One in five women are victims of sexual violence and 63% don’t even report it. Only 12% of child sexual trauma is ever reported. Destiny counselors will help women in a caring, compassionate, and not judgmental environment. You are a survivor and we can help you transition from victim to victor. You can recover!
Trauma survivors of sexual abuse and/or violence end up having long lasting changes in their brain and thinking. To understand the mechanics of how trauma effects the brain one must understand how an initial trauma is processed in the brain. The intense fear that comes from experiencing a traumatic event suggests to a victim’s body that she is experiencing a threat to her survival, activating the amygdala — an area of the reptilian brain involved in both fear processing and stress response. When the amygdala starts sending out alerts, we go into survival mode, putting the brain and body on high alert.
In response to the amygdala’s alerts, the adrenal glands, which are chiefly involved in stress response, secrete a flood of opioid-boosting hormones. These hormones, as well as the stress hormone cortisol, are meant to help the individual to cope with the physical and emotional pain of the traumatic situation.
On the one hand, we’re hard-wired to try to survive a traumatic event. This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective: we need to live through the trauma, and then be able to communicate the threat to others. But the hormones we release can make it more difficult for the amygdala to work together with the hippocampus to encode and consolidate information, disrupting the victim’s ability to control intense emotions when they are triggered in present day.
When a person experiences similar feelings that were experienced in their trauma, they react in a defensive manner. Unfortunately, this can come out in ways that interfere in relationships. A woman may be perceived as overreacting, defensive, guarded, stressed or closed off. The victim of abuse often trys to overcompensate and control these things and this can cause depression, anxiety and PTSD. You don’t have to continue to live this way. Let us help you to control your brain, your emotions, and your thoughts. Give yourself the gift of healing. You deserve it!
