There’s a direct line that leads from where we started to where we are today. Trauma is often thought of as a kind of haunting. Ghosts of the past cling to the present, making a muddy mess of the future.

Different areas of the brain become hyper-attuned to signs of danger, sometimes at the expense of our ability to regulate emotions. Our attention to detail in the moment is heightened, while our long-term memory is impacted negatively.

We have a sense sometimes that sexual trauma can’t occur except in the case of sexual assault or rape. In reality, sexual trauma can stem from many different experiences.

The impact trauma has on the body is long-lasting and significant. The stories of our trauma are written into our flesh. It quite literally changes the chemistry of our bodies, and the development of our brains.

Whether it started in childhood or began as an adult, if you struggle with emotional eating, take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone.

We don’t often think about our trauma as something that we carry in our bodies, but the truth is that the impact of traumatic experiences lives on in the brain long after they occur.

So often I hear people make a joke about their childhood trauma and laugh it off as if it wasn’t real. When that happens, I’m reminded that children who grow up in emotionally abusive homes, or deal with bullying or other complex traumas, were also trained to disregard their own feelings.

PTSD emerged as a diagnosis after the end of the Vietnam War. Accordingly, we often associate it with the violence of war, but the truth is PTSD is fairly common. In addition, people sometimes think of PTSD as a failure to be ‘tough enough’ or psychologically strong.