[MichaelSacha]

Relatively straight forward question I think. Just what is it all in all. And more specifically, how is chilhood trauma treated?

[sittingatwatersedge]

Originally Posted by MichaelSacha

Relatively straight forward question I think. Just what is it all in all. And more specifically, how is chilhood trauma treated?

recommended reading: Trauma and Recovery, Judith Herman

[WikidPissah]

It honestly depends on the therapist.

Some believe that you need to talk about every incident in detail, grieve it and mourn it. They teach you skills to get you thru the weeks. Sometimes it is most intense and you have multiple sessions be week or extended sessions. It's very difficult hard work, but it's believed that in the end you will be better.

Another approach is to leave the trauma be and focus on changing your life and the way you handle things. If pieces or parts of the trauma come up you discuss them, but it is not an intense process of digging into the past. It's still difficult hard work, but skills help you to maintain your life while in therapy. They believe that it is re-traumatizing to relive every event, and seek to focus on the current and future.

I see a trauma specialist. The past comes up occasionally, be we focus on my emotions and symptom control. It has been more helpful to me than any other therapy I have tried (and I have tried quite a few).

[adel34]

As Wicked said, it really depends on the therapist. EMDR is a common approach that helps resolve trauma fairly quickly and doesn't envolve a lot of intense reliving of the past. It uses bilateral stimulation, left to right eye movements. ETC to get both sides of the brain envolved in processing the trauma. If you google trauma therapists in your area you could probably get a sense of the different approaches out there and what might be best for you.

[sittingatwatersedge]

Originally Posted by WikidPissah

I see a trauma specialist. The past comes up occasionally, be we focus on my emotions and symptom control. .

I do too, and we focus on both more or less alternately (so some days are easier than other days). It works for me

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by MichaelSacha

Relatively straight forward question I think. Just what is it all in all. And more specifically, how is chilhood trauma treated?

here where I live and work in New York which is in the USA, Trauma therapy is when you go to a therapist, talk about what happened, and find ways in which that traumatic event wont continue to cause you problems...without retraumatizing

at the crisis center we meet with people who have been sexually abused. we talk with them about what happened, find out what their problems are with that then we set goals that will help ease the flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, depression and other trauma related issues they may be having... sometimes its as simple as having the client journal, sometimes it more complex with teaching the client how to manage their meds, learn techniques that will lessen their anxiety/depression like grounding, relaxation, how to change their negative behaviors that may be leading to self sabotaging and triggering of their problems/healing....

example of how it works here using a traumatic event in my life..

traumatic event ...witness to a murder of a client.
diagnosis ....PTSD
Symptoms....panic attacks, nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts...
treatment ...Traumka therapy

what happened....I was at the ER with a Client when her abuser shot her. (I wont give the details here because I dont want to trigger anyone) I spent the first session with my therapist discussing what happened.

then we set goals that would help me to heal from this..

medication adjustment
keep a daily and nightly journal about any problems I had through out the day and night
grounding.
relaxation/ breathing techniques
positive self talk
learning about guns so that I could see beyond the PTSD symptoms that its not the gun that does harm its what people do with them, this helped to get me past jumping at loud noises and assuming every gun I see would be the one to shoot me type fears.
self defense classes to help gain back a sense of control over my body / mind /self esteem..
go out on the lake in my canoe at least once a day. ...
when intrusive thoughts come up say ...Stop. I am fine. I am ok, its ok to remember what happened, its not ok to dwell so much on it that I am self sabotaging/re-traumatizing myself. its time to move on to healing. lets write this down, take some deep breaths, and then get on with my day. I need to stay focused/ aware and healthy. I write down the intrusive thought and what triggered that thought then move back in to the present moment, not letting myself stay stuck in that past traumatic event.

everyones trauma is different so their healing path for that trauma is going to be different. Some people move through their healing process faster or slower than others.

most treatment programs that I know of for PTSD therapy (some places call it trauma therapy) that are here in the USA dont spend a lot of time in what we call re-traumatizing....going over and over and over and over what happened during the traumatic event. its more focused on how to manage the PTSD symptoms when they happen..if you have anxiety what are ways in which you can help your self not feel anxious, if you have trouble sleeping what are ways that will help you get better sleep, if you are having flashbacks what are ways that will help you get through those flashbacks, if you have depression because of a traumatic event what are ways that will help you alleviate that depression...

[sunrise]

There are a lot of different therapies and techniques for trauma work. A trauma specialist will usually be well-versed in several. My T considers himself a trauma specialist and has a half dozen or so different types of trauma therapy he uses (and sometimes mixes).

[suzzie]

my t is a trauma specialist too. she does emdr and oei. as well other therapies like art. she alternates between past stuff. and current.

[MichaelSacha]

So I guess the general response is either you try to talk about it or you focus on the symptoms, I'll try to remember all of that and I'll definitely have a look at that book, sittingatwatersedge.
And thank you for the overview in the U.S.A, amandalouise. I hope you're doing well now.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by MichaelSacha

So I guess the general response is either you try to talk about it or you focus on the symptoms, I'll try to remember all of that and I'll definitely have a look at that book, sittingatwatersedge.
And thank you for the overview in the U.S.A, amandalouise. I hope you're doing well now.

yes I am doing well thanks

[Perna]

Good article: Psychotherapy Treatment for PTSD | Psych Central