Trauma

Trauma

Is a much-used term, but I am not sure whether we all mean the same thing by it.  In clinical terms it is the presence of symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how far these are interfering with a person’s ability to get on with their life.  Any event that leaves a person feeling fearful, vulnerable and focused on their fears and weaknesses is likely to produce post-traumatic symptoms.  This can happen to individuals, couples, families or groups and if you think it has happened to you, then it is probably making your day-to-day life, really difficult to manage.

PTSD

Typical signs of PTSD include sleep disturbance, frequent nightmares and flashbacks, panic attacks, emotional dysregulation triggered by a memory, heightened anxiety and low mood.

Treatment

I practise Eye movement desensitisation reprocessing or EMDR, which was first used in the United States in the late 1980’s and has since developed into an effective way of helping people to overcome their trauma based symptoms.