In a new qualitative study, weight lifters who experienced psychological trauma shared that weight lifting helped them recover from their emotional pain by creating a strong connection between their mind and body. While their traumatic experiences had caused them to feel disconnected from themselves and others, weight lifting helped them become a healthier, more empowered, and connected trauma survivor. The study was published in Mental Health and Physical Activity.
Psychological trauma is a severe emotional response to a distressing event or series of events that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope. It often results from experiences like violence, abuse, accidents, or natural disasters. This experience is so profound that trauma survivors often divide their lives into time before and time after the traumatic event or events.
Psychological trauma can cause long-lasting effects on a person’s mental and emotional well-being. People who’ve experienced trauma might start feeling anxious, depressed, or even develop post-traumatic stress disorder along with other mental struggles. They might also turn to substances like drugs or alcohol. Right now, the main ways to help with psychological trauma are talking therapy and medications for the symptoms of these struggles. But these treatments are not always effective.
Many scientists look towards physical activity as a potential helpful factor in overcoming the consequences of trauma. Being physically active decreases the risk for cardiovascular disease, improves brain function, and decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes. It produces overall health benefits. Physically active individuals tend to live longer. Studies have reported beneficial effects of physical exercise on symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even on substance-abuse disorders.
Study authors Eva Nowakowski-Sims and her colleagues wanted to explore the role of weight lifting in healing from trauma. They note that multiple recent studies reported beneficial effects of intense physical exercise, and particularly resistance exercise, on symptoms of anxiety, depression and other disorders. Resistance exercise is a type of physical activity that involves using external resistance or body’s own resistance to build and strengthen muscles. This includes activities such as weight lifting.
The researchers interviewed to 46 people who had experienced psychological trauma and had been doing weight lifting for at least 3 months. There were 26 women, 8 men, and 12 who identified as nonbinary, transgender, or agender. The average age was 36 years old. Types of trauma that qualified them for participation included interpersonal trauma (abuse, neglect, assault), intrapersonal trauma (examples offered to participants of intrapersonal trauma included car accident, natural disaster, or invasive medical procedures), or systemic trauma (examples offered to participants of systemic trauma included oppression and discrimination).
The researchers talked to each person individually using a Zoom video call. These interviews lasted between 45 to 90 minutes and the researchers asked questions about the participants’ lives, how they started weight lifting, how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their exercise, and what they thought could help others who had been through trauma. They also asked about what was most helpful in their healing journey, their thoughts about exercise, weight lifting, health, and how these things were connected to their emotional well-being.
Based on the qualitative analysis of the interviews, the researchers created a grounded theory of weight lifting’s impact on healing from trauma. “Grounded theory” is a qualitative research methodological procedure focused on developing theories or explanations from data. In this procedure, researchers identify themes and patterns in the data without having preconceived hypotheses.
The researchers identified two main themes from what the participants said. The first theme was that the past and current trauma experiences created relational and bodily disconnection and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that were fueled by social and sensory dysregulation. The focus of the second theme was how the experience of lifting weights, alongside a trustworthy coach/trainer, offered improved health, and also made them feel empowered and connected to the community. It allowed them to grow psychologically.
“Weight lifting was a grounding experience that helped participants facilitate a more embodied presence. They were able to recognize the mind-body connection and use the embodied experience to positively influence their thoughts. Weight lifting is a felt experience that creates a unique way for people with past trauma to live in relationship with their own body. Participants spoke of the bodily awareness they developed through weight lifting as a mechanism that allowed them to transform physical experiences of strength into emotional and psychological experiences of empowerment. As participants improved their physical health, they were also able to improve their mental health as evidenced by the theme of improved confidence and self-efficacy,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on trauma healing experiences of trauma survivors who practice weight lifting. However, the study sample was small and data about the experience of trauma came solely from self-reports. Results might not have been the same if clinical diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder were used instead.
The paper, “A grounded theory of weight lifting as a healing strategy for trauma”, was authored by Eva Nowakowski-Sims, Mariah Rooney, Dana Vigue, and Savannah Woods.
