Trauma Therapy
Most of us would recognise trauma as a one off incident such as a car crash or a mugging, perhaps that also of psychological states linked to war veterans, but it is more common than we think. As mentioned on my home page, trauma may be a life changing one off event or it may be Interpersonal - between people. Trauma may be a capital 'T' event or a series of little 't' events that change how we interact with the world.
What might be adrenaline fuelled stuff for one individual may be acutely distressing for others. It depends on our personality types, genetics and the resources we are psychologically equipped with, plus the supports we have around us. Should a situation prove overwhelming and too much for us to cope with, this then would be perceived as trauma.
Traumas may be known of and contained to some degree, they also may be buried from earlier adulthood, adolescence or childhood (including birth and the early years when there are no words) and lie dormant creating issues for us in the meantime.
EMDR links particular events or states of being with how we think, feel and where we feel this in our bodies to be able to 'clear out' on all levels. It is an amazing process that has quite a 'Wow' factor to it. The brain literally becomes rewired, the traumatic events losing their emotional acuity and receding neutrally into history where they belong. By using bilateral stimulation, in lay man's terms, the rational brain talks to the emotional brain and this takes the charge away, so freeing the client up.
Events may include loss, abuse, natural disasters and assault. Trauma may be inflicted from one person onto another, it may involve High Demand groups or Cult practices. States of being may include pain, ME, Fibromyalgia, phobias, pain, bipolar, addiction, depression and anxieties including OCD.
Treatments result in the reconnection of the individual, the traumatised, dissociated split off parts of the self being fully integrated once more. Client's talk of it in the sense of feeling whole again, no longer empty, or may be even fully a person, no void inside them for the first time in their lives. A complete Sense of Self as we call it in the trade. The work that is possible takes the client back to the womb and continues through birth and early preverbal years of life. It is amazing just what the emotional brain stores away during these time periods.
EMDR is recognised by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
