Are you still bothered by the results of a major surgery even when it was successful? Do you continue to experience some kind of phantom pain or discomfort after you’ve been cured by whatever procedure you had? If you answered yes to either of these two questions, then you very likely may be suffering from medical trauma and would do well to read on.
The Confusion Around Medical Trauma
Much of the information out there about medical trauma focuses on simply the physical effects from treatment of some kind of accident or injury instead of the toll that it takes on the nervous system. Many, many people have experienced the lesser known version of medical trauma without even knowing it.
Medical Trauma is the Nervous System’s Reaction
Anytime anyone has some sort of surgery or procedure that causes great pain or discomfort, the experience can get trapped in the nervous system. After a time the injury heals or the surgery is complete and all of the sutures are removed, but remnants of the pain and discomfort can still persist over time.
This is how medical trauma can manifest. The trauma is stored in the nervous system, and can be activated at certain times based on certain stimuli that are happening in the person’s internal or external world.
The Medical Model Conundrum
What medical science has taught us is that there is a physical cause to every malady that happens in the human body, and it’s simply a matter of finding the right medication, surgery, or other physical intervention to correct it.
What this misses is most everything that happens outside the purely physical, which is much of what human experience consists of.
Where the Medical Model Breaks Down
The human brain does not distinguish between physical and emotional pain, and they can tend to register in the person‘s being in the same way. Emotional pain should not really even exist at all for people who are totally into the dualistic thinking that the medical model is founded on.
Emotions, thoughts, and sensations are all part of something that can’t be pinned down physically, and modern science does not even really have an explanation for what is the origin of consciousness and awareness.
How to Cope with Medical Trauma
One important thing to recognize is that if you have discomfort somewhere internally that has already been addressed by modern medicine, you may very well have medical trauma. The pain is real, and it’s registering in your nervous system. That means that there’s still some disturbance in your nervous system that needs to be worked out.
Assuming that the previous surgery didn’t do the job and they need to go back in and operate again is not the best first direction to go. Instead, consider how this medical intervention might still be stored in your nervous system and seek consultation for therapy help along with using relaxation skills in the meantime to cope.
It’s Not All in Your Head
Simply saying this doesn’t do justice in the grand scheme of your nervous system. Your brain is in your head and your brain is the Grand Central Station of your nervous system. But your nervous system is much more than just your brain, so seeking professional help to address a problem that’s taking up a lot of bandwidth in your nervous system is often the next best thing to do once the physical problem has been remedied.
The pain is real, and it’s your job to listen to what the pain is telling you. Finding a therapist that treats medical trauma, like me, could be a good next step in the healing and recovery process.
Written by Scott Kampschaefer, LCSW – C
Visit our page on trauma therapy to find out more about how Scott can help you in recovering from medical trauma.
