Taking a Trauma
Focused Approach
A trauma-focused approach is a way of thinking about an individual’s situation in terms of what has happened to that person rather than what is wrong with that person.
By recognizing the impact the trauma may have had on the person’s neurological, biological, psychological and social development, a more targeted, individualised approach can be used. Trauma focused therapy helps an individual process these traumatic experiences and to develop healthier ways of coping in the here and now.
What is Trauma
A traumatic event can be any event that leaves a lasting imprint on our psychological well-being. It can range from what we might consider as universally traumatic experiences such as being involved in a terrorist attack, living in a region savaged by war, being a victim of an assault or caught up in a road traffic accident, to more subjective trauma’s such as being bullied, having an overly critical parent, losing a relationship or freezing when giving a presentation.
As Bessel van der Kolk explains in his book The Body Keeps the Score, “In the culture people talk about trauma as an event that happened a long time ago.
But what trauma is, is the imprint that event has left on your mind and in your sensations… the discomfort you feel and the agitation you feel and the rage and the helplessness you feel right now. Trauma is the inability to live in the present. It’s the imprint of the past on our bodies and minds. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present. Trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way mind and brain manage perceptions. It changes not only how we think and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think.”
EMDR AND TRAUMA
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an innovative clinical treatment which has successfully helped millions of people of all ages who have experienced psychological difficulties which originate from some kind of traumatic experience. EMDR is effective for almost all issues clients present with in psychotherapy.
EMDR has been found to be an efficacious treatment for PTSD as well as for processing other emotional memories. More recently its clinical applications have grown to include anxiety, depression, performance issues, relationship difficulties, complex trauma, health related problems, body dysmorphic disorder, substance misuse, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, psychosis, suicidality and self-harm.
EMDR is guided by the adaptive information processing (AIP) model in which present symptoms are seen as unprocessed memories stored in the brain that lead to maladaptive information processing and present as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.
EMDR Therapy asserts that following treatment of a distressing life event, information processing is enhanced and new associations are forged, resulting in new learning, elimination of emotional distress, and development of cognitive insights.
To learn more about EMDR, please watch this introductory video or visit the EMDR UK Association website and the EMDR International website.