Who can suffer Trauma?
We might be familiar with Armed Forces personnel, Police Officers, Fire fighters or Paramedics being traumatised by the work they do, being exposed over and over again to extreme, often life and death situations.
But what about the person involved in a car accident who can’t put the accident out of their mind? Or the person who witnessed someone else being hurt and still recalls vivid images, sounds, smells or feelings from that time as if they were happening now? Or the person that got so absorbed in reading about a recent terrorist attack that they can’t now put the images they have seen on TV or the interviews they have heard out of their mind?
These people too are suffering from the effects of trauma. Anyone can.
Whilst it’s perfectly normal to have intense feelings following an event, those feelings should fade over time as our mind processes what we have experienced. However sometimes they don’t and that’s might be when some additional help is needed.
Your feelings matter
If you’re reading this because you or someone you care about cannot leave the memory of an event behind then it’s important to understand that these feelings are valid.
Sometimes we feel we shouldn’t have these thoughts and feelings, others have gone through far worse after all, haven’t they? Trauma affects people differently and accepting that is key, no-one can be sure ahead of time how something like this will affect them. Trying to ignore the feelings or push them to the back of your mind is unlikely to be a good long-term solution.
Your don't have to live with these memories
You don’t have to live with these unwanted thoughts, images and feelings – these Trauma Memories.
You need a way of processing these memories until they are just like all your other memories. Then they can sit there amongst all your other life experiences, the good and the not so good. To be learnt from, remembered occasionally but no longer dominating your every day life.
I like the following analogy: If our memories are like a vast library, then trauma memories won’t stay put on the shelf where you put them, they keep falling off and no matter how many times you put them back up there they keep falling off, hitting you on the head every time. Once you process those memories, they can take their place on the shelf, just like all the other books.
Re-Integrating Trauma Memories
I have experience in a variety of therapeutic methods that can assist clients in processing those memories in a safe, supported way. I tailor my approach to meet the needs of each client and their preferences.
