Free Quiz

Your Healing Journey Quiz

Many experiences in life are therapeutic–that is, they help you feel better or improve your physical or mental health. Walking in nature. Listening to music. Writing. This does not mean that they are “therapy”–the diagnosis and treatment of disease using specific treatment modalities. In our culture of emotional suppression, many people give the label “therapy” to anything that makes them have a feeling or touches their deep inner needs for connection and insight. I want to clarify that participating in writing to heal is therapeutic, but what I’m offering is not therapy. It is education and skills. The following quiz is not intended to be diagnostic but to add to your self-understanding; your answers might also make it clearer to you when you need a therapist. 

 

When Judith Herman published Trauma and Recovery in 1992, she described the stages of healing from trauma in ways that are still broadly used by therapists. Here, I follow her three-part outline, with an addition, and with my own interpretation of the process.  As always, healing is not linear, and these stages may overlap or not happen in strictly chronological order, though I do believe that healing can’t proceed until you’re safe enough.

 

How healing proceeds depends a lot on what needs healing. One-time traumatic events for people who are doing otherwise well can heal relatively quickly. If you are a survivor of complex trauma, multiple forms of trauma, or chronic trauma, healing can take years. Don’t compare yourself to others or judge yourself for needing what you need.

 

The following quiz can help you find yourself on the map of your healing journey.

Find Out What Stage Of Healing You're In

Each item in this quiz can be recognized with a

YES = I agree, this is often true of me,

MAYBE = I’m not sure, or this sometimes happens, but not most of the time,

NO, I Disagree = this does not describe me very much.

1. I remember what happened to me but I’ve never told the story.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

2. I get out-of-control triggered often. Life feels chaotic.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

3. I can name the ways I think, feel, and behave that are left over survival patterns from trauma, not current choices that serve me well.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

4. I feel grounded and embodied. I am congruent with myself most of the time.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

5. I’m beginning to connect the dots between what happened and how I think/feel/behave today.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

6. I need to get stability in my life–a place to live, a job, a support community.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

7. From outside, I look fine, but inside, I am suffering–stressed and anxious, lonely, dissatisfied with life.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

8. I am drawn to a cause that is meaningful to me, and I contribute to the world creatively and effectively.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

9. I am able to experience difficult feelings without shutting down, though I often avoid them as well.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

10. I know I have to break my own survival rules in order to be authentically myself, but it feels like I’m going to die. I have a therapist or other resources to support me through this.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

11. I’m working on recovering from addiction–drugs, alcohol, behavior like gambling, workaholism, etc.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

12. I’m learning how to track myself so I know when I am grounded and embodied, and when I am dissociated.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

13. I’m happy most of the time, even when difficult things are going on.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

14. I’m learning about the physiological effects of trauma. This helps me recognize some of my physical symptoms as memories expressed by my body.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

15. I’m learning how to engage in healing ways with the parts of me that resist or sabotage my growth.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

16. I am learning how to regulate my emotions so I don’t always get overwhelmed by sadness, anger, shame, or despair.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

17. I sleep well at night, don’t have intrusive thoughts or memories, am neither over-activated nor depressed most of the time, and have confidence in myself and my future.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

18. I don’t know why I sabotage myself so often.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

19. I can sometimes break my own “survival rules” and take the risk to act authentically on behalf of myself and others.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

20. I am grateful for Life, even including how trauma shaped me. I feel awe and wonder regularly.

Choose the response that resonates most: YES / MAYBE / NO

Interpretation: Understanding Your Healing Stage

If you said YES to #2, 6, 11, 16, and 18: You’re likely at the very beginning of your journey to heal from trauma. This stage is called Safety and Stabilization, and it’s when you get safe enough in your life and in your relationship with a therapist to learn how to regulate yourself. (Safe enough in your life means having basic ground like a safe place to live, a job, people to trust.) Some good modalities for this stage are addiction treatment, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Dialectic Behavior Therapy. Some writing exercises are good for learning self-regulation as well.
If you said YES to #1, 5, 7, 12 and 14: You’re likely to be in the second phase, Remembrance and Mourning. You have established the safety and stability to start telling your story and delving more deeply into it. You may even recover memories you didn’t know about (except in your body). Many strong feelings can emerge during this stage, including grief, rage, despair, fear—all appropriate to your experiences. This is a time to gain more self-regulation skills, become more embodied and empowered to process your trauma. An empathetic therapist trained in trauma, a good support group, using the writing to heal course or book, and other forms of support can be essential. For therapy, I especially recommend modalities that include the body, like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy or Somatic Experiencing.
If you said YES to #3, 9, 10, 15, and 19: You are seeing the effects of your previous work so that you’re able to have Reconnection and Integration. You are more connected to yourself (even parts of yourself you were previously unaware of) and to other people. Your relationships are getting healthier, you are able to maintain a balanced nervous system or know how to regain balance if you become hyper-vigilant or depressive.
If you said YES to #4, 8, 13, 17, and 20: Past trauma has lost its grip on you. I call this stage Wholeness. You’ve entered the stage when you’re not at war with yourself anymore. Some therapists call Post Traumatic Growth the stage when you feel a level of spiritual meaning that impels you to contribute to the world in some creative way (even if all your symptoms are not gone). You experience a balance between being motivated and activated while enjoying inner peace.

If many of your answers were unclear—no strong Yes or No: This could indicate two possibilities. 1.) You’re not familiar with any of the components of the journey and are therefore at the beginning of stage 1.

Or 2.) You may be reflecting how progress is not linear. For instance, you can feel like the work you’re doing in stage 2 or 3 puts you back into the chaos of stage 1. You may gain a lot of insight and ability to handle situations, including your own reactions, but a new memory may throw you back into overwhelm. If you have your inner and outer resources established, this is part of the necessary process.

Clear NO answers: These can help you place yourself in the map of your journey; they also shed some light on where you’re headed.