Trauma Recovery

What is Trauma?

Trauma is in the body and the nervous system, not in the event.  Anything that overwhelms the nervous system, in other words something that happens too fast and is too much, can cause the nervous system to get stuck in time and try to save the rest of you from the event long after the event has past. 

There is more than one kind of trauma, there is single incident or shock trauma, which is when your life or another person's life was threatened and you felt helpless or powerless or out of control at the moment of that event. Such events can cause PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), some people have several of these types of events and that stress accumulates over the years and they can develop symptoms later in life.  Another kind of trauma is called complex trauma, this is a type of trauma in which you are threatened emotionally, spiritually, physically or sexually inside of a relationship.  The symptoms of complex trauma are often relationship difficulties as well as some of the normal stressors that those who have been through a shock trauma experience.  For many years, clinicians believed that you can learn to manage and live with post traumatic stress symptoms but that you can not be without them.  The new research and techniques that have been growing over the last 15 to 20 years has changed all of that and there is more hope than ever before for complete trauma recovery.

Can this kind of work help me?

Many times trauma symptoms present themselves in unexpected ways.  It can show up as depression or anxiety, a feeling of unease, difficulty in relationships or even somatic symptoms such as chronic pain, fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome.  Here are some common ways that trauma symptoms show up in every day life:

  • difficulty sleeping
  • jumpiness, startling easily or hyper-vigilance


  • intrusive memories that sometimes seem as real as life
  • depression
  • dullness, a feeling of disconnection
  • difficulty with decision making
  • anxiety
  • racing thoughts and difficulty with concentration
  • guilty thoughts and feelings
  • paranoia
  • difficulty with having things just so
  • fear of others
  • difficulty letting the memories fade from and incident
  • irritable bowel syndrome
  • chronic pain
  • fibromyalgia
  • extreme allergies
There are also many things that can cause trauma symptoms, I have a list here, some would be expected and others many people find surprising.
  • car accidents
  • natural disasters
  • falls
  • combat
  • witnessing an incident when people were hurt or killed
  • animal attacks
  • surgery
  • difficult births
  • childhood abuse
  • rape
  • being separated from a parent or parents at a young age
  • spousal or intimate partner abuse
  • dental procedures
  • swimming accidents
  • incidents in which your body felt trapped

My work with trauma recovery

I  have training in trauma work that is extensive and covers many different methods but my main modality is Somatic Experiencing (SE).  I also have completed Levels 1 and 2 of EMDR training and have attended many trainings in the neurobiology of trauma and trauma recovery.  I am currently completing my final year of the 3 year SE training program and expect to be a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) by the end of 2011.

Somatic Experiencing

SE is a natural method of trauma treatment that is effective, short term, and body-awareness oriented.  It is the result of over forty years of observation, research, and hands on development by Dr. Peter Levine.  Human beings have an innate ability to overcome the effects of trauma through restoring self regulation of the autonomic nervous system. The body bears the burden of trauma as much as the brain does.  The body communicates to the brain and the brain communicates back to the body, these systems are not actually separate.  By working with both in a systemic fashion, trauma can be healed more completely.  It is also a very gentle approach, many who think that they should seek trauma treatment are hesitant because trauma recovery sounds frightening or too painful.  Somatic Experiencing is perfect for those who have these kind of worries because it works with the body to relieve trauma symptoms naturally. 

To learn more about SE, please visit www.traumahealing.com


EMDR

I also use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) in my work with those recovering from trauma.  I find that I often use both SE and EMDR with one client or that I might think one or the other is better.  I also work with those who are specifically seeking this method of treatment.

No one knows exactly how any form of psychotherapy works neurobiologically or in the brain and the same is true for EMDR.   However, we do know that when a person is very upset, their brain cannot process information in the same way that it does under usual circumstances.  Moments can become “frozen in time” and remembering a trauma may feel as bad as going through it the first time did.  Such memories have a lasting effect that interferes with the way a person sees the world and the way they relate to other people.

EMDR seems to have a direct effect on the way that the brain processes information.  It helps normal information processing to resume so following successful EMDR treatment a person no longer relives the images, sounds and feelings that were present when the event is brought to mind.  So people still remember what has happened, but it is less upsetting when they do.  It also targets the negative belief systems that sometimes get stuck during trauma.  It frees those belief systems that seemed stuck and so people find more freedom to shift their perspective and look at things differently and in a way that is more helpful to them.

To learn more about EMDR, please visit www.emdria.org