I am in the phase of processing with my therapist. We were working for about two years in creating a new meaning to my traumas.
Because of some limitation, I am having at the moment I will share this article as a way to explain what process means to me.
"Talking vs. Processing".
Source:
Talking vs. Processing in Trauma Therapy | Dr. Kathleen Young: Treating Trauma in Tucson
To me, processing requires first having established a therapeutic alliance, meaning you feel connected and reasonably trusting. This allows for a corrective emotional experience: when connected you are open to noticing the therapist’s reaction to what you share and how it differs from your fears or the reactions of those in the past.
Processing also requires the capacity to be and stay present in the moment. Talking while dissociated prevents you from experiencing something new. Those with dissociative disorders have survived by keeping the traumatic knowledge, emotion and bodily sensations separate. You may even experience traumatic events as having happened to someone else, not you! Processing your trauma means experiencing it as yours. It involves holding all these aspects of the experience together.
Thirdly, processing involves an integration of experience that is a step towards creating meaning (a goal of the third phase of trauma treatment). For example, in EMDR, we talk about processing as holding an image of a traumatic experience, the associated feelings and bodily sensations together with the core negative belief about yourself created by this experience. The idea is that this can change the brain, the stuckness of the traumatic material, allowing for new learning to take place.
Kathleen Young, Psy.D.