What is Trauma/PTSD?
Trauma is a stressful experience where the individual experiencing the trauma perceives the situation as:
- Unexpected
And himself/herself in the situation as:
- Unsafe
- Alone, or without help
- Helpless, or not knowing how or manage the situation
PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a collection of symptoms that are often experienced following one or more traumatic experiences. These symptoms include (but are not limited to) Depression, Anxiety/Panic, Rage, Sleep disturbances, Heightened sensitivity, Addictions, and Difficulty in relationships.
Who has Trauma?
I have yet to meet a person that does not have traumas!
Every symptom that you experience, be it physical, emotional or spiritual can be connected to an earlier trauma an original ‘root cause’ experience where you perceived the situation to be unexpected, and yourself to be unsafe, alone, and helpless. In that situation your Nervous System kicked into a fight, flight, freeze mechanism in order to deal with the situation, and stay alive (that is the function of the fight/flight/freeze mechanism).
2 Different kinds of Trauma:
‘Big T Trauma’ are the abuse (physical, emotional, sexual), neglect, bullying. This can be in childhood or throughout our life. It can be a one-time event or multiple events. It is easy to see why a BIG T TRAUMA event will trigger a fight/flight/freeze reaction (it is often dangerous), and why the body will automatically/subconsciously hold onto that event in order to keep us safe in the future. Except it is this holding on to the event that creates such suffering for us throughout our lives.
‘Small t traumas’ are are simply a part of growing up!
Imagine a 5 yea old playing at the park having a carefree time, and suddenly an excited little puppy approaches her. She was not expecting the puppy, she feels alarmed by the sudden movements of the puppy, looks around and for a moment cant find her caregiver, and isn’t sure what to do to. She freezes.
This experience creates a Trauma, which essentially is a neural pathway in her brain that is stuck on the ON button. This mechanism in our brain is there to protect us (if you can believe it or not), so that when we have a dangerous experience, we can remember it! and stay safe the next time a similar situation happens. This neural pathway is now constantly stimulated and can begin to spread in that 5 year old brain.
All the elements in that environment: playground, smell of foliage, ice cream truck nearby and puppy can become triggers for this feeling of unsafe. As well, internal triggers can be created: that feeling in her belly when the puppy showed up, the freezing reaction and the sense of her body not working, the fear, the confusion, or the feeling of being alone can all become a part of this neural network in her brain. Beliefs such as “I have no power”, or “Life is unsafe” are created, and unless brought to
conscious awareness and released are there to stay.
These new beliefs create a lens from which you begin to see the world- one where you are more focused on this particular belief. And so, you begin to look for proofs to that conclusion. As more proofs are added, the lens gets larger and more pronounced. Because Trauma (big and small) becomes a part of our Subconscious (the hard drive of our Nervous System) and because its effects are so pervasive, it is imperative that we release it from the root.
How I work with Trauma
Working with Trauma is alway a combination of building resources, and releasing the Trauma. The two are ALWAYS present in every moment, in every session! When we visit a trauma (big or small), we are NEVER re-experiencing it! Instead, we approach it as a witness. There are many safe and gentle ways to do this and the experience is relieving and empowering.
Sometimes (often with small t traumas, and occasionally with BIG T TRAUMAS) we need to uncover the root cause/ traumatic experience before we can release it. Using an integrative, holistic and complete approach we will
- Explore emotional, physical, and social symptoms of Trauma
- Recover your ingrained resources – they are already inside you!
- Gently and carefully uncover the trauma experience/s (some are harder to find than others)
- Release all the aspects of the trauma by resourcing and empowering the child part of you that experienced the trauma
- Continue to build resources and integrate the new perception of the experience (often experienced as a more mature, and larger perspective)
- Rebuild a sense of safety and wholeness
I would be honoured to help you release the Traumas that are preventing you from living your life in Joy!
Contact me for a FREE consultation.
Recommended length of therapy (depending on Trauma): 5-20 sessions
Fee $140 per hour
An example of a trauma session:
Cindy was bullied as a child by a neighbour. The older neighbour taunted her and called her names, sometimes humiliating her in front of the other kids. One day Cindy was playing in the yard when the older neighbour approached her and pulled down her pants. Cindy felt 1. surprised 2. unsafe 3. alone in the experience, and 4. helpless. She was traumatized. In that moment Cindy decided in her 6 year old mind that if she had been worthwhile the neighbour would not have treated her in this way, therefore she concluded that she was worthless. This belief became a cornerstone of Cindy’s
personality and has affected her across all areas of her life.
When Cindy came to my office she was having a difficult time with her 2 year old daughter. Her daughter was going through a phase where all she wanted was her daddy. This triggered Cindy’s old feelings of inadequacy, and her belief about being worthless. She knew that she was over-reacting but the experience was so strong she didn’t know how to stop it.
While Cindy had a conscious memory of the event, and even played it back in her mind again and again over the years, she hadn’t realized that this event was getting triggered again and again throughout her life. She thought she was reacting to her current situations but in fact, it was this old event from decades ago that kept being reactivated. After a short discussion about the current situation with her daughter, and an exploration of the ‘symptoms of this situation’ (tightness in the chest, sick feeling in the stomach, loss of energy) we uncovered the trauma and released it using an integrative approach of mind and body therapy. We used Cindy’s subconscious mind to work with
her 6 year old self. We resourced her and helped her feel supported and validated. We helped her understand that while the neighbour’s actions were absolutely NOT OK, they said more about the neighbour than about her. Because our Subconscious doesn’t know the difference between what is real and was is not – an element that works to our dis-advantage in trauma when we feel as if the traumatic even is STILL HAPPENING – when we use it in healing trauma, it works to our advantage. When that 6 year old Cindy feels good, this change is experienced fully. Completely. Mind, Body
and Spirit.