Trauma Therapy
The word Trauma seems to be thrown around quite a bit lately. I think there are pros and cons to this new fascination with trauma. Improved awareness is always a good thing but overusing the term has the potential to lessen the impact of it for some. I also think that Trauma can be different for different people. For example, a Neurodiverse kid, bullying might make it higher on the scale, than it would for their Neurotypical counterpart.
Regardless of the type of Trauma though, one thing which stays consistent is how deep those wounds can be and how hard it can be to heal. On top of that, there's often Negative Beliefs or Cognitions which can develop with these experiences. This could include feeling like "I'm not good enough, I'm worthless, I'm powerless" or that "it's not safe to express my feelings". These negative beliefs can eventually turn into self-fulfilling prophesies, which over time can create all sorts of havoc in our lives!
Trauma focused therapy specifically targets traumatic experiences that impact the mental, behavioral, physical, and emotional state of an individual so it's likely a therapist would, or should, have additional training in order to treat it.
As a trauma therapist, I completed additional certifications in EMDR, IFS, ACT and Neurofeedback.
Neurofeedback can actually change the way your brain responds. It's like exercise for your brain! And ACT, Acceptance Commitment Therapy can help when people feel like they're stuck, going around and around with the same issue(s). I've included more below on EMDR and IFS.
Internal Family Systems or IFS
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapy which views the mind as naturally made up of multiple sub-personalities, or "parts," guided by a core, compassionate "Self. Think of the different emotions in Disney's Inside Out, except instead of them being feelings, they're older parts of you stuck in their previous trauma.
When you're an adult and you find yourself reacting to a situation like a 7 year-old because your 7 year-old part thinks they have to come out and protect you, it's not often helpful. They think they're helping but have you ever been embarrassed about your interaction(s) with someone and felt afterwards like you were acting childhish? Maybe that wasn't totally you. Maybe it was a part of you, trying (often unhelpfully) to protect you.
These are some types of trauma:
-
Bullying
-
Community Violence
-
Complex Trauma
-
Disasters
-
Early Childhood Trauma
-
Intimate Partner Violence
-
Medical Trauma
-
Physical Abuse
-
Sexual Abuse
-
Refugee Trauma
-
Sex-Trafficking Trauma
-
Terrorism and Violence
-
Traumatic Grief
.png)
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization
and Reprocessing
The 8 stages of EMDR:
1. History Taking and Treatment Planning: Client and therapist determine if the client is ready. The treatment plan is created, including several memories the client continue to feel strong emotions about.
2. Safe/Calm Place. Making sure the client can handle the emotional distress if things begin to escalate. Many client are concerned they will be unable to maintain their emotions in session when covering traumatic events and this allows the client reassurance they will be able to return to their appropriate baseline after processing.
3. Assessment. We create a template after selecting a memory from history taking and we begin processing.
4. Desensitization. As we process, we begin by focusing on an image (the worse part of the experience as you recall it), the negative cognition or belief associated with the memory and we have them notice where they feel that in their body. Once the bilateral stimulation begins it is like a choose your own adventure for the brain. The more we go over what the brain hopes to cover, the more we become desensitized by the experience and then negative belief(s).
5. Installation. It's time to install something else. If the negative belief is I'm not good enough then we are aiming to install the opposite.
6. Body Scan. In order to ensure that we are really getting rid of the full effects of the trauma, we will do body scans to ensure the bodies reaction to the image and negative cognition are slowly improving.
7. Closure: As we see these improvements we begin to close down, out of the memory, finally letting it go, peacefully.
8. Reevaluation. We go back in and check to make sure this event no longer has a hold on us so we can move forward.