Trauma & PTSD

There are broadly three types of trauma:

• Acute trauma – which can be caused through a single incident like a car accident or an assault.
• Chronic Trauma – when we endure repeated frightening experiences over a period of time like in a domestic abuse and violence situation or repeated bullying at school, or emotional abuse and neglect in childhood and growing up.
• Complex Trauma – results from prolonged experiences of unexpected and multiple traumatic events.

Trauma results in us feeling extremely vulnerable and often developing mental health issues like anxiety and depression and also PTSD -( Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome).

I start by using strategies like gently plotting a time line of traumatic experiences in your life and exploring interpersonal relationships within which you feel vulnerable. I also like to build up knowledge of a group of people who have helped you to get this far in life , who have helped you to feel safe and tried to protect you. All this helps to build up a picture of how you have coped over the years.

Perhaps you have turned to alcohol to soothe difficult feelings or used drugs , found at times that resorting to restricting or bingeing on food has all helped. Perhaps you have resorted to extreme self harm when things have felt unbearable.

Understanding how you have coped over the years can help to untangle the complex threads of how trauma and PTSD has affected you.

I use a combination of Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) and EMDR ( Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy) to help you to move on from past trauma in your life.