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Relieving the burden

The Power of Massage Therapy and PTSD

Imagine that you are looking into a mirror that someone is holding up to your face. You are completely certain that you can see yourself and everything clearly, yet the one holding the mirror up proceeds to smash it to bits before telling you that you cannot see anything and were never able to in the first place. Eventually, you are left with broken glass, only seeing as far as the individual shards will reflect as you try to fit them back together to regain and remember who you thought you were and how you viewed the world.

As you make efforts to restore the mirror in its entirety, there is a strong potential that you may unintentionally cut yourself in the process, as the pieces are sharp and subtle, continuing to stay embedded in your skin even when you thought you pulled them all out. This is a metaphorical example of how it may feel to suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a mental health condition that is triggered by experiencing or witnessing an intense and terrifying event.

While PTSD is commonly identified through an individual’s struggles within the mind, what many do not know is that trauma is also stored within the physical body, such as the way of the law of the mind-body connection, a two-way street where the mind influences the body and vice versa. In this article, we will go over the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as how to alleviate symptoms through the art and science of massage therapy.

Most who have experienced something traumatic generally begin to feel better after some time and self-care has passed. However, it is a clear indication of PTSD if symptoms proceed to worsen or linger for months, to years. Currently, four group types of symptoms are acknowledged by RWJ Barnabas Health: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative moods, and thinking patterns, and changes in physical as well as emotional reactions. When an individual suffers from these symptoms, it can make it difficult to proceed with daily activities and may lead to unmet needs within their relationships.

woman sitting on bed with mental health issues

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF

PTSD SYMPTOMS

According to the Mayo Clinic, intrusive memories are involuntary, emotional, and distressing memories of a traumatic event that can come in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, or typical memories; they’re commonly visual, but they can also include sounds, smells, or other senses, and can be triggered by something that reminds the individual of an event or they can simply appear without warning. For example, if one were to have a past experience of being stalked or attacked, the individual would then re-live the experience months or years later by thinking that they are hearing footsteps behind them, even if it is clear that nobody is there.

Avoidance involves limiting exposure to reminders of a traumatic event and can take many forms such as behavioral and cognitive avoidance, as well as social withdrawal. While it can be a helpful reaction to recent traumatic events, it can become problematic over time. For instance, avoidance generalizes and can expand over time, from avoiding specific people to avoiding everybody.

Negative thinking and behavioral patterns born from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder come in several forms, including hopelessness, apathy towards activities once enjoyed, and difficulty experiencing positive emotions or any emotion at all. Changes in physical and emotional reactions fall into a similar category, however, as described, they display themselves through body language and actions such as always being on guard, self-destructive tendencies, trouble sleeping, and aggressive behavior. These symptoms are not only hard on the mind, but recent neurological studies prove that such triggers can be just as equally detrimental to the physical body.

Somatic Scars

When there is a disconnect between the mind and body, the body’s “fight-or-flight” response activates. Studies and experiments done on patients from the Newport Institute show that this triggers a rush of stress hormones that produce physiological changes to fight off a perceived threat to an individual’s safety, causing the muscles to tense and an increase in the rate of the heart as well as the respiratory system. As one can imagine, repeated activations of this stress response can and will take a toll on the body as time progresses; those who suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are much more prone to this unhealthy and painful cycle, making it more difficult for them to learn how to mentally and physically heal from any past pains that were inflicted towards them.

Renowned physicist and author of Becoming Supernatural, Dr. Joe Dispenza, elaborates on this repetitive process by stating that the emotions or feelings stemming from traumatic memories are conditioned into the body, where it is beholden to chemical instructions; as a result, the body then subconsciously becomes the mind of these emotions attached to these memories, therefore, the trauma lives in the body as well as the brain, embedding itself throughout all of the body’s tissue, especially within the fascia and diaphragm.

Studies found in the National Library of Medicine suggest that massage therapy may be able to reduce symptoms associated with PTSD such as anxiety, irritability, depression, and tension. While the mechanism for these effects is unclear, massage therapy has been linked to changes in neurotransmitter levels such as cortisol, serotonin, and dopamine, the main regulators of psychological arousal, especially through trauma touch therapy. It also improves sleep patterns for most patients who suffer from insomnia and nightmares that PTSD brings on.

The methods of trauma-based bodywork is broken down into three groups: Rosen Method Bodywork, Craniosacral Therapy, and Trauma Touch Therapy. Found in several studies by various institutions, this type of bodywork, in combination with each other and other forms of therapy such as Dialectical or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, can be beneficial in re-discovering a sense of self and tranquility.

"The mind and body are designed to be allies, working in sync to maximize our physical and mental health. But sometimes, they work against each other."

-Newport Institute-

Blog Author: Coya Napoli

This blog post was created with the assistance of ChatGPT. The information provided by ChatGPT has been verified, reviewed, and edited by the author for accuracy and clarity. For more information about ChatGPT, visit OpenAI's website here.