (stress). And while this can be very helpful in certain situations, like when an angry dog is chasing you, if it happens repeatedly over extended periods of time, you are more likely to have stronger surges of adrenaline. Eventually your body will wear down due to the ongoing stress. This could result in such things as autoimmune problems, cardiovascular problems, or a host of other chronic health conditions.
While it may be typical for most of us to think that we can just get over stressful events in our life, usually that is not the case. Our bodies and our personalities have their own way of dealing with trauma and stress.
We also now know that experiencing stressful events as children will have impacts later in life. These are often referred to as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. In the mid to late 90’s, the CDC and Kaiser Permanente conducted one of the largest studies on how traumatic events experienced in childhood impact later health and wellbeing. The study showed that these events can impact many areas of one’s life as an adult. This includes employment, education, drug/alcohol abuse, cancer, diabetes and more. And the more adverse experiences one has, the more significant they become later in life.
While it may be typical for most of us to think that we can just get over stressful events in our life, usually that is not the case. Our bodies and our personalities have their own way of dealing with trauma and stress. They can be internalized (holding our feelings in or repressing them) or externalized (expressing our feelings). Both of these can cause problems. We all know the person who tends to blow up and act out…which would be externalizing their feelings in a negative way. And we likely know people who internalize their feelings and keep them bottled up. Either way, stress and trauma eventually appear in one form or another.
As employers, we see this play out in the workplace. Having a basic understanding of stress and trauma and the impact it can have may help us with tolerance and understanding for those who (unbeknownst to us) may have experienced significant trauma. If you think you may have someone dealing with this or any other mental health issue, the first thing you can do is contact your employee assistance program (EAP). They will consult with you and can offer support to your employee. I have found EAP’s to be very helpful and can offer expertise to deal with whatever the behavior or situation may be. In a previous blog post, we looked at the power of mindfulness in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. If you need more information on this topic, don’t hesitate to contact Matt, Dr. Moore, or myself at the Kansas Business Group on Health.