When we think of healing, more than likely, we think of physically recovering from an illness or injury. The medical treatment we receive from doctors helps our bodies to mend from conditions that are visible or able to be determined from scientific testing. However, there is another type of healing that we can have: emotional healing. The healing we need is based on things like pain, trauma, or loss, and it is not tangible or visible to the eye. While it can be more difficult to diagnose and treat than physical maladies, emotional pain can impact all aspects of our lives. This is why it is so powerful to find healing for our emotional wounds in recovery.
How Trauma Impacts Us
There are many ways we may suffer trauma and many ways in which trauma can impact us. Logically, we can suffer emotional damage from various types of trauma that can impact our self-esteem and our ability to have healthy relationships, amongst other things. But these events can also cause long-term mental and physical symptoms, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.) Suffering from these symptoms without understanding where they are coming from can also lead to substance use. When we feel pain, sometimes we feel the need to escape it.
Different types of trauma include:
• Medical – long-term illnesses, injuries, or medical procedures may physically heal, but sometimes, they leave behind emotional wounds that go unacknowledged. If we do not heal from these wounds, they can fester and grow and impact us for years after the physical symptoms are gone.
• Abuse – abuse may be verbal, physical, or sexual in nature, but it can cause pain and trauma for life if we do not address it and seek healing from it. Particularly if we suffered abuse on multiple occasions, we are more likely to carry pain and trauma within us.
• Domestic Violence – whether the violence directly harmed us physically or we witnessed a family member harming another family member, the pain is deep and long-lasting. This is more than just typical arguing, it is when things get broken and people get hurt. Violence hurts physically and mentally, and it affects everyone who witnesses it.
• Neglect – if, as a child or at any time that we were unable to care for ourselves, we were neglected emotionally or physically, it can cause emotional scars. Neglect is when we do not have our needs taken care of, such as food, shelter, or clothing. Or in the case of emotional neglect, when we are prevented from needed human and emotional interaction.
• Violence – exposure to violence can cause long-term emotional trauma, too. In addition to witnessing things that we are not prepared to see, violence has the added consequence of us not being able to feel safe in our homes or community.
• Loss – whether our loss is due to death, divorce, or other situations, when we experience loss, the emotional effect is long-term and often permanent. Even if we honor the grieving process, the loss remains and can cause us lasting pain.
Seeking Healing for Trauma
It takes a lot to be able to become sober. It takes even more to stay sober. Ultimately, it will be nearly impossible to stay sober if we have not healed from the pain that is underlying our substance use. This is why it is important to not only seek treatment for our substance use but also to seek healing for the underlying trauma.
Within our initial treatment, we can use many different types of therapy to begin healing emotionally. Licensed therapists can help us to pinpoint our pain, address it, and process through it. As we do this, we can feel the changes in our bodies and our minds. By truly healing from these wounds, we are addressing the root of our problems. By healing from these wounds, we can become whole again.
Why Healing Can Help Prevent Relapse
Think about a behavior such as nail-biting. Often, it is a habit that is born from anxiety. Many people try different techniques to break the habit, but until the anxiety is addressed, either the nail-biting will return, or another behavior to replace it. Anxiety is an emotional condition that must be addressed before we can heal.
The same is often true of substance use. We can try to break the habit, but without treating the underlying emotional causes of the substance use, it will continue or be replaced with another habit. These emotional conditions must be addressed before we can truly heal. The theory holds true from the opposite angle, that we heal from our trauma, we are more likely to be successful in our recovery and much less likely to relapse.
The Power of Healing
Healing from trauma is power. Not only the power to recover from substance use but also the power to heal our lives. When we are free from the emotional pain and turmoil that has been weighing us down, we are healthier mentally and physically. This frees us up to improve our relationships with others, pursue careers, and other opportunities in our lives.
Healing is power.
Your body is crying out for the emotional and physical healing you deserve. Your healing begins here and your substance use stops here. Let us help you find the power of healing in recovery now.
Find your healing at Rancho Milagro Recovery.
Call us at (951) 526-4582 to begin your healing and lose your substance use.