Hello! Just wanted to ask if there's like,, a difference between trauma that happens in the headspace and trauma that happens irl? Does the brain handle it the same way? If the brain does handle it the same way do you have any tips for how to cope with trauma? Sorry if that's out of your wheelhouse ahaha and thank you for any advice/help you can offer!
Hello, we are not a medical expert or qualified professional. We cannot say with any certainty how brains handle trauma as it happens in real life as opposed to in a system’s headspace. This absolutely would be best asked to a therapist, counselor, or other mental health professional in your life, if your system has one.
What we can say, is this:
In our system, exotrauma, pseudomemories, and inside traumas are often linked to real world traumas in some way. They may mask memories, or shift the content of a real life traumatic event to something that is more easily understood by our parts. That does not mean that the exotrauma/inside trauma will have no effect whatsoever on our parts - rather, the emotions, feelings, and often the actual memories of the real trauma become enmeshed with, disguised by, or intrinsically connected to memories of events that our body did not physically experience.
We believe that coping with exotrauma, inside trauma, or traumatic pseudomemories can best be handled in the same ways as coping with real world trauma. Practicing grounding techniques, reaching out for internal or external support, creating art and journaling, having the chance to properly grieve, and discussing the events and their aftermath with trusted individuals could all help with both inside and outside trauma.
Does this mean that inside and outside traumas are the same? Not exactly, but it is important to understand that often inside trauma has roots in external traumatic events. And even if these two types of experiences have fundamental differences, if they leave lasting effects, both may require processing and healing in order to recover from.
Our therapist has always said “treat the symptoms, not the disorder,” and we feel like this applies here, too. If the trauma is affecting you, whether real or imagined, inside or outside, in headspace or in the physical world, then you deserve to have your symptoms addressed and your trauma taken seriously.
In the end, much of this is speculation and drawing from our own experiences and things we have learned in therapy. There may be others here who are much more knowledgeable than we are on this particular topic. Still, we do hope you are able to receive the care and support you need in order to fully heal and recover.
