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Our bodies are designed and function in an amazing way. They help us to adapt to a wide range of situations and experiences, and we can operate even under hostile conditions. This means that we are quite resilient and can cope with enormous pressures. However, being resilient is not the same thing as being invincible. Our bodies and minds do take strain and can be overwhelmed in their ability to cope well. Many life circumstances can affect a person’s well-being, and some of these can significantly diminish a person’s enjoyment of life. Not only that, but their ability to perform daily functions can be significantly hampered by these experiences. One way that this happens is the result of post-traumatic stress disorder. What is post-traumatic stress disorder? It may not be a given in every situation, but after a person has witnessed or experienced a traumatic event, they could find themselves struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that can occur after a deeply threatening or scary event. Even if you didn’t directly experience it, the shock of what happened can make it hard for you to continue living a normal life. PTSD is a mental health condition that can affect a person’s mental, physical, social, and spiritual well-being, and if it is severe enough, it can interfere with their ability to function well in daily life. PTSD can affect anyone, regardless of their age, gender, or cultural background. The good news is that it can be treated with psychotherapy and medications. It is not always the case that when a person experiences a traumatic event, they will develop PTSD. Experiencing war, a natural disaster, a motor vehicle accident, terrorism, violent crime, or other similar events may lead to PTSD, but it is [...]

Trauma responses that are a little outside of the “norm” often get made fun of or dismissed. What might feel silly to someone else might be your body remembering how it had to survive in a tense or dangerous situation. People might brush off your unusual actions with a roll of their eyes or even a chuckle, but those quirky little things you do might be more than just unique personality traits. They might be signs that you have unresolved trauma in your life and that your body is fighting desperately to protect you from perceived threats. Our bodies respond to trauma in different ways that show up uniquely to us. Maybe your hands sweat every time you hear your phone ding with a notification. While that might seem odd and a gross overreaction to those around you, it might be a learned response because your boss only texts when they are angry. Your friends might giggle a little when you get visibly angry at them for using your full name, but to you, it serves as a reminder of parents who spewed it out just before a verbal storm. The World’s View on “Silly” Trauma Responses The people around you might be critical or cruel about behavior they consider to be odd or different. Society as a whole can be harsh to those who suffer from trauma they do not understand and in ways they do not view as normal. If you did not grow up in a war zone or with obvious signs of abuse, people tend to assume you should be just fine to act in a way that fits their definition of normal. But what if you suffered years of emotional neglect, chronic bullying, or having to be the adult kid taking care of younger siblings? [...]

Trauma is not a new concept; it's simply a recent buzzword for what we experience. History tells us that almost every, if not every, generation has its share of collective trauma to experience. Besides the chaos happening in the world around us, many of us are facing deeply personal issues that affect every aspect of our lives. What do we do about our trauma, and how do we cope when it feels like life is coming at us from every angle? Thankfully, thousands of people have walked the trauma-paved paths before us and can speak to the situations we are facing. Processing trauma is not easy, but it is possible when we have guidance and support. What You Need to Know about Processing Trauma We are traumatized when we witness or experience something that leaves us emotionally disturbed, overwhelmed, or fearing for our safety. It is a feeling or experience that you or someone you love has gone through something with an inability to overcome it. These events or experiences may be ongoing, or they may have happened only once, even if it was decades ago. Unlike the old saying, time doesn’t automatically heal wounds, and we might feel as if our entire lives have crumbled because of a single experience. Trauma impacts the way we think about the world. It shapes what we feel about ourselves and other people. Some examples include a person who has supported a family member with addiction will likely have trust issues because they were lied to, or a woman who was assaulted by a man in power will naturally avoid similar men. While everyone responds to and deals with trauma in their unique way, there are familiar habits, mindsets, and tendencies that we can address as we learn to process trauma. It’s [...]

As of 2025, an estimated 66% of the American workforce is experiencing burnout in their careers. According to recent information, women are more likely to experience burnout than men, and the average person experiences some kind of burnout before the age of twenty-five. Due to its recent popularity, even the term “burnout” has become a buzzword word which might have caused it to lose meaning. So, what is burnout? How do you know if you are experiencing it, and what can be done about it? The Truth about Burnout Burnout is often used as a sanitized description of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a mental health condition caused by being exposed to traumas like war, genocide, or a global disaster. However, people also experience PTSD from experiencing far more common traumas like crippling workloads, demanding schedules, insurmountable debt, and toxic home or work environments. Few people will readily accept that what they are experiencing is PTSD, but often that is the best description of their mental health state. It starts to make sense once you realize that you are pouring all of your time, energy, and emotional resources into your jobs, schools, or difficult relationships. Sometimes, even when you are doing more enjoyable things like hobbies and socializing, you might get to the point where you are running on empty. However, you do not have to stay there, but it does take intentionality. Identification It’s hard to find a balance when it feels like life is crashing down, and that you are the only thing that keeps disaster at bay. Living under these kinds of stressful conditions forces your nervous system into survival mode. Living in this state can cause issues that can be harmful to us. It can get to the point where you no longer experience [...]