2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 22:18
Mental trauma (psychological trauma, psychotrauma) - by analogy with physical trauma, this is a state of violation of the integrity of the psyche, as a result of which the psyche is not able to function in a healthy, normal way. A traumatic reaction occurs in a situation of excessive stress on the body. It can be a threat to life and / or health, or a situation perceived by the human psyche as such at the moment of what is happening.
"Unresolved" injury can remain the source of all sorts of problems for life. For example, such as the lack of a good deep sense of yourself in your body or the difficulty of being in close relationships with others, while maintaining contact with yourself and your feelings. Various chronic non-treatable symptoms, panic conditions, increased anxiety, excessive need for control, depression, loss of satisfaction and meaning in life, etc. are also frequent consequences of trauma.
The meaning of the traumatic reaction consists in blocking the physiological mechanisms of stress regulation in the human brain and psyche. In the ancient structures of the brain (in the limbic system), a failure occurs, and the state of a stressful (traumatic) situation is recorded as a constant "here and now." From that moment on, a person, with a certain part of himself, seems to constantly remain "frozen" in that very situation, unable to react, complete it.
The nervous system, in turn, constantly reacts to a stressful situation with increased arousal. An excess portion of energy, once produced by the body in order to cope with stress, is blocked and frozen for certain reasons, remaining locked in the human nervous system and, unable to be realized as intended, constantly shatters it. At the same time, the body not only blocks part of its energy, but also constantly spends it to contain this block, which depletes a person's physical and mental resources.
Injuries can be:
- shock (occurring as a result of an excessive stressful situation at once or for a long time);
- sexual (due to unwanted sexual activities);
- emotional (due to careless emotional treatment) and others.
There are several types of mental trauma:
-
Acute stress disorder or shock reaction (ASD). Shock - immediately at the moment of a stressful situation, immediately after it, the peak of survival mechanisms, an energy surge.
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - some time after OCD, the body's self-regulation systems failed, the energy got stuck in the nervous system.
- Trauma of birth or development - received by a child in the process of intrauterine development, birth or in the first years of life; due to the immaturity of the psyche and the mechanisms of stress regulation in the child, such traumas are recorded and built into the body and character of a person, becoming a part of the personality.
Dealing with mental trauma - this is a long and hard work both for the person who asked for help and for the therapist, and the client must be ready for this. Trauma therapy depends on many factors that must be taken into account: the type of injury, the timing of the injury, the characterology of the person who received it, the client's support and motivation, the attitude of society towards the injury …
There are no universal technologies for working with trauma, but today there are a number of techniques that allow you to work with various types of mental trauma as efficiently as possible. These are Peter Levin's somatic experience, Lisbeth Marcher's bodynamic analysis, David Boadella's biosynthesis, Raja Selwam's somatic therapy, and some others. Also, in the process of work, elements of art therapy, process-oriented therapy, Jungian analysis, body-oriented therapy, family systemic therapy, etc. can be used.
The idea of working with trauma consists in several aspects that can work both in the same line of therapy (that is, one after the other), and in parallel, independently of each other:
- Resource (to fill with resources and support the human body depleted by trauma).
- Restoration of reflexes and boundaries (reflexes blocked due to stress and a sense of one's own boundaries are restored, helping to return the body to a state of normal functioning).
- Containment (formation of the client's ability to withstand excess blocked energy, using the natural mechanisms of self-regulation of the body).
- Discharge (assumes the possibility of gradual discharge of frozen energy and its release from the "capsule" and / or from the client's body).
- Integration (the ability to integrate the blocked trauma energy in the body and psyche, to return the unblocked energy back to the client's body).
Very important for dealing with trauma has the training and qualifications of a therapist, and not only theoretical knowledge or proficiency in techniques. Since the level of traumatic energies is quite intense, the therapist needs to withstand strong feelings and feelings of his own and the client, remaining at this moment in contact not only with himself and his body, but also with the client. You must always remember about possible retraumatization and prevent it. The skills of self-support, somatic resonance, a clear understanding and sense of boundaries, empathy, physical and mental stability are especially important for the trauma therapist. The quality and duration of personal therapy of the therapist himself is extremely important, since, in many respects, it is in personal therapy that the necessary skills can be formed.
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