Trauma is an injury and PTSD is a condition that arises from that injury. So with any injury, there are best practices around healing from an injury.
First, let’s understand the nature of trauma, traumatic stress and PTSD/C-PTSD.
Trauma: current thinking differentiates 3 types of trauma
- Acute trauma results from a single incident.
- Chronic trauma is repeated and prolonged such as domestic violence or abuse.
- Complex trauma is exposure to varied and multiple traumatic events, often of an invasive, interpersonal nature.
Traumatic Stress: The DSM V defines traumatic stress as
Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways:
- Directly experiencing the traumatic event
- Witnessing, in person, the traumatic event
- Learning that the traumatic event occurred to a close family member or close friend. In cases of actual or threatened death of a family member or friend, the event must have been violent or accidental
PTSD: You may want to read this article, but according to the American Psychological Association, PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape or other violent personal assault.
C-PTSD: This form of PTSD results from prolonged trauma, usually experienced in childhood. C-PTSD has all the sumptoms of PTSD (traumatic intrusions, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity) plus distorted perceptions of the victim’s perpetrator (such as feeling positively towards an abuser, viewing them as all-powerful, or being obsessed with “getting even” with them), and the negative alterations in cognition and mood are much more extreme.
Pretty heavy stuff, but it’s important to understand the nuances when we talk about these terms. If you have not received a diagnosis, but resonate with any of the above, I strongly urge you to seek support. These are difficult and complex issues to navigate, and its not anything you should do alone. I should know: I have PTSD and C-PTSD, which I manage with mindfulness, exercise, many years of therapy, anti-depressants (in the past), loving relationships, neurofeedback and Reiki.
So how can Reiki help? Absolutely. But it isn’t the single solution to the challenge. First, if you have a diagnosed condition, that’s a great start. Find a therapist who works with evidence-based treatments for trauma like: CBT, DBT, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing or Hypnosis to name the major ones. Reiki can support any and all these modalities.
Five ways Reiki helps:
- Reiki can produce lower levels of anxiety. A study of cancer patients where participants received distant reiki experienced lower levels of anxiety. Anxious feelings are almost always present in tthose with PTSD due to the prevalence of hypervigilance and hyperarousal.
- Reiki can reduce pain levels: a study conducted on women who had just gotten c-sections, those who received reiki experienced significantly less pain than those who did not receive it. PTSD and traumatic stress are often accompanied by persistent pain.
- Reiki boosts mood and may relieve depression. Trauma can cause depression as a direct consequence of the traumatic experience, or as a consequence of the health or behavior effects of PTSD. Reiki can relieve feelings of depression.
- Reiki allows you to receive some of the benefits of touch at a safe distance. One symptom of PTSD/Traumatic Stress is dissociation and a discomfort with touch from others. Reiki can be done remotely if touch is impossible to tolerate (and during Shelter in Place) while still giving the receiver the benefits of touch – a felt sense of compassionate presence. In addition, Reiki assists you in becoming more aware of your own body sensations as the Reiki therapist shares Reiki with you. Over time this can help you be more comfortable in your own skin and enjoy safe, nurturing human touch once again.
- Reiki tends to improve sleep because it encourages the parasympathetic nervous system. When you can improve sleep duration and or quality, this benefits you in multiple ways, but especially to relieve PTSD/trauma symptoms.
There is tremendous wisdom, depth of experience and beauty on the other side of your trauma, and the trauma in your past gives you the advantage of gratitude and appreciation for every iota of beauty that you experience. This isn’t just me talking: its well documented as Post Traumatic Growth. The main features of PTG are:
- Appreciation of life.
- Relationships with others.
- New possibilities in life.
- Personal strength.
- Spiritual change