When therapists first began treating trauma victims, they heavily relied on a therapeutic tool that is has been the most accepted practice in psychotherapy – talk therapy. In her book, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, Janina Fisher refers to this as the “talking cure.” It is a method that allowed therapists to address the emotions of trauma victims. At the same time, it brought clarity to the events that had traumatized them.
But talk therapy is not always the best approach; especially when it comes to working through traumatic events. Let’s talk about why that is.
The Legacy of Trauma
Many trauma victims have difficulty recalling what happened during their traumatic event. But at the same time, they are left vulnerable to their feelings and body memories. This leaves them with a legacy of symptoms, but those symptoms are experienced completely out of context. The sufferer has no recollection of what might have caused them, and no way to assign them to a particular memory.
Some of these symptoms may include:
Trauma victims also frequently struggle with expectations of danger. They may be afraid or hypervigilant. They may always expect the worst to happen, feel afraid of being abandoned or feel numb and completely disconnected from their emotions. Many come to therapy only as a last resort because there are areas of their lives that have gotten out of control. For example, they may be self-harming, formed an eating disorder, or even have suicidal thoughts.
They are also plagued with negative thoughts about themselves, such as, I deserve to be punished, I hate myself, or I wish I was dead. They may try to connect these thought patterns to their past, but for the most part, they avoid thinking about what happened to them altogether. Some may minimize the event, claiming that it really wasn’t all that bad.
This is no way for anyone to live, and it’s no surprise that talk therapy doesn’t work to counteract these feelings, emotions and symptoms.
The Case Against Talk Therapy
Talk therapy was considered to be the “best” way to treat any patient, which is why many adopted it when they treated trauma victims. But they found that instead of improving, their patients would become flooded with awful memories. They would have traumatic reactions and their symptoms would get worse instead of getting better.
These therapists found that when they talked about past events, it caused their patients to relive them all over again. These were individuals who were trying desperately to be heard and understood, but the exact opposite happened.
Trauma Treatment Today
Today we know that it is most important to address the effects of the traumatic event, and not so much the event itself. Historically, too much time has been spent on getting trauma victims to remember terrible experiences. Instead, the focus should be on helping them feel safe in the here and now.
In quality trauma care, the therapist will be able to effectively and safely incorporate the reprocessing phase of trauma work which does involve “returning” to the memories.
If that is the type of trauma therapy you are looking for, I can help. Recovery and healing is possible. Please contact me to make an appointment.
