Trauma treatment
I am able to help you process shock trauma and post traumatic stress. If you suffer from any of the symptoms below you may be dealing with unresolved trauma/PTSD or Complex PTSD (C-PTSD):
➤ feelings of helplessness/powerlessnes
➤ lack of focus/concentration
➤ memory gaps
➤ disorientation
➤ prone to accident/taking high risks
➤ recurring nightmares, night terrors, abrupt awakening
➤ feeling out of control, frozen, paralysed, immobile
➤ intrusive imagery, flashbacks of the event
➤ disrupted sleep patterns
➤ lethargy, exhaustion, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia
➤ extreme emotional shifts
➤ rage/anger outbursts
➤ overcautiousness
➤ fear of being watched/followed
➤ startle esily/jumpy
➤ feeling overwhelmed
➤ feeling defeated, inadequate, confused, fragmented
➤ hyperactivity
➤ impulse to run away/escape fantasies
I am trained in Somatic Experiencing (SE) trauma resolution, which can help you resolve traumatic experience held in the body's autonomic nervous system. Over the years of my practice it became clear to me that, though often appropriate and very helpful, talking therapy does not help us resolve certain traumatic symptoms. Understanding in our mind and making sense isn't always enough, when traumatic events have got stuck in our nervous system. SE is a excellent, gentle yet highly effective method that facilitates the release of the trauma in the body while empowering you back to healthy self-regulation and restoring vitality and life zest.
What is meant by trauma?
Trauma is an overwhelming experience that leaves us feeling helpless, intense fear, loss of control and threat of annihilation. Yet, trauma is an inevitable part of life and we are "designed" to survive trauma. Everybody experiences trauma in some form or another in life - the loss the of a loved one, an accident, a physical or emotional attack, witnessing something horrible, a medical procedure gone wrong, a heart-breaking separation or a major collective one, such as a natural disaster or the experience of war.
With the right support during or shortly after a traumatic experience or when we are able to process the trauma spontaneously and organically through our body's instinctual fight, fight and freeze responses, we "resolve" the trauma organically. Our nervous system then gets reset and inner balance, vitality and resilience to stress get restored. We get on with our lives, with the memories perhaps, but otherwise more or less intact literally having "shaken off" the trauma.
However, when we are not able to process and heal traumatic experiences at or in the relatively short aftermath of the event we are left with "unresolved" trauma. If this unresolved trauma then gets ignored or pushed away for longer periods of time, we can develop more serious symptoms like chronic pain, chronic illness, chronic stress, disconnection from life/others, to name a few.
Trauma can be caused by a one off experience, an accumulation of experiences and passed down the generations, known as transgenerational trauma. Trauma can be conscious remembered (explicit) and unconscious or repressed because it was simply too much at the time or because it happened before we had access to words (implicit and pre-verbal).
Behind most addictions, whether we use alcohol, drugs, sex, porn, over-work, bulimia, smoking to regulate ourselves, there is likely to be unresolved trauma. The addiction is a coping strategy and an expression of the powerlessness of the individual to manage their inner experience. Depression and many mental illnesses have their root in some form of unresolved trauma.
What is Somatic Experiencing® and how does it work?
Somatic experiencing (SE) is a trauma healing method for removing trauma symptoms and relieving chronic stress. It is the life's work of
Dr. Peter Levine, one of the pioneers in the field of trauma treatment. SE has evolved over 45 years of successful clinical application.
The SE method facilitates the release of traumatic shock held in the body-psyche. This is key to transforming PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and the wounds of emotional and early developmental "attachment trauma" (disruption in the intimate relationship with our early caregivers) .
