It’s fairly easy to estimate the amount of damage done when a physical injury happens, like in a car accident, for example, one can see these physical injuries either with their eyes or with the aid of x-rays, mri’s cat scans, etc. When someone suffers a psychological trauma, from things such as abuse, neglect or adversity, it is the equivalent of a physical injury, but to the “psyche”. These “invisible injuries” are often very difficult to “see”, except in more extreme and severe cases.
I’ve found that many people don’t realize this. Your psyche can sustain the equivalent of anything from “fender benders”, “side-swipes”, “t-bones” and “head on collisions”, just like your physical body does.
What if you broke your leg but never went to get it re-set back into place”? 😫😣 It would probably heal incorrectly, maybe a bit crooked, which would then cause further and possibly more serious problems, right? Well the same thing happens with psychological trauma, if you don’t try to seek help to heal it, it is going to smolder and cause problems later down the road. IT DOES NOT JUST “GO AWAY” OR SUBSIDE. It acts as a foreign body, entering the “host”, just like a virus or bacteria would and causes many of the same type of issues. If someone gets “t-boned”, while out driving, they’re probably going to have physical injuries bad enough to be sent to the hospital🚑 for treatment. Well many people who are getting “psychologically” t-boned or side swiped, also sustain injuries, we just don’t notice or realize it right away so we often don’t seek treatment at all. Science has finally been able to show us just how these invisible injuries are wreaking havoc not just in our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, but in our bodies, as real and sometimes serious illnesses.🚗🚓🚕
Verbal and emotional abuse (psychological abuse) are like sustaining “fender benders”, “t-bones” and “side-swipes” to our mind, emotions, sense of self, belief systems, thought processes and more. A psychological “head on collision” would be more like, the death of a child or partner, something extremely severe. Since most abuse cases are chronic and ongoing, the victim is sustaining many of these psychological injuries (without even realizing it), and over time they start causing major problems. Please, if you have been a victim of abuse, trauma or adversity, consider seeking help because damage has been done whether you realize it or not and many times the body somatizes the psychological pain, torment, shame, etc as a result of the adversity and physical illnesses develop! 😘