PTSD, Mental Health, and Recovery: A Personal Reflection
- Pier 360 Staff
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
This article reflects my personal experiences and recovery journey. Everyone's experience with trauma, mental health, and recovery is different.
It took several years, multiple diagnoses, therapy, and a lot of self-reflection before I began to understand that many of my mental health challenges might be connected to trauma.
For the sake of PTSD Awareness Month, I wanted to spend some time reflecting on that connection.
Like many people, I thought PTSD was something that primarily affected combat veterans. It wasn't until I began reading about trauma and recognizing some of the symptoms in myself that I wondered whether PTSD might be part of my own story. I brought the question to my therapist, who specializes in trauma and Internal Family Systems (IFS). After an assessment, PTSD was added to a long list of diagnoses already in my chart.
That moment changed the way I viewed my mental health.
Things I Didn't Realize Could Be Connected to Trauma
For years, I thought some of these were simply part of who I was:
Being constantly on alert
Difficulty sleeping or resting
Anxiety that seemed to come out of nowhere
Feeling disconnected from my body
Overworking and overachieving
Difficulty trusting others
People pleasing
Feeling responsible for everyone else
Emotional numbness
Struggling to feel safe, even during good times
Learning about trauma didn't change the past, but it helped me understand myself differently.
Looking back, I sometimes wonder how many people receive diagnoses, struggle with mental health challenges, or use substances to cope without ever having the opportunity to explore whether trauma is part of their story. Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, and not every mental health challenge is trauma-related. But understanding the role trauma may play can open the door to new forms of self-compassion and recovery.
It made me wonder how often trauma sits beneath the surface of struggles that are labeled as depression, anxiety, substance use, emotional dysregulation, relationship difficulties, or other mental health challenges. Trauma is far more common than many people realize.
When people hear the word PTSD, they often think of combat veterans. While veterans can certainly experience PTSD, trauma can also result from many other experiences. Research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has shown that experiences such as witnessing violence in the home, emotional abuse, neglect, poverty, hunger, instability, or living with an unpredictable caregiver can have lasting effects on our mental and physical health.
In my own life, we were provided for, but there was violence in our household and an ongoing sense of uncertainty. As a child, I learned to stay alert, watch for mood changes, and prepare for the unexpected. What helped me survive those experiences didn't disappear when I became an adult.
Researchers are also exploring how the effects of trauma may be carried across generations through processes known as epigenetics. While there is still much to learn, emerging evidence suggests that the experiences of previous generations may influence how our bodies and nervous systems respond to stress.
The connection between trauma, mental health, and substance use is also important to acknowledge. For some people, substances become a way to quiet anxiety, numb painful memories, reduce hypervigilance, or create relief from emotional pain. What may appear on the surface as a substance use issue can sometimes be connected to deeper wounds that have never had the opportunity to heal.
What Changed When I Began Understanding Trauma
Before learning about PTSD, I often approached recovery as though I needed to fix what was wrong with me.
Learning about trauma shifted the question.
Instead of asking, "What's wrong with me?" I started asking, "What happened to me?" and "How did I learn to survive?"
Some of the things I judged myself for began to make more sense:
Hypervigilance became a survival skill.
Anxiety became a way my nervous system tried to protect me.
Distrust became something I learned for a reason.
Even some unhealthy coping strategies made sense in the context of what I had lived through.
That shift didn't solve everything overnight, but it brought more self-compassion into my recovery. Understanding trauma helped me stop fighting myself and start working with the parts of me that had been trying to keep me safe all along.
Food for Thought
Sometimes, what we call laziness, overreacting, shutting down, people-pleasing, perfectionism, anxiety, or irritability can be signs of a nervous system working very hard to keep us safe.
Understanding that possibility changed the way I viewed myself and my recovery.
Some of the Tools That Supported My Recovery
Peer Support
I received peer support for the first time during my first hospitalization, and it changed everything. I believe that kindness, understanding, and being met by people who had walked similar paths supported a quicker recovery in me.
Without that experience, I may have spent much longer feeling lost and disconnected. Instead, it inspired me to eventually become a peer support myself.
Facilitating support groups, Hearing Voices groups, writing groups, and getting to know peers became one of the most meaningful parts of my recovery journey. It showed me the power of connection and reminded me that none of us are meant to do this alone.
WRAP supported me in recognizing my own warning signs. I learned that changes in my emotional temperature and sleep patterns could signal that I was struggling before things reached a crisis point.
Having those tools and a plan helped me respond earlier and supported me in staying out of the hospital.
IFS brought an understanding that different parts of me were carrying different experiences, fears, and responsibilities. Instead of fighting those parts, I learned to become curious about them and understand what they were trying to protect.
That shift brought more compassion into my recovery and helped me better understand myself. Through IFS, I also became more connected to what is often called Self-energy—the part of us that is compassionate, curious, confident, courageous, creative, clear, and connected.
Rather than judging or trying to get rid of the parts of myself that were struggling, I learned to approach them with understanding. For me, healing has often meant learning to listen to those parts, understand what they need, and respond from a place of compassion rather than fear.
Discernment has also been an important part of that process. Learning what belongs to the present moment, what belongs to the past, and what truly serves my well-being has supported me in moving forward with greater clarity.
Time in Nature
Being outside calms my nervous system and fills me with wonder. Listening to birds, noticing wildlife, and spending time in natural spaces reminds me that there is still beauty in the world.
Nature has supported both my mental and physical health and has become an important part of my wellness toolbox.
Self-Care
It took me a long time to give myself permission to care for myself.
I was taught to focus on everyone else's needs first. Recovery showed me that rest, boundaries, and self-care are not selfish. They are necessary.
One of the lessons I continue to learn is that I require more rest and recovery time than I once allowed myself, and honoring that has been an important part of staying well.
Other Tools
Breathing exercises
Meditation and mindfulness
Yoga and stretching
Journaling
Art, music, and writing
Building routines and structure
Time with trusted friends, family, and pets
Sleep and rest
Spiritual practices or prayer
Grounding exercises
EMDR is a type of therapy designed to support people processing trauma and difficult life experiences. For me, it became another way of working through experiences that felt stuck and reducing the emotional charge connected to difficult memories.
EFT combines focused attention with gentle tapping on specific points on the body while acknowledging difficult emotions or experiences.
While it may seem unusual at first, I found it to be another useful tool for slowing down, checking in with myself, and creating a little more space between a trigger and my reaction.
Healing Is Possible
PTSD Awareness Month is an invitation to expand our understanding of trauma.
Trauma does not discriminate. It can affect veterans, survivors of violence, children who grew up in unstable homes, people who experienced loss, discrimination, poverty, neglect, or countless other life experiences.
Many people are carrying experiences they have never had the language to describe.
Sometimes recovery begins with a simple realization:
What happened to me mattered, and the ways I adapted to survive make sense.
View our calendar if you or someone you know is interested in attending groups, receiving peer support, or participating in activities.
Comments