TRAUMA
The unconcealable wound
WHAT IS TRAUMA ?
TRAUMA HAS A HUGE EMOTIONAL COMPONENT TO IT. WHEN THE EXPERIENCE BECOMES DISTRESSING, PSYCHOLOGICALLY OVERWHELMING & THE ANGUISH SEEMS INSUFFERABLE, IT IS CONSTRUED AS TRAUMATIC.
IN MANY CASES, INDIVIDUALS EXPOSED TO SUCH EVENTS HAVE CONSTRUED THE EVENT AS AN OPENING/ APERTURE AND WITH A DEEP REFLECTIVE ATTITUDE, HAVE REDEFINED THEMSELVES IN POSITIVE WAYS BY REATTRIBUTING MEANING.
THE ACCIDENT OR CALAMITOUS EVENT PER SE IS NOT TRAUMATIC, IT IS WHAT IT IS, ‘AN EVENT’
IT IS THE UNBEARABILITY OF THE EVENT THAT CHARACTERISES ITSELF AS A TRAUMATIC
LET US BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND TRAUMA
TRAUMA
& its resurgence in memory
Trauma alters experience in a significant way as it temporarily incapacitates the ability to cope and in many cases attains permanence. Clients come to therapy but are reticent to revisit or recall their grievous traumatic episode or past, to avoid getting retraumatised. The traumatic event exposed one to severe emotional upheaval and strain, but it is its evocative and recollective characteristics ie its revival in memory that causes distress. The trauma that we allude to here refers to psychological trauma and not congenital defects in the brain or other medical / genetic aspects or biochemical disorder that also contribute to trauma.
IT CONCERNS OUR WELL-BEING
HENCE MUST BE STUDIED
CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS
as to how people deal with trauma, depends upon:
As evidenced above, there is a huge subjective aspect of trauma which are intricately woven.
AT HEADSTRIDE, WE ARE CURIOUS TO PLUMB THESE ELEMENTS TO CONCEIVE THE TRAUMATIC DISTURBANCE.
THE WOUND
An incision in the flow
It is through the descriptive narrative of the client that we glimpse and apprehend client’s experience. Traumatised clients find it difficult to dredge deeper into their trauma as there has been an upheaval of the self after the trauma resulting in repression of unbearable content.
The traumatic wound has been shrouded with meaning constructions, most of them disempowering, as it is revived in memory.
A WOUND IS A PLACE WHERE LIGHT ENTERS YOU- Rumi
THIS WOUND HAS TO BE RECOVERED, ASCERTAINED,
REVISED OR RECONCILED WITH
Revision here means, through the reconstruction process, the client recognising the meaning structures and voluntarily consenting to revise its discomposing meaning associations after better understanding of it thereby regulating undesirable emotions.
LOST FAMILIAR
THE FLOW OF LIFE HAPPENS WITH A CERTAIN REGULARITY
There is a rhythm, constancy and relationship that we establish with objects & people. When one comes home, the lamp, the couch, tennis racket, guitar, study table, objects in the room, people, one just expects all this to be there. When one goes out, again the regularity envelops us; the car, the train, the bus travel, the walk, restaurant, the park, office, people, movies all of these offer us familiarity. There is comfort in seeking the secure, consistent and recognisable. And then, a serious accident, violent death, rape, separation, military combat, physical abuse, severe neglect, bankruptcy, torture, natural disaster any of these happen and it devastates one’s familiarity and predictability of life.
THE UNEXPECTANCY AND SHOCK RADICALLY CHANGES THE VICTIM’S PERSPECTIVE AND ALTERS EXPERIENCE. THIS IS NOW CATEGORISED AS TRAUMA, A TERM GIVEN TO AN UNBEARABLE EXPERIENCE.
TRAUMA, IN ESSENCE, IS A LOSS IN DAILY FAMILIARITY
THE PROGRAM 'LOST FAMILIAR' DELVES INTO THE INTRICACIES OF TRAUMA
IT PRESERVES THE LEGACY OF 'INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY' ASPECTS OF TRAUMA AND ADVANCES THE DISCUSSIONS INTO THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL REALM
LOST FAMILIAR
MAKING SENSE OF THE TRAUMATIC DISTURBANCE
A 1-DAY WORKSHOP (offers 6 CPD hrs.)
The program delves into the kernel of trauma studies starting with its various conceptualisations and definitional stance as well as its theoretical, clinical, ontological and causal characteristics. The program evokes discussions around; re-experiencing trauma in later life, primary caring insufficiency, the altered acclimatisation to the world post trauma (PTSD), fear, anxiety and threat manifestations, challenges of cognitive restructuring, defensive activations, reconstruction exertions amongst other integrant aspects of trauma.
The program’s ambition is dictated by the objective of deciphering the various blends in ‘TRAUMA UNDERSTANDING’ that nests in the mental health arena with an ‘opening out’ attitude, whilst distancing itself from the precinct of consigning ‘Trauma’ to a merely a pathologised disposition.
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PROGRAM FORMAT
KEY TAKE AWAY FROM THE PROGRAM
AN INCISIVE INQUEST INTO TRAUMA
ABILITY TO DEAL WITH TRAUMA PATIENTS
PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTINCTIONS OF TRAUMA
CAPACITY TO CONTRAST & INTEGRATE VARIOUS APPROACHES
THE HERMENEUTIC INCLINE IN TRAUMA CONCEPTUALISATION
DISTORTIONS, DISSOCIATIONS, EXAGGERATIONS AFTER MASSIVE TRAUMA
RECONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS IN TRAUMA RECOVERY
SIGNIFICANCE OF ATTUNEMENT
ORGANIZATION OF AFFECTIVE EXPERIENCE POST TRAUMA.
TEMPORAL FLOW IN BEING-TOWARDS-LOSS.
ROLE OF MOURNING IN GRIEF AND ITS CORRELATION TO TRAUMA
UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENTAL AND CUMULATIVE TRAUMA
WHO CAN ATTEND?
PROGRAM IS DESIGNED FOR
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Trauma / PTSD specialists
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Psychotherapists / Counsellors / Supervisors
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CBT practitioners, Psychiatrists / Psychologists
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GP’s, Occupational Therapists
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Psychiatric Nurses, CPN, AOT/CCT, CMHT, CRHTT
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Trainee psychotherapists/ Psychologists
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Mental health charities / agencies who deal with traumatised clients.
ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, BEREAVEMENT, SUICIDE IDEATION, RELATIONSHIP ISSUES -
ALL OF THESE COULD HAVE INCEPTIVE TRAUMATIC ELEMENTS
HENCE THE PROGRAM'S GAMUT IS EXTENDABLE.
LET US STUDY TRAUMA BEYOND
CONVENTIONAL CONCEPTUALISATIONS ABOUT IT
PROGRAM DIFFERENTIATORS
LOST FAMILIAR
from the depths of despair
reconstituting Being
The experience of trauma seems inalterable particularly its elements such as the physicality of its occurrence the psychological disintegration at the time it occurred and time thereof, and the distress experienced in its periodic re-experiencing. A steady and disempowering influence is contributed by memory in keeping it alive further made worse by layers and layers of meaning constructions on top of the original trauma. This is the harsh psychological terrain that the traumatised person has to negotiate over time.
AT HEADSTRIDE, WE AIM TO PEEL OFF THESE DISTRESSING ENCRUSTATIONS OF OUR CLIENTS TO MAKE THEM PERCEIVE AN ALTERNATE VIEW OF THEIR EXPERIENCE
LOST FAMILIAR
AN ATTEMPT AT EMPOWERING BEING
SUMMARY OF OUR PROGRAMS
HEADSTRIDE 1-DAY PSYCHOTHERAPY WORKSHOPS
POST TRAUMATIC STRESS
CONFRONTING
THE RECURRENCE
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is classified as an anxiety disorder. We are loathe to state it as a disorder. After a calamitous incident (either experiencing it or even witnessing it), it is customary to have trauma (for most) and over time it does create sustained stress due to its ‘recall aspect’. It is not a disorder, it can happen to anyone. It is dysfunctional though for the person’s well-being and must be addressed.
TRAUMATIC EVENTS
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Serious accidents
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Physical and sexual assault abuse, including childhood or domestic abuse
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Work-related exposure to trauma, including remote exposure
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Trauma related to serious health problems or childbirth experiences (for example, intensive care admission or neonatal death)
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War and conflict
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Torture
SYMPTOMS
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Re-experiencing
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Avoidance
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Hyperarousal (including hypervigilance, anger and irritability)
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Negative alterations in mood and thinking
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Emotional numbing
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Dissociation
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Emotional dysregulation
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Interpersonal difficulties or problems in relationships
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Negative self-perception
MANAGEMENT
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Active monitoring
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Psychoeducation
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Restructuring
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Reconstruction
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Overcoming avoidance
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Psychological interventions
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Pharmacological augmentation
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Philosophical configuration
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End of treatment plan
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Stepped care approach
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Peer & Family support
Traumatised people can confuse ordinary stress with perilous life-threatening situations. Effective trauma work entails reconstruction of the original trauma. The sufferer had over time repressed this material as it was unendurable. Why? He / She is attempting to avoid re-experiencing the pain, but this is attained at a huge payoff which is benumbing one’s affect and emotion. What is the pernicious fall out of this? Apathy, lack of intimacy, stoicism, aloofness, insouciance and an abject lack of empathy appended by consequential experiences such as Anhedonia (loss of the capacity to experience pleasure) and Alexithymia (difficulty in experiencing, expressing and describing emotional responses).
disintegration to reconstruction
LOST FAMILIAR
Therapy work entails making the sufferer give up these early developmental repressions associated with the trauma, work on their other primary and secondary defences, reinspect their maladaptive thoughts and help them eliminate their misrepresentations.
PRIOR TO THIS ONE MUST GET A PHENOMENOLOGICAL GRASP OF THEIR LIVED EXPERIENCE. THE IDEA IS TO HELP THEM SURMOUNT THEIR TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE AND REACQUIRE THEIR CAPACITY TO FEEL AND EXPRESS EMOTIONS.
THE PROGRAM 'LOST FAMILIAR' ADDRESSES THE ABOVE ASPECTS OF TRAUMA
OUR AUGMENTING 1-1 PSYCHOTHERAPY TRAUMA WORK
SUMMARY OF OUR PROGRAMS
HEADSTRIDE 1-DAY PSYCHOTHERAPY WORKSHOPS
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