We all respond differently to events in our lives – some experiences we process and leave behind, while others continue to shape how we think, feel and relate to others, even years later. What feels manageable for one person can feel overwhelming for another. If you feel that past experiences have caused you pain and are showing up negatively in your daily life, reaching out for support will help you work through the issues.
A trauma specialist is qualified to work with the many manifestations of stress and psychological trauma. These include PTSD from single-event traumas, complex trauma, and developmental trauma. It may also include things like depression and anxiety, eating disorders and relationship issues.
Single Event Trauma: Many forms of psychological trauma that are incompletely processed in your system may respond well to EMDR therapy. The following are some examples of the kinds of issues that may give rise to psychological trauma for some people. These things might have happened to you, a loved one, or you may have had exposure to them through your work.
Complex Trauma: Another form of psychological trauma is known as complex trauma. This results from an accumulation of neglect, abuse, or other ongoing situations, and would include, for example:
Event(s) that you feel you’ve never been able to fully come to terms with may also be an indication of psychological trauma.
Vicarious and Secondary Trauma affects professionals who encounter trauma survivors through their work. They have not experienced the traumatic events themselves, such as police officers, firefighters, paramedics, other types of specialist rescue personnel, humanitarian aid workers, health care providers, social workers, journalists, and various types of workers in the justice system. People can suffer secondary trauma when a family member or someone else they feel an empathic connection with is a primary trauma victim.
It’s difficult to say how many sessions an individual might need. EMDR can be a short-term therapy, which could be something like six to twelve sessions, for example, for single-event traumas. Where there is complex trauma, it could take considerably longer. Sessions are usually at a frequency of once a week to allow time for processing between sessions. Individual sessions may be 50-90 minutes long, which can be discussed at the assessment stage. EMDR can, however, be embedded in a longer-term, open-ended therapy, to be used in addition to other appropriate techniques.
©Allan Hand
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