Why We Need Human Connection to Heal Trauma

From the time you grow in your mother’s womb, you develop a physical synchrony with other human beings; your mother’s rhythmical heartbeat becoming the first rhythm you are in sync with. You are wired for connection. One of the lasting effects of trauma is disruption, because trauma breaks this synchrony down. This loss of trust makes it incredibly difficult to allow intimate relationships and let anyone in. But healing requires human connection. Healing requires reconnecting to ourselves and reconnecting to another.

How What You Eat Triggers Your Trauma Response

Food is an often overlooked link in the realm of mental health, especially when it comes to trauma and recovering from trauma. But what you eat during recovery can make a difference: Research that goes back as far as 1982 shows that the sympathetic nervous system responds to changes in caloric intake. Certain foods can trigger your nervous system acitivity and along with it your trauma response.

What Mental Health Means

In this day and age, we have become fond of the term “mental health”. There’s a mental health awareness month and celebrities engage in openly sharing their mental health struggles online. The bravery to share is applauded, but the focus on mental health as a disease is still incredibly narrow.

So, what exactly does mental health mean? How do you “have” it? How come someone does not? How can you really heal?

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