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Everyone knows that bad things happen.  When bad things happen and we are shifted from a state of normal “safe” living into a state of threat we can become traumatized.  If we don’t have sufficient resources to understand what has occurred and/or we don’t have an environment to support us and assist our recovery we often end up with chronic difficulties that can include anxiety disorders, panic attacks, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or, an enduring daily discontent and self doubt robbing us of simple joy and confidence.

Trauma often is thought of as the horror stories resulting from war, terrible accidents and great devastation or from severe neglect and abuse.  Certainly these kinds of trauma leave their distinct mark.  However, not all trauma results from the obvious tragedies.  The child with a learning disability who is frequently teased and embarrassed begins to feel shame can develop a sense of artificial limitation which then can perpetuate a cycle of failure and further sense of shame.

Identifying the source of trauma as well as the current effects of the trauma is essential for resolution.  There are a number of wonderful therapeutic tools to assist in treating the depression and anxiety disorders that result from trauma.  One tool is good old fashioned listening with compassion and acceptance.  Sometimes just being able to tell what really happened and how we really felt about what has happened is wonderfully healing.  More specific therapeutic tools such as Focusing (Gendlin) and Gestalt therapy work very well especially when combined with bi-lateral stimulation techniques and/or EMDR.

EMDR as constructed by Shapiro is one of the best treatments for PTSD and is designed to access all the components of the trauma: the facts of the events, the physical sensations which most of the time present as anxiety and the negative beliefs we come to hold at the time of and as a result of the trauma.  With the specific protocol of EMDR, traumatic events are desensitized and the accompanying beliefs and sensations of the trauma are reduced to, what I call, landscape material, that is, a fact of history no longer with anxiety responses associated with the event.