How Trauma Therapy Can Help You Heal
A tear - or is it the pearl of perspective and change?
Trauma healing
There are many different techniques for trauma healing.
Here are some aspects that successful approaches share.
Successful approaches to trauma healing
incorporate relaxation exercises to support the nervous system to move out of flight and flight mode (sympathetic nervous system) and into the rest and relax state (parasympathetic nervous system). The social engagement system (which holds your capacity to enjoy and connect with others) and the thinking parts come back online in the rest and relax state. Also, your sleep, digestion, wellbeing, and health may improve.
support you to release some of the sympathetic charge of the traumatic event. The sympathetic charge is the fight and flight energy you feel when a trigger reminds you of the event. Such release happens in a way that is gentle and gradual, so that your system does not get overwhelmed by it. However, in the beginning of therapy, it may be important to support your system to feel safe and at rest. Only once you feel resourced and supported will we start to revisit the event (and only if this is what you would like to do).
support your memory to gather up fragmented trauma memories and put a timestamp on it. The timestamp consists of a beginning and an end and helps your memory to store the event as a more cohesive experience that happened in the past. Once your system had the opportunity to release some of the fight-and-flight/survival energy that you experienced when the event happened (and when you got triggered thereafter), your nervous system has more capacity. You may experience that the triggers become weaker or disappear and that you are more relaxed overall.
consider self-defeating beliefs and conclusions you have drawn about yourself, your life, and your environment because of the traumatic experience. Therapy provides opportunities to become aware of these beliefs and conclusions and invite you to reconsider which ones you want to let go of and which ones to take forward as you move ahead.
I work from a trauma-informed approach and draw from various modalities (Somatic Experiencing, psychodynamic, narrative, feminist, etc.) to support clients heal from trauma. Contact me for a free consultation to find out if I can be of support on your healing journey.
