If you have clicked on this page, I am assuming that you believe you may have, or know you have, experienced trauma in your life.

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Knowing how to resolve, or heal from trauma can be daunting and the thought of talking to someone about it, not at all appealing because the feelings that go with it can get re-activated through talking about it.

 

I've written this page with the aim of helping people decide if they need a specific trauma-focused counselling therapy to address either a traumatic life event, or multiple traumatic events. Trauma therapies offer the possibility of healing and moving forwards in a safe way, without needing to talk about the event, or events in detail.

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Definition of trauma

Trauma is defined in the DSM IV as:

"The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. (2) The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror."

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I will add to this definition that, as a young child, our understanding of what is life threatening, or likely to cause physical harm is different.  So that being suddenly alone, with no parent available for example aged 2-6 can feel life threatening.  As can being shouted or screamed at directly, or hearing repeated loud rowing, or abuse between parents.  We rely completely on our parents to survive when we are small and when they are scary or unavailable, it can traumatise us.

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Trauma therapy

​I've included the image of the broken leg with the cast around it because that is how trauma therapy seeks to work.  The phases of treatment I describe below are informed by Dr. Pierre Janet's safe trauma treatment, listed in Babette Rothschild's book, The Body Remembers Volume 2.

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Phase 1 - stabilisation (putting the cast around the wound to prevent knocks or re-traumatisation) in this phase we discuss what symptoms you are experiencing, which can range from flashbacks, night terrors, dissociation, to disturbed sleep, extreme reactiveness in terms of freeze, or emotional overwhelm, which can include panic, anger and rage in certain situations, or with certain people. 

 

In this phase, we seek to gain more understanding of what is disturbing and start working on reducing disturbance. You will need to know how to return yourself back to a calm state after being highly emotionally activated and gain a sense of understanding of feeling safe and empowered in your life, before moving onto Phase 2.  

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Phase 2 - the processing and resolution of trauma memories.  This is the healing of the wound, which is now encased in the cast.  

There are many experts in the field of psychological trauma.  All of them say that a standard talking therapy is not advisable to work through traumatic incidents.  A trauma specific therapy is required.  Of which several are now moving into main-stream as leading treatments:

1.  Trauma-focused CBT 

2. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)

3.  Somatic Experiencing Therapy

4. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

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I offer EMDR therapy for trauma, and if you would like to read more about this approach click here.

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Phase 3 - integration - the cast has been removed and this phase focuses on applying what has been learnt in phase 1 and 2 into the mainstream of daily life.

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 If you have any questions, or concerns about trauma in general, or want more information about trauma specific therapy with me, please feel free to  click to email me at hello@katherinecrook.com

 

I work both on-line and from my comfortable home office in Seaford in East Sussex. 

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