A professional counselor shared about the significance of healthy relationships in healing trauma and warned against the effect of social media on a person's emotion.
"We see how vital relationships are for happy lives. We understand that our brains can change-not just in our early days but throughout our lifetimes. We also find that habits of the mind and body can bring health to the brain and thus to our lives," Tim Clinton, president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, wrote on Charisma Magazine.
"Yet we also have to realize that we are living in a society that is increasingly disconnected, increasingly damaging itself through social media and increasingly feeling lonely and friendless. This is tragic both because it is painful and because of something the new brain science is teaching us: Relationships are the key to healing trauma," he added.
The counselor said that it is typical for people to deal with shame but reminded that God has already provided its "antidote" in the Bible, which he said is also supported by Science.
He shared about Dr. Curt Thompson's findings on the "unique neurobiology" of shame, saying that "toxic shame" creates "an observable pathology of disconnection in the brain."
"In other words, toxic shame creates in the biology of the brain exactly what it is creating in the life of a shame-filled person: brokenness, disconnection and exclusion," Clinton explained.
He pointed out that though shame is not "easily erased" in the brain, which may had been there since a person's childhood, the mind can help rewiring the brain through healthy practices.
Biblical practices, such as "Christian fellowship, bearing one another's burdens, confession of sin, loving and accepting one another in authentic relationships", are immensely helpful in healing trauma. Thus the significance of healthy relationships.
He went on to share that in previous generations, when individuals are more connected through personal relationships, people were healthier. Their "meaningful interactions" helped them develop healthy brains which led to happier lives.
The counselor stressed that though social media has been a "blessing" in this generation, it lacks the benefits of human interaction and negates the "seven signals in human relationships", including eye contact, tone of voice, facial expressions, timing, postures, gestures and intensity.
Moreover, he said that social media rewires the brain "toward words and logic, away from the human, the emotional and the physical," which leads to loneliness.
Clinton emphasized that this fact is supported by research. According to the findings, 30% of the millennials, the generation most exposed to the online world, revealed that they are lonely despite having good education and considered as "among the most prosperous of all their age-mates throughout history."
Clinton declared that a Christian community can serve as a "bulwark" against the current "traumatizing culture."
He then suggested that churches must offer the much-needed relational interactions to this hurting generation.
In conclusion, he expressed the same advice to the believers.
"But we Christians know that we have not only the mental benefits of our faith and practices to offer but also the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We really can be the healing force we are called to be in our traumatized generation. We can make the difference our age needs and that we believers in Jesus long to be in our time," Clinton stated.
