BREAK THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STRESS AND ILLNESS
by Alexis Acker-Halbur
Over 20,000 research studies have been done on the impact of stress on the human body. No one study has totally convinced the medical world that unresolved stress and trauma can, indeed, cause illness. I believe it is time to admit that it does. I am not a medical professional, nor am I a therapist or social worker. What I am is a professional patient who has had a lifetime of illnesses from Type 1 diabetes and high blood pressure to Grave’s (thyroid) disease and Stage IV colon cancer – not once but twice. I was given a six percent chance of surviving the cancer each time.
When I was four years old, my father began to sexually abuse me. I do not need a research study to prove that my unresolved childhood trauma resulted in illness.
Children learn to tell the truth as one of their first lessons. For children who are physically, emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically abused and traumatized, this lesson becomes a dire challenge. Frequently threatened and told to lie, children like me ebb further and further away from the core truth: the authenticity to speak directly from the soul. The result is a spiritual loss so deep that recovery from stress and trauma seems impossible.
How bad is it? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that adult retrospective studies show that one in four women and one in six men were sexually abused before the age of 18. This means there are more than 42 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse in the U.S. The most horrific fact about child abuse is that no child is immune from sexual violence. Unresolved trauma, I believe, is one of the reasons our medical costs in this country are so high?
Late one night I was in the hospital. Hours before, I had surgery to remove two feet of my colon. The cancer had metastasized into my lymph nodes and liver. I could feel myself sinking deeper and deeper into the mattress. I knew I was dying. If I was alive the next morning, I vowed to break the connection between stress and illness by teaching my body, mind, and spirit how to heal.
I wrote a book about the tools I used to survive, and I created a program called T.R.U.T.H. – The Road to Unresolved Trauma Healing. I believe the “U†in truth is the center on how to authentically heal from stress and trauma. In the following months, I will share this program on how to enhance the quality of life for survivors. Will it be an easy road? No, unfortunately, but I believe readers can find ways to break this connection and find true healing. The next eleven articles will focus on the T.R.U.T.H. program and how it works to spiritually awaken inner healing abilities. Finding unconditional truth, love, and belonging heals the soul. We all deserve to live well.
www.nevergiveupinstitute.org
Minnesota, USA