TRAUMA

Trauma also comes in many forms. Essentially trauma is any experience that leaves one fearful for their life or their value as a person. So, trauma may occur from any experience that seriously diminishes personal integrity and leaves one fragmented: war, domestic violence, rape, terrorism, natural disasters, or prolonged stress or abuse that undermines one’s capacity to be self-directing without extreme fear or paranoia and without intruding on or harming others.

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Science has revealed the common-sense idea that one must face one’s fears in order to overcome them. Yet, in trauma, what we often call Post-traumatic Stress results in such emotional instability and distortions in mental perceptions as to leave one agitated yet often simultaneously paralyzed by fear, such that we literally stew in our own internal stew (stress hormones and neuro-transmitter chemicals). There are a number of effective approaches to treat trauma, all with the ultimate goal to reduce the hold that the trauma has and to integrate the trauma into one’s life such that it can be managed.

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I mainly use a combination of person-centered therapy (as developing trust and safety helps alleviate some of the fear), Cognitive-behavioral therapy (to enable new coping skills related to the trauma), and Cognitive Processing/Narrative therapies (to uncover the trauma and learn to see it in a new manner that decreases its intrusion into daily life).