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TRAUMA COUNSELLING

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The longer we live, the more inevitable it is that we will experience trauma. Trauma is the response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes their sense of self and their ability to feel the full range of emotions and experiences.

If you’ve gone through a traumatic experience or suffered repeated trauma you may be struggling with upsetting emotions, frightening memories, or a sense of constant danger that you just can’t kick. The trauma may have also left you feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people.

There are three categories of Trauma:

Impersonal trauma– tsunami – car accident
Interpersonal trauma- assault – war
Attachment trauma – abandonment, neglect, betrayal or physical, psychological, verbal, emotional, sexual or spiritual abuse

People respond to trauma in different ways. The same event may be more traumatic for some people than for others. Not all people who experience traumatic events develop mental health or addiction problems. Traumatic responses include:

isolation
hypervigilance or increased alertness
drinking or using other drugs to cope
self-injury
eating disorders
depression
anxiety.

People may re-experience the trauma mentally and physically. This may be a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In the long term, trauma may also cause flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms such as headaches or nausea. When thoughts and memories of the traumatic event don’t go away or get worse, they may lead to PTSD.

What is Involved with Trauma Counselling

Some therapies target the symptoms of PTSD directly, while others focus on social, family or job-related problems. Therapists often use a combination of therapies to match individual needs.

Trauma-focused therapy addresses the memories, reminders and beliefs related to the traumatic event. Examples of this kind of therapy include cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure.

Cognitive processing therapy is a type of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT helps people become aware of how certain negative automatic thoughts, attitudes, expectations and beliefs can contribute to anxiety and sadness. People learn how these thinking patterns, which they may have developed in the past to deal with difficult experiences, can be identified and changed in their daily lives to reduce unhappiness. They learn to have more control over their moods by having more control over the way they think.

Exposure therapy involves directly or indirectly exposing the person to the original memory of trauma to help them deal with anxiety, and learn to integrate triggers or reminders from the original trauma rather than avoiding situations to manage these feelings.

Non-trauma-focused therapy addresses trauma-related behaviours, thoughts, feelings or problems in the here and now without referring back to or recounting traumatic events. Examples of this type of therapy include Seeking Safety and stress inoculation training.

Medication may provide relief from sleeplessness, depression, panic attacks and other trauma reactions. Your doctor should be trained in understanding trauma as well as in prescribing psychotropic drugs. Although medication can help to manage some of the symptoms of trauma, it tends to be mose effective when combined with counselling.

What Does Trauma Counselling

(Psychotherapy) Treat

Trauma is defined by the experience of the survivor. But there is a delineation of trauma levels. Broadly described, they can be classified as large ‘T’ traumas and small ‘t’ traumas.

Small ‘t’ traumas are circumstances where one’s bodily safety or life is not threatened, but cause symptoms of trauma nonetheless. These events set one off-kilter and disrupt normal functioning in the world. They certainly don’t seem small at all when they occur, but most will have an easier time recovering from them than a large ‘T’ trauma. On the other hand, small ‘t’ traumas are sometimes disregarded since they seem surmountable. This can be perilous as the cumulative effect of an unprocessed trauma or traumas may trail a person relentlessly. Examples are: life changes like a new job or moving; relationship events like divorce, infidelity, or an upsetting personal conflict; life stressors like financial troubles, work stress or conflict, or legal battles.

Large ‘T’ traumas are extraordinary experiences that bring about severe distress and helplessness. They may be one-time events like acts of terrorism, natural catastrophes, and sexual assault. Or, they may be prolonged stressors like war, child abuse, neglect or violence. They are much more difficult or even impossible to overlook, yet they are often actively avoided. For instance, people may steer clear of triggers like personal reminders, certain locations, or situations like crowded or even deserted places. And they may resist confronting the memory of the event. As a coping mechanism, this only works for so long. Prolonging access to support and treatment prolongs healing.