Trauma work is one of the most difficult mental health jobs out there. Why is trauma therapy so difficult? Emotions need to be felt to heal and this makes healing so difficult and painful. Trauma therapy is about going back to the past and making sense of what happened in a way that allows you to make peace with it and recognize that the threat is no longer present. PTSD can create long-term adverse changes in emotions, thinking, and behavior as a direct result of exposure to trauma.
You can ask a trusted friend, loved one, support person, or therapist for suggestions and comments. In your journal, start writing about your traumatic event as an adjunct to therapy or as a self-healing when psychotherapy is not accessible or affordable. My favorite therapies are dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) and prolonged exposure (PE) because my favorite clients to treat have comorbid PTSD and borderline personality disorder. In vivo exposure involves coming into contact with real people, objects, places or situations associated with the traumatic event.
Trauma therapy is about bringing yourself and your world back together after having experienced one or more events that literally and metaphorically destroyed you in a deep and painful way, and that means you have to find all the pieces of yourself, the good, the bad and the ugly. Once the person is comfortable enough in the face of their distressing thoughts, they will be asked to expose themselves to these distressing things in more real settings, including the environment in which the traumatic experience occurred. It's important to understand that exposure therapy is a slow process that helps you begin to safely reinterpret painful thoughts and emotions associated with trauma. But if you haven't dealt with trauma before, you may feel discomfort and overwhelming emotions, so take it easy and work on mastering relaxation exercises before you start.
Re-experiencing the traumatic event in your mind through memories, flashbacks, and nightmares can activate this stress response. I can't remember any client I've worked with who didn't believe that, in large part, the trauma was their fault. In cognitive processing therapy, the therapist will ask the client to write about their traumatic experiences in detail and then read it aloud. In addition, general coping skills to regulate emotions and keep your feet on the ground are excellent tools for preparing for traumatic work.
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