Is trauma or PTSD holding you back?

Trauma happens when a distressing event leaves a lasting emotional impact. A distressing event is one that threatens a person’s sense of safety or life.

Unresolved trauma can leave us raw or on edge, or can lead us to avoid certain situations or places. Or you may be getting by just fine and suddenly, you find yourself reminded of the event, plunging you into a dark sea of emotions. It can lead a person to use substances to cope.

Unresolved traumatic memories can very much remain ‘alive’. For the sufferer, the memory stays vivid, feeling as though no time has passed since the event happened.

How memories are made

Several parts of the brain are involved in forming memories. First, the amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for attaching emotional significance to a memory as it is being formed. The hippocampus is responsible for ‘sorting’ memories, and those destined for long-term storage are processed, reorganized, and end up in the neocortex.

Recent memories feel more recent. They have an immediate clarity and richness. While old memories feel more distant, they feel like they happened in the past, and have a narrative quality to them. 

However, when a traumatic event takes place, the amygdala attaches very substantial emotional significance to the memory. Instead of the memory being sorted, processed, and organized for long term storage, it remains very much ‘alive’ in the hippocampus. The traumatic memory remains clear in detail, and the very same emotions experienced at the time of the event is experienced again in real-time when the memory is recalled. 

Talking about trauma can make it worse

By talking in detail about a traumatic memory, a person can be re-traumatized, the horrors etching deeper into the psyche, reinforcing those neuropathways. It can also be traumatic for the listener. Talking about traumatic memories can make things worse!

How trauma counselling can help

Trauma counselling can help you process and organize those memories so they can feel like they happened in the past. Note that counselling will not make you forget traumatic events. What it can help with, is process those events so that they feel like they have faded and happened in the past. Instead of feeling overwhelming distress and fear, events can be recalled with a sense of distance like other old memories. Perhaps recalling the event will bring on a sense of sadness or injustice that it happened, but it wouldn’t be an overwhelming sense of fear.

I am trained in the treatment of trauma using the Rewind Technique and EMDR. These treatments are evidence-based, effective, and does not require you to verbally describe details of what happened.

If you suffer from trauma or PTSD that keeps you from living well, I am here to help. Please feel free to reach out and I can answer any questions you may have.

*References:

Adams, S. and Allan, S. (2019), Human givens rewind trauma treatment: description and conceptualisation. Mental Health Review Journal.

Adams, S., & Allan, S. (2019). The effectiveness of Human Givens Rewind treatment for trauma. Mental Health Review Journal.

Pudney, L. (2022). Rewind technique for trauma in ambulance staff. Journal of Paramedic Practice.