Healing from Childhood Trauma: How to Reclaim Your Life
A Charlotte Therapist Explains Understanding and Overcoming the Impact of Early Trauma
Have you ever felt like past experiences still have a hold on you, even years later? Maybe certain situations trigger anxiety, or relationships feel strained without clear reasons. Childhood trauma can shape our nervous system, emotions, and behaviors in ways we don’t always recognize. But healing is possible.
The Lingering Impact of Childhood Trauma
Unresolved childhood trauma can affect mental and physical health, making it challenging to feel safe, trust others, or regulate emotions. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, traumatic experiences can disrupt brain development, leading to heightened stress responses, anxiety, depression, and even chronic health issues.
Traditional talk therapy can help, but trauma often lives in the body as much as in the mind. That’s why somatic approaches—therapies that engage both the body and mind—are gaining recognition as practical tools for healing.
Healing Trauma with Somatic Experiencing
Dr. Peter Levine, a pioneer in trauma therapy, developed Somatic Experiencing (SE), a body-focused approach designed to help individuals process and release trauma stored in the nervous system. In his book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, Levine explains that trauma is not just the event itself but how our body responds to it. Unresolved trauma gets trapped in our nervous system, causing symptoms like chronic stress, emotional overwhelm, and physical pain.
Through Somatic Experiencing, individuals learn to gently reconnect with their bodies, restore a sense of safety, and complete the body's natural self-regulation processes.
The Power of Pendulation
One of Levine’s key techniques is pendulation, which helps individuals move between feelings of distress and feelings of safety. This method allows for trauma processing in manageable doses, reducing overwhelm.
How to Practice Pendulation:
- Identify a Safe Feeling: Think of a place, memory, or sensation that brings comfort (e.g., warmth from the sun, a peaceful moment).
- Notice a Difficult Emotion or Sensation: Without diving too deep, observe a feeling of discomfort or tension in your body.
- Move Between the Two: Shift your focus from the difficult feeling back to the safe sensation. Go back and forth gently, noticing how your body responds.
- Breathe and Observe: Allow yourself to feel the contrast without rushing. This teaches your nervous system that distress doesn’t last forever and that safety is accessible.
The Benefit: Reclaiming Control Over Your Emotions
Pendulation helps retrain the nervous system, so distressing emotions don’t feel as overwhelming. With practice, individuals gain greater emotional resilience and feel more in control of their responses to stress.
Finding Healing with Bareiter Counseling Center
If childhood trauma still affects your daily life, healing is within reach. At Bareiter Counseling Center, we offer trauma-informed therapy, including somatic approaches, to help you regain peace and emotional balance. Call us at 704-334-0524 to begin your journey toward healing today.
Citations:
Levine, P. A. (1997).
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.). "Effects of Trauma." Retrieved from www.nctsn.org
