Over the past decade, trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have increasingly become part of our national conversation, so much so that we’ve grown accustomed to headlines like “The Psychological Trauma of Covid-19” and cast members of shows like Bravo’s West Coast reality series, The Real Housewives of Orange County, talk openly about having PTSD. Surviving war, rape, natural disasters, and other obvious threats to life have become widely accepted as diagnosably traumatizing events.
But it’s less widely recognized that racism, homophobia, and other bigotries are ongoing, traumatic stressors for far too many. While the world is dealing with Covid-19, Black, Latino, and Native Americans are dying at the highest rates, more likely to live in viral hotspots, and at higher risk of losing their jobs—demonstrating yet again how racism is deeply woven into our society.
Similarly, according to The State of the LGBTQ Community in 2020, a study conducted by the Center for American Progress, one in three LGBTQ individuals report mistreatment in their public, work, and personal lives and discrimination that continues to harm their psychological and physical well-being.
The tolls of discrimination are real
As a trauma-informed personal trainer committed to supporting the mental health and wellness of those suffering from racial or homophobia-related trauma, I want you to know that the psychological, emotional, and physical tolls of discrimination—whether it be institutionalized, covert, or overt—are very real. And they can lead to the development of PTSD.
While an estimated 9% of Americans will be diagnosed with PTSD in their lifetimes, PTSD rates are highest among minority communities. For example, the National Survey of American Life found that African Americans have a PTSD prevalence rate of 9.1%, compared to 6.8% in non-Hispanic whites. Other minority groups, including Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders, also experience increased PTSD.
PTSD disproportionately affects sexual minorities as well. In 2010, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Boston’s Children’s Hospital found that gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who’ve had a same-sex sex partner are 1.5 to 2 times as likely to experience violent events, especially in childhood. And they have double the risk of developing PTSD as a consequence of these events.
These traumas often go unrecognized
One reason trauma caused by prejudice and discrimination goes unrecognized is that the tools mental health practitioners use to diagnose trauma are limited. For example, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) doesn’t list racial or homophobia-related trauma in its pages. However, there’s a growing body of work focused on studying social traumas, which may one day lead to accurate diagnoses and treatment.
Even without a diagnosis, coping with frequent microaggressions can lead to psychological distress. This may show up in your life as low self-esteem or thoughts of suicide. If your trauma stems from racism, you might dissociate, struggle with intrusive thoughts, feel like you can’t cope, or avoid people and situations.
How strength training helps combat trauma’s symptoms
While there are all sorts of therapies that can help combat the symptoms of trauma, I focus on teaching trauma survivors how to lift weights, use weight machines, and train with resistance. Why?
Strength training cultivates a sense of safety. Strength training cultivates, restores, and maintains a sense of safety within your own body. You can’t begin addressing dissociation, intrusive thoughts, and other maladaptive coping behaviors until you feel safe.
A gym (or home gym) provides the space to tune into your body. The fact is, for many of us, the gym (or even a space at home with a mat and some hand weights) is the most accessible place to pay attention to our bodies and what our bodies are telling us.
Regular strength training increases your capacity for stress. With trauma-informed strength training, which accounts for the physiological impacts of trauma, you can restore healthy nervous system function, increase your capacity for stress, and address any potential somatized trauma symptoms, such as chronic pain or fatigue.
Embodied movement promotes healing. My trauma-sensitive model brings an embodied approach to strength training, which is often part of other movement-based healing modalities but not generally associated with meatheads seeking gains in the free weights section.
When you are embodied, you are mindful of your body—its shape, weight, and density—as you make your way through your workout. You’re aware of the feelings and sensations that arise and when they arise. It’s been my experience that applying the principles of embodied movement makes for more significant and sustainable gains, both in terms of healing and strength.
Trauma-informed strength training helps you foster connections. This approach can help you combat the feelings of isolation that are often a symptom of trauma.
Licia Sky, CEO of the Trauma Research Foundation, observed that trauma-informed movement takes you from feeling self-conscious, which is limiting, to self-aware, which is empowering. It’s from this place of self-awareness that you can find your agency and learn to trust yourself, trust others, and build healthy relationships in this world.
Trauma-informed strength training is by no means a solution to racial or homophobic-related trauma, but it does offer a set of tools for survivors who have lived, and continue to live, in a society that discriminates. And while I would love for my work to be rendered obsolete, until that day comes, self-care and community care are paramount. A trauma-informed approach to strength training may be one approach for you to consider.
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If you need immediate help
If you’re having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, there are many people available to support you. In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.
If you’re experiencing emotional pain and need support, Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741 in the U.S. or Canada, 85258 in the U.K., and 50808 in Ireland. It’s free, available 24/7, and confidential.
The Veterans Crisis Line and Military Crisis Line connect in-crisis veterans, service members, and their families and friends with qualified, caring U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs responders. It’s confidential and available 24/7. Call 1-800-273-8255 and press 1, text 838255, or chat online.
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