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How to Know Trauma When You See It
The woman loved to window shop, but something wasn’t right. The green coat on the manikin had caught her attention. Without understanding why, she suddenly gasped for breath, felt light-headed and her heart pounded wildly. At home, she couldn’t focus on cooking a simple meal.
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Is PTSD Ruining or Running Your Life? 6 Self Help Ideas for Treatment of Trauma
John (not his real name) loved his wife and enjoyed their physical intimacy, as long as he was in control. As their relationship deepened, his wife also wanted to initiate sex. This terrified John and whenever she came close, he froze. Her touch repulsed him and he just wanted to get away. His heart raced and the panic kept him from thinking clearly.Tension arose in their relationship and he feared their marriage was in jeopardy. When his wife questioned him about his childhood, John began to suspect that his reaction to her attempts at intimacy was tied to the childhood sexual molestation. He had no idea, however, of where to begin his healing journey.
7 Thoughts That Prevent Us From Seeking Help After a Traumatic Event (And Why You May Want to Rethink Them
Brian (not his real name) closed the door of the aircraft and guided the passenger boarding bridge back toward the airport. Although he had been working at the airport for five years, he had no warning of what was to follow. With temperatures below freezing, the plane had to be de-iced before leaving the bay. The airplane waited a long time to take off. When the tower finally gave the signal to take off, the plane’s engines revved, systems froze and the plane crashed. Forty of its sixty passengers died.
Brian was one of the first responders at the scene of the crash. Later, he told me he had offered his coat to passengers whose clothes had been blown off, took families to the morgue to identify bodies and helped a passenger get new glasses after his were destroyed in the crash.
The award the airline presented Brian did not assuage the trauma symptoms, nor did the short-term therapy offered by the airline company begin to address his reactions to all the horror he had witnessed. It took five years to not get teary each time he thought of the accident. Even a shift to doing office work for the company did not help ease his anxiety and nightmares. At the time of the crash thirty years ago, Brian had to “deal with it” on his own. Read More…
Have You Lost Your Confidence After a Trauma? How SOMATIC EXPERIENCING© Can Help
The car accident was six months ago, but Chris (not her real name) still was too anxious to drive. The rear end collision that had come while she waited for a city bus to take on passengers left her not only with surgical scars but emotional ones as well. Aware that she was too disoriented about direction and space to drive, she had to rely on her husband to take her everywhere, including to therapy sessions with me. As a passenger, she startled easily and continually looked through the side view mirror to check if a car was about to ram them from the rear. The loss of her independence left her depressed and feeling helpless. Her world seemed to have collapsed around her.
When Chris came to me she desperately wanted to be driving again. By working with me with the process of Somatic Experiencing©, she was able to drive short distances after two sessions. After three sessions, she had regained her confidence to drive everywhere.
How To Identify Severe Dissociative Disorders After Trauma
Tom was stunned. The last he remembered he was at home enjoying a cold Sunday winter morning with his family. And now… well, he found himself at a biker’s bar. Instead of his fashionable trousers and shirt, he was wearing leather chaps and jacket. To his shock, he was holding a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. He hated both.
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Has Dissociation After a Trauma Left You Feeling Spacey?
She knew she would not be able to stop the car in time. The previous night’s snow was now ice on the road. As though watching a movie, the woman could feel herself floating outside of the car as it fell down into the gorge 100 feet below. From above, she saw the car move as if in slow motion, gliding through the air until if came to rest upright at the edge of the creek. In the next scene, she watched herself force open the door and look around. Her attention was drawn to the intricate spider web design of the broken windshield. Everything else she looked at seemed strange in an odd way. Later, the therapist explained that she had dissociated.
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