The Persistence of Mental Trauma: Why Avoidance Doesn’t Work

The most current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual defines post-traumatic stress injury as experiencing or witnessing a singular or series of life-threatening events, or sustaining serious injury, or living through sexually violent offenses (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022). This is a good starting summary of trauma and stress.

The Science of Mental Trauma

There is certainly room for discussion about the awareness that, though much has been discovered in the world of scientific research, we may only be at the brink of knowledge when it comes to understanding human physicality and mental capacity. God has made the human body the resounding reflection of his own image and the pièce de resistance of his creation (Genesis 1-2).

There have been many wonderful discoveries through the course of history, but there is still so much yet to explore in understanding the human experiences of life that we may be exposed to. As humans, we experience things that are not clinically defined as trauma but that our bodies are telling us are equally traumatic or stressful.

God has created the body with an amazing feature where the brain sends the body multiple signals to identify that it is under significant stress or trauma and that healing is imminently needed.

The nervous system, and some other systems, give warning signals, just like a car provides a “check engine light,” that something needs emergent attention. Signals can include, but are not limited to:

• Racing pulse
• Nightmares
• Environmental or sensory triggers that take a person in their mind back to the event
• Irritability
• Emotional numbness
• Difficulty concentrating
• The sudden urge to leave
• A short temper because a person’s emotional bandwidth is reduced
• An apathy toward people or things that normally bring joy
• Difficulty resting or difficulty finding energy

Let’s call this a survival state and put it in context. If one day you show up to work and your boss yells at you in front of your coworkers, you might have a bad day, feel distressed, but chalk it up to your boss being out of line and hope it doesn’t happen again.

Let’s say it happens three weeks in a row. At the second occurrence, your body will start preparing itself to interact with your boss in anticipation of the possibility of them yelling at you again. Your body might tense.

Symptoms of Mental Trauma

The night before work, your sleep is off; you hide from your boss to reduce the possibility you might interact with them; you are irritable with your kids that morning as you dread going into work. The body is operating under stress and already working in a survival state.

For the sake of this discussion, while the situation was not life-threatening, it was stressful. It could be argued that identifying something as traumatic or stressful should first be assessed from the standpoint of how the body is responding, versus what exactly has occurred.

For example, chronic moving for a child can send the same physical and mental signals of stress as a military member returning from a difficult deployment, or a teenager facing the daily underhanded negative comments of a peer (Rachel E. Siciliano et al., 2022).

This is due to the science of how a physical and emotional state of readiness is inherently uncomfortable, requiring significant amounts of physical energy to sustain. Recall the side effects of trauma and stress above and note that what is predominantly impacted are physical and emotional outputs.

For example, a warning sign of unmanaged chronic trauma or stress might be constant fatigue or a sudden drop in energy levels throughout the day, where the body is informing you that it needs some type of rest and recovery or additional nutrition (Pivac, N. et al., 2023). It is natural, in fact wonderful, that God created a mechanism to motivate the body to find physiological and mental relief.

God and Mental Trauma

Furthermore, God gave us the Bible, His revelation of Himself as the answer to human suffering, which He reminded us we would encounter (John 16:33). Some directions He provided, knowing His creation perfectly, were to encourage us to meet with others, to develop meaningful relationships, and to seek counseling in relationships as part of counteracting and making sense of trauma and stress.

The catch twenty-two though, as mentioned before, is that trauma is inherently uncomfortable and often leads to avoidance. Processing trauma is frequently avoided, which doesn’t even address how circumstances often surrounding trauma and stress might impact the ability to respond to the inherently uncomfortable call to action.

To better understand processing trauma and make sense of suffering and tragedy, imagine that every person has a refrigerator. Every event experienced in a lifetime are items going into the fridge. Some items may have a longer shelf life than others. Either way, the fridge should be regularly cleared, cleaned, organized, maintained, and re-stocked for it to function optimally and preserve the food for the duration of its shelf life.

Imagine trauma is like buying a fish and placing it on an open plate in the fridge. At best, the shelf life of the fish may be 2-3 days. Every time the door to the fridge is opened, it is hard to miss how the open container of fish is beginning to affect every item in that fridge. The owner might even begin to eat only from the pantry to avoid opening the fridge door.

Avoiding trauma is like knowing there is raw fish in your fridge but closing the door and going on vacation for three weeks. Upon returning from vacation, a Franken-fish will have established territory in the fridge. Anyone else living in the same household with that fridge will also have to contend with the Franken-fish should they desire to even evaluate what their options are upon opening the door.

Family members may also begin to avoid, comment on, or act toward the fridge owner to resolve the concern of the Franken-fish. In other words, there is a shelf-life for managing trauma and stress. Long-term avoidance of trauma can seriously damage physical and emotional functioning and relationships.

What the Bible Has to Say

Now, as much as Jesus was about the business of fish in his ministry and might have had a fridge metaphor had they been around in that era, He was and is about other things. When reading Scripture, it can be helpful to pay close attention to the details, but it is also helpful to read with a ten-thousand-foot view. Paying close attention to the themes or rhythms of Scripture can show us how to set our own themes and rhythms in life.

When reading the gospels, particularly when Jesus began his ministry, there is a clear urgency to Jesus’ actions when healing others. In almost every, if not every, interaction where Jesus was approached by crowds or individuals for healing, He did not wait to heal. God is a healer and in the business of healing. There is also a theme of urgency and imminence throughout Scripture.

God urges people to wrestle with their understanding of who He is. Scripture is clear about the fact that no one knows the time or place or means of their passing. Life is depicted as vapor, a wind, the lifespan of a flower in the vast scheme of the universe. God is urging his creation to spend time figuring out who He is. God is also about relationships, where the essence of life is relationships. Humans are called to be in relationship with Him and others.

There are clear promises that, even if we feel the emotion of loneliness, we are not alone or are invited not to be alone. God is about rest (English Standard Version, 2001, Matthew 11:38-30), where God promises that when we are in relationship with Him, we find healing and peace at a soul level.

Our emotional healing is equally as important as our physical healing to God. God encourages us not to live with a spirit of fear, but to step out with confidence, trusting that as you face emotionally difficult things, God is with you in the process (English Standard Version, 2001,2Timothy 1:7).

Let’s put it all together. God is urging us not to wait to seek physical and emotional healing. With any measure of hope or courage, reach out, trusting that God will meet you as you wrestle with and make sense of trauma. Be confident that making sense of traumatic or stressful experiences, whether in a counseling setting or an informal setting, reflects some measure of courage, the act of facing something that might cause much fear or anxiety.

Next Steps

Processing trauma might also be the reflection of even a small amount of hope for healing, a relief from the side effects that often accompany trauma or stress. Remember that you are not required to do it alone. God is already there in the journey and has placed opportunities for counsel to help lead you. If you are feeling prompted, schedule an appointment with a counselor.