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- [Narrator] Hey, Psych2Go guys.
Welcome back to another video.
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Now, let's begin.
Have you had an experience
that left you wounded in the heart?
Does the memory of it still hurt you today?
If so, you may be emotionally wounded.
Emotional wounds are essentially emotional
or psychological trauma,
and the effects of these can be damaging
to your physical and mental wellbeing.
They can encompass many experiences such as heartbreak,
emotional abuse, betrayal, and more,
so here are seven signs you may be emotionally wounded.
Number one, you get flashbacks.
Did you know that many people
who have gone through an emotionally traumatic event
experience flashbacks afterwards?
And there are actually two types of flashbacks
you might experience, explicit and implicit.
Explicit flashbacks are more memory-based
and describe the feeling
where you find yourself reliving the event all over again.
On the other hand, implicit flashbacks are driven more
by emotions and feel like an unexplained overreaction
or outburst to an emotional trigger.
Number two, you have low self-esteem.
Emotional wounds hurt,
and may make you doubt your self-worth.
According to therapist, Tracy Hutchinson,
it's common for these emotional wounds
to involve verbal abuse and insult.
Therefore, you may look back at those events
and feel small, worthless, or ashamed.
Your mind may be processing the event
by tearing your self-esteem down
to rationalize what happened to you.
However, with proper healing,
you may be able to process your emotional wounds
in a way that doesn't cause you
to question your confidence or self-worth.
Number three, you have trouble controlling your emotions.
You find yourself getting angry over small things
and lashing out unexpectedly.
Do you have a hard time quieting your mind at night?
These could be signs of an emotional wound
since emotional wounds can make it really hard
to regain control over the emotions that have been damaged.
According to psychologist,
Melanie Greenberg from Psychology Today,
emotional wounds often damage the amygdala
and the prefrontal cortex,
which are two brain areas heavily responsible
for emotional regulation.
Number four, you find yourself emotionally eating.
Do you ever find yourself mindlessly eating sometimes?
Emotional eating is common
during times of stress, pain and discomfort.
This may be because food releases a feel-good chemical
in the brain called dopamine.
Emotional eating may give you a sense of control
or distract you from your past.
However, it's important to recognize this in yourself
because emotional eating can lead to a variety
of eating disorders that can be harmful to your body.
Number five, you have a chaotic sleep schedule.
Have you had trouble falling asleep
or problems sleeping too much,
you wake up at random times late at night?
All of this chaos surrounding yourself
could be ineffective emotional wounds
since trauma can impact your sleep
in a number of negative ways.
You may experience nightmares or experience anxiety at night
when your adrenaline may be keeping you alert and awake
when you should be sleeping.
Number six, you have a heavy heart.
Do you sometimes feel sad, out of the blue?
Have you found yourself crying easily
over the littlest of things?
Another major sign of an emotional wound is extreme sadness.
Extreme sadness is hard to bear,
and if it goes on for a long time,
it may lead to emotional numbness
where you suddenly go from feeling a lot of emotions
to feeling absolutely nothing at all.
Both of these options are difficult to deal with
and could very well be signs of an emotional wound.
And number seven, you feel the most secure by yourself.
Does spending time alone make you feel the calmest
and the safest?
Emotional wounds can bring about trust issues
and make it hard to feel secure around other people.
This may cause you to avoid social events
and a lot of time alone and even begin to isolate yourself.
Although you may feel best alone at the moment,
remember that social isolation can cause
so many other forms of damage to your emotional wellbeing.
Do you think you're suffering from an emotional wound?
Let us know in the comments below.
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with those who might benefit from it too,
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The references and studies used
are added in the description below.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in our next video.