Trauma Counseling
In certain situations, an overwhelming threat or negative event can overwhelm our capacity to process our experience and find a way to go forward and live the life we want live. These events or threats might be recent or quite old.
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines psychological trauma as follows:
Any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning.
Traumatic events include those caused by human behavior (e.g., rape, war, industrial accidents) as well as by nature (e.g., earthquakes) and often challenge an individual’s view of the world as a just, safe, and predictable place.
source: http://www.apa.org/topics/trauma
A condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may result from trauma. The APA defines PTSD as follows:
A disorder that may result when an individual lives through or witnesses an event in which they believe that there is a threat to life or physical integrity and safety and experiences fear, terror, or helplessness.
The symptoms are characterized by (a) reexperiencing the trauma in painful recollections, flashbacks, or recurrent dreams or nightmares; (b) avoidance of activities or places that recall the traumatic event, as well as diminished responsiveness (emotional anesthesia or numbing), with disinterest in significant activities and with feelings of detachment and estrangement from others; and (c) chronic physiological arousal, leading to such symptoms as an exaggerated startle response, disturbed sleep, difficulty in concentrating or remembering, and guilt about surviving the trauma when others did not.
source: http://www.apa.org/topics/ptsd
Certainly, there is beauty and love in the world. Equally certainly, there is suffering and horror. Bad things do happen. Sometimes they happen to us.
If you have experienced trauma, you are certainly not alone. For many people, overwhelming challenges in the past continue to negatively impact everyday life in the here and now.
While it is painful and disturbing, many people experience trauma and are ultimately able to process the experience and go on to live meaningful and deeply satisfying lives.
Working with an attuned supportive therapist can be very helpful. Meeting with a therapist can provide a “relational home” in which bodily and emotional reactions to a negative event can be addressed and processed. In time, you can find a way to move forward freely and actively in the world, and create the meaningful life you want.
With the help of an attuned and fully present therapist, you can process and work through the trauma. It’s difficult work, but you have a companion and helper in the therapist. The rewards can be substantial.
The course of therapy will be aimed at facilitating movement;
from helplessness to efficacy and capacity,
from being over or under activated in the world to calm, full aliveness,
from restricted living to full living,
from compulsive reliving of the trauma or avoidance to freedom,
from dissociation to integration and connectedness,
from hypervigilance and distrust to openness and trust with discretion,
from despair to triumph,
from restricted spontaneity to capacity to play.
Finally, though it may seem counterintuitive, the experience of working through trauma can lead to profound and valuable insights. As terrible as the experience of trauma is, could it be that any positive or valuable insights might emerge from the experience of trauma? In the book Trauma and Human Existence, Robert Stolorow addresses that question.
“Does trauma free one for possibilities that are authentic? At first glance the answer would seem obviously to be negative, since, as Freud (1926) recognized, the most immediate impact of trauma is to feel overwhelmed and powerless - hardly in the mood for a possible resolution. Yet, as the smoke begins to clear a bit, traumatized people sometimes feel they have gained 'perspective,' a sense of what 'really matters.' "
Working with trauma can be difficult, but the rewards can be substantial.
While a feeling of shame is frequently associated with trauma, there is nothing inherently shameful about it. Trauma results from an understandable bodily and psychological response to an intolerable situation.
Working with trauma is likely to be difficult at times, but a skilled therapist can create a safe space in which to work, and can help you to work through your situation without feeling traumatized yet again. The work should proceed at a pace and depth that is manageable for you.
You are not alone as you work through the trauma. Your therapist will act as a supportive companion and provide a secure '“relational home” for the work.
You can and should discuss with your therapist any concerns you have about the work prior to beginning.