Mental Health Support Site

Experiencing a mental disaster or trauma, be it losing a loved person, your job, your money or for whatever reason is fortunately not a common event for most of us.   A trauma is associated with intense painfulness as well as scary memories that are difficult to live with.

Nobody knows if or when they will experience a disaster or traumatic situation, but everybody can prepare themselves for being able to handle the aftermaths in a decent way.  Here are 10 tips on how to overcome a personal disaster or trauma:

1. Be Among Other People, Don’t isolate

If you have experienced a mental disaster or trauma, it’s easy to isolate yourself from others. Spending too much time alone is not a good idea and can only make your situation worse. Stay among other people and strive to maintain your relationships, because this will contribute to the healing of your trauma.

2. Ask For Help And Support

You need to talk about your feelings to others. Don’t hesitate to ask for help and support. Use family members, friends or any person you can trust in any network you are a part of.  There are several support groups for people who have experienced traumas so you should consider joining one of them.

3. Design a Daily Routine and Follow It

After a traumatic experience you need to plant your feet to the ground as solid as possible.  To do this you need a simple to follow structure or schedule. This daily routine should include all important actions you need to take on a regular basis such as when to wake up, when to eat, when to workout, when to go to bed, when to work, when to relax and when to spend time with other people.

4. Don’t Procrastinate Facing Your Problems

The more you procrastinate to face the truth the harder it will be to heal your trauma. This goes for all the other ways of handling your problems that I mention in this article, for example seek help and support from others now, not tomorrow.

5. Get In Touch With Your Feelings, Don’t Try To Get Rid Of Them

Your feelings are real; you can’t get rid of them even if you try to eliminate them. Sooner or later they will come back masked by your unconscious mind as annoying and scaring symptoms.  Try to relax and be aware of your feelings; where in my body is the feeling I feel right now; in my chest, stomach, legs, arms, head or elsewhere?  How will I describe my feeling with words; is it anger, fear, sadness or something else?  Which thoughts are these feeling associated with?  What do I do with myself when I have this feeling?

Accept your feelings; take them seriously because they are a significant part of who you are. To accept your feelings and be comfortable with them, you need to be familiar with them. So, feel your feelings no matter how they feel; it’s you.

6. Strive To Overcome Your Feeling of Helplessness

The feeling of helplessness is paralyzing.  Helplessness is a normal feeling after a personal disaster or trauma.  Accept this feeling as natural and even a healthy reaction to a traumatic experience. But do not allow yourself to have this feeling without taking actions to feel strong again. The longer you allow yourself to believe you are helpless the more difficult it will be to become strong and master your situation.

Try to recall situations where you were strong and tell yourself you have strength and power, because you have showed that before.  Why not take a trip to a hospital and visit a cancer department for children.  Speak with them, play with them and try to do something that they appreciate. Help a crippled old woman over the street or do whatever positive you can for others.

7. Take Care of Your Health

Your health is precious, especially when coping with the aftermaths of a disaster or trauma.  The more fit you are the easier you will handle stress. It’s important to exercise regularly, eat healthy meals and get enough sleep and stay away from anything that may damage your health.

8. Avoid Drugs and Alcohol

Especially after a traumatic experience you are vulnerable when it comes to substance abuse.  You want to get rid of difficult emotions or feelings that are intense and painful, and alcohol and drugs can help you accomplishing it instantly. Yes, instantly but temporary.  Don’t jump into this trap, it will just give you additional problems that you’ll have to cope with and make the healing process even longer and harder.  Join a meditation group instead of going to a bar.

9. Humor and Laughter Can Help You A Lot

Play, laugh and have fun as if it was the your last day.  Very easy for me to say, isn’t it? Go to a Movie theatre and watch a good comedy.  Say to yourself before you enter the theatre that all you are going to do now is watch this movie, laugh and have fun. Do it. What will then happen is you’ll experience more relaxation and less stress, a better mood by taking some burdens off your shoulders, thus contributing to get your nervous system back into balance. Tell jokes to other people and talk to them in a fun and playful way. Humor and laughter can aid your ability to view a case from a totally different perspective, and that’s something you need when you have experienced a trauma.

10. Seek Professional Help

If none of the ways I have circled out above work or don’t work well enough, you may seek help from professionals such as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists or other professionals that are specialized in trauma treatment.  Ask your doctor, a family member, a good friend or college if they know professionals who can help you.  Or go to the Yellow pages, or do a search online.