has anyone ever done a relational trauma matrix..

i understand how you fill it in. but how do you determine what the traumas are. and do you put facts or single words in the boxes. just wondering. never did one before. and i need to get it right. just wondering if anyone has done it. and knows how it goes.

I did something for a diet class where we did a family tree, and put symbols for who was an alcoholic, who had weight issues, who had other addictions, who was abused, identify mental illnesses, etc. it's one thing to have it in your head, you know? but wow, when you see the marks adding up on paper all around you...

((((((hankster))))))))

wow! thank you. i hadnt thought of that. that would be a hard reality to see it visually.

this may not go so well. if t wants to go over it together.

You can tell her that you just can't talk about it right now but that you will try really hard soon. You can talk about your problems today, like work or at home.

i cant. because she will think im not willing to do the work then. i have to just do it. and hope i dont react to it. but its already giving me anxiety. but im working on it anyway.

I meant to do the homework but when you get to session you don't have to talk in detail or in depth about your traumas if you don't want to.

oh. sorry i missinterpreted. that does sound better. thank you.

here where I live and work we dont do a relational trauma matrix per se. our forms for both treatment providers and clients are not worded in matrix charting. thats not to say we dont document how trauma caused me ( as the client) or my client (me as the treatment provider) their symptoms/problems.

our forms are more like writing up session notes...example

clients name....Amandalouise
clients mental diagnosis.....PTSD
clients symptoms...Panic and Anxiety
clients goals /treatment options.....reduce panic and anxiety through use of mindfulness, grounding and medication.

Amandalouise comes to us for treatment of anxiety and panic issues related to a past history of abuse as a child. Due to her being taken into a mine shaft and abused she experiences anxiety when in tight, enclosed, crowded or dim to darkly lit places. .....

when we have our team meetings basically we introduce the case the same way...very basic. we dont go into each individual traumatic events.

I did have to do something similar to what you call a relational trauma matrix. only we called it a "case study" and "flow charts" where our professor gave us a paper with a mental disorder on it and we had to fill out all the different elements, while making up a hypothetical client, case history for that client, symptoms and treatment options. for me it was easy to do because my mental disorder for this assignment was dissociative disorders and I had DID, and depersonalization among others in the dissociative disorders category. so I basically used myself for the character composite in all the different charts. On the page where it said to show in a flow chart how each symptom and trauma was related I didnt list every single trauma I went through...to do that I would need stacks and stacks of flow charts. so I chose only a few to represent all the different ways in which trauma affected me.

thank you! amandalouise! that was very helpful. and interesting. i like knowing the whys to things.

suzzie

i think what you put in the boxes can be brief. as for the trauma, it can be anything you remember that has caused you pain. for me, i dont remember much before age 12, but at 17 i flashed back to my dad smashing my favorite toy so i would write "dad smashes toy" in a box. "brother smothers me" "nearly drown" "physical abuse". You can go over the details of the events with you T. And please dont stress yourself about having to get it right. there is no right or wrong when it comes to this stuff. You do what you can handle.

thank you kaliope!

that makes sense. and will work. i try finding it on the internet. but couldnt. except it seems to be a part of emdr.

What is a relational trauma matrix?

im not really sure. but she gave me this chart with 20 squares to fill in. thats titled relational trauma matrix
across the top is: first, worst, most recent, future
and down the side different types of trauma. like rejection, abandonment, betrayal etc.
im to fill in all the squares.
not sure the point or purpose of it.

its like a family tree only its diagnosis, symptoms, causes kind of stuff... example

PTSD branches out into the symptoms nightmares, panic anxiety

PTSD ------> Nightmares / panic / anxiety

then each of those branches out into the causes for them...

nightmare about swimming ----> drowning trauma

Panic/anxiety ---->fear of Water ----->Drowning trauma

basically it shows the cause and effect, what caused this symptom what caused that one, why is this person affected the way they are and how have they been affected type stuff.

the more you break down the cause and effects of a trauma the more the client and the therapist can see whats what and how to help..

its also another way of putting whats going on down on paper instead of it left bouncing around the clients head due to their being triggered when trying to talk. this way they dont necessarily have to talk but they are still able to process through things by putting things in some sort of organized way..

That makes sense thank you for helping me to understand it. Is there any known downloadable thing online to do this so I can try it myself and bring it to t? It's hard to go over everything and remember everything when there's so much, and when there are so many fears. I can tell when I sit down and think about them that many of the fears directly relate to my past, but like you said it's just bouncing around in my head. Anyone know where to find one or how to make one from scratch so I can bring it to t?

Suzzie thank you for posting this, I didn't even know it existed. I hope you are figuring out how to work it and put the pieces in, it does sound confusing but the way it's described it seems like it could be easy compared to just trying to remember all of it in an hour once a week

ive looked online. but cant find anything yet. tried google and yahoo.

im finding it hard to do. i have to keep putting it aside. or its too much. but do see now how it does sort it. its just so intense. for me.

if you cant find something online. maybe your would know how to find it. i think its part of emdr. and for ptsd. if that helps.

the flow chart that my therapist and I used came from my therapists microsoft template, then she added what we were working on..

this is the template my therapist and I used,

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...i:TC001074919|

we built on to it using her computer as we went along.

heres some more microsoft templates that would probably too, depending upon the type of charting you want to do.....

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...20chart&av=all

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...=matrix&av=all