Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & Treatment
Trauma refers to any threatening and overwhelming experiences that we cannot integrate; thus the psyche is left with a legacy of dysregulation that shows up a symptoms of ‘dis-ease’, both in the mind and the body. As human beings, we are all complex, delicate organisms and are readily impacted by traumatic events, especially during the first 6-7 formative years of our lives. The impact of trauma on how we function in life can be significant and the resulting conditioning can negatively shape/dysregulate our thoughts, feelings and actions for the rest
of our lives, unless we recognise and address this.
Relational trauma can derive from experiences with our attachment figures and can also be perpetuated by strangers – rape, bullying, hate crime and physical or sexual abuse are examples of relational trauma. Event traumas, such as accidents or disasters, do not involve other people but are still traumatic. Trauma can be a single event or repeated events.
PTSD can result from “any perceived life-threatening experience.” What one person perceives as life-threatening may be different from another’s perceptions; the perception of threat often has its roots in childhood. Classic symptoms of trauma include: anxiety, nervousness or hypervigilance, an inability to think clearly under stress, dissociation, nightmares, insomnia, heightened startle response, emotional paralysis, outbursts of anger or rage, and feelings of powerlessness.
Unconscious beliefs and unprocessed trauma can show up as chronic tensions and stiffness, nervous system disorders, anxiety, depression, nightmares, chronic illness, low self-esteem and various inabilities to function at full capacity. Physical symptoms are often signals that something is wrong on a deeper level.
In contrast to somatic therapy, traditional “talk” therapies and medication are often only partially effective or focus on treating symptoms. The unresolved legacy of trauma resides in the limbic (emotional) brain which does not relate to talk or insights, and effective, long-term healing does not take place as a result.
Understanding Trauma and its Treatment
Since the 1980s and ‘90s, newer treatment paradigms have developed that more directly impact the somatic and emotional legacy of trauma. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy utilizes mindfulness techniques to facilitate resolution of trauma-related body responses as well as re-working emotional responses and meaning-making.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), developed in the 1980s by Francine Shapiro, is today one of the most popular and well-researched methods of trauma treatment. Like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR does not focus on narrative recall but on reprocessing the embodied legacy of trauma to reduce the associated emotional charge.
Research now shows that the emotional brain, that holds the legacy of our life issues, does not respond to words or insights. Thus, traditional talk therapy that focuses on the cognitive or emotional aspects of the individual, is not enough to help a client heal. Sensorimotor psychotherapy joins together cognitive and somatic techniques. This is important in treatment as unresolved life legacy issues stored somatically, can hijack our 24/7 experience and overwhelm our resources to manage life as we would want to.
of our lives, unless we recognise and address this.
Relational trauma can derive from experiences with our attachment figures and can also be perpetuated by strangers – rape, bullying, hate crime and physical or sexual abuse are examples of relational trauma. Event traumas, such as accidents or disasters, do not involve other people but are still traumatic. Trauma can be a single event or repeated events.
PTSD can result from “any perceived life-threatening experience.” What one person perceives as life-threatening may be different from another’s perceptions; the perception of threat often has its roots in childhood. Classic symptoms of trauma include: anxiety, nervousness or hypervigilance, an inability to think clearly under stress, dissociation, nightmares, insomnia, heightened startle response, emotional paralysis, outbursts of anger or rage, and feelings of powerlessness.
Unconscious beliefs and unprocessed trauma can show up as chronic tensions and stiffness, nervous system disorders, anxiety, depression, nightmares, chronic illness, low self-esteem and various inabilities to function at full capacity. Physical symptoms are often signals that something is wrong on a deeper level.
In contrast to somatic therapy, traditional “talk” therapies and medication are often only partially effective or focus on treating symptoms. The unresolved legacy of trauma resides in the limbic (emotional) brain which does not relate to talk or insights, and effective, long-term healing does not take place as a result.
Understanding Trauma and its Treatment
Since the 1980s and ‘90s, newer treatment paradigms have developed that more directly impact the somatic and emotional legacy of trauma. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy utilizes mindfulness techniques to facilitate resolution of trauma-related body responses as well as re-working emotional responses and meaning-making.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), developed in the 1980s by Francine Shapiro, is today one of the most popular and well-researched methods of trauma treatment. Like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR does not focus on narrative recall but on reprocessing the embodied legacy of trauma to reduce the associated emotional charge.
Research now shows that the emotional brain, that holds the legacy of our life issues, does not respond to words or insights. Thus, traditional talk therapy that focuses on the cognitive or emotional aspects of the individual, is not enough to help a client heal. Sensorimotor psychotherapy joins together cognitive and somatic techniques. This is important in treatment as unresolved life legacy issues stored somatically, can hijack our 24/7 experience and overwhelm our resources to manage life as we would want to.
