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My T defines trauma as any event that is stuck and won't leave you alone. It can range from small trauma all the way to big stuff.
My T specializes in trauma and only works with clients who have trauma. She has had a great deal of training all related to trauma, attachment and development. She uses a different approach than many T's. She is trained in all 3 levels of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Levels I & II of EMDR and has done training at a sexual trauma and dissociative disorders treatment center. Basically she says that all of her training and experience have been related to trauma since the 80's.
I think it is important for T's to have an understanding of trauma and how it impacts clients and their current functioning. I think it also requires the T to have a certain amount off "stomach" for this type of work and the things they are going to hear. It is important that they watch for and seek help with vicarious trauma issues that arise from doing this work and also take plenty of time for themselves to avoid burnout. It is tough work and I often find myself feeling for my T and the stress she must experience in witnessing the things that her clients bring to her.
I'm sorry for what happened to you. It sounds like you have been through a great deal.
My T specializes in trauma and only works with clients who have trauma. She has had a great deal of training all related to trauma, attachment and development. She uses a different approach than many T's. She is trained in all 3 levels of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Levels I & II of EMDR and has done training at a sexual trauma and dissociative disorders treatment center. Basically she says that all of her training and experience have been related to trauma since the 80's.
I think it is important for T's to have an understanding of trauma and how it impacts clients and their current functioning. I think it also requires the T to have a certain amount off "stomach" for this type of work and the things they are going to hear. It is important that they watch for and seek help with vicarious trauma issues that arise from doing this work and also take plenty of time for themselves to avoid burnout. It is tough work and I often find myself feeling for my T and the stress she must experience in witnessing the things that her clients bring to her.
I'm sorry for what happened to you. It sounds like you have been through a great deal.
Hi UV,
What you've been through definitely qualifies as long term trauma. Severe trauma is based on four factors: the age when the abuse started, how long the abuse continued for, how close the relationship of the abuser is (family member vs non-family member) and was the abuse ever stopped (I'm actually not completely sure about the fourth factor and I don't have time to dig up the book right now, but I will later). So the description of what happened to you definitely sounds like trauma.
Something that is very common to trauma victims is acknowledging the severity of what happened to them or the fact that they deserve treatment. There's a thread discussion on that you might be interested in: Really, really mad in which we discussed trauma.
Another good resource on trauma if you're up for some heavy reading is David Baldwins' Trauma Pages
And last but not least Trauma FAQs on the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissassociation
AG
What you've been through definitely qualifies as long term trauma. Severe trauma is based on four factors: the age when the abuse started, how long the abuse continued for, how close the relationship of the abuser is (family member vs non-family member) and was the abuse ever stopped (I'm actually not completely sure about the fourth factor and I don't have time to dig up the book right now, but I will later). So the description of what happened to you definitely sounds like trauma.
Something that is very common to trauma victims is acknowledging the severity of what happened to them or the fact that they deserve treatment. There's a thread discussion on that you might be interested in: Really, really mad in which we discussed trauma.
Another good resource on trauma if you're up for some heavy reading is David Baldwins' Trauma Pages
And last but not least Trauma FAQs on the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissassociation
AG
Hi STRM, thanks for sharing how your T views trauma, what training she has done and how trauma can impact a T. I think my T runs into some problem in being able to "stomach" the things I tell him. I know it makes him angry that I have suffered such traumas. I don't think burnout is an issue for him because, obviously, I'm the only trauma patient he sees. I am relieved to know that you are in such good hands with a well-trained and experienced trauma T.
@AG... thank you for those links. I remember the thread "really really mad" and remember how relieved I was to hear that others struggled with the same things I was struggling with in that it is hard for those of us with trauma to acknowledge it for what it is. I also think David Baldwin's pages are very helpful.
@UV... this was a really good thread to start and I thank you. What you describe, the CSA, the neglect and the heavy emotional abuse are all contributing factors to complex-PTSD which is different than the PTSD that comes from a major traumatic event such as being in an earthquake, a fire, or seeing a murder. They are both severe but oftentimes people don't recognize the complex-PTSD version because it occurs over a longer time period. Complex PTSD is also called "Disorder of Extreme Stress" by some researchers. Long-time ongoing abuse and neglect cause such issues as dissociation, anxiety, depression, and attachment injury comes along with it too. People who have this also have trouble with affect regulation or emotional regulation. If you want to read the research aside from Baldwin's pages, look for John Briere and Bessel van der Kolk.
You would think most all Ts have trauma training as there are so many people who have suffered trauma. Many of these people will not seek help and will be left untreated. Some end up using drugs and alcohol in order to numb themselves from the pain. But I remember reading an article on how the schools are failing therapists and patients in that they offer very little training or education in trauma. Most Ts who have this specialty have sought out seminars and other training and research on their own after becoming licensed Ts and Ps.
I, myself, am not sure where my trauma issues leave off and my "other" psychological issues come into play. It's hard to tease out one from the other and this is why I'm perplexed when my T says go work out the trauma stuff with another T and then come back to me for the other stuff. What other stuff? I ask myself. While my T does not have specific training in trauma and worries about it, we have already addressed many trauma issues and he has been quite wonderful. He worries he cannot always be there for me after hours but I see that even STRM who has a wonderful, empathic and well-trained T who cares very much for her has failed to return a phone call causing STRM distress. I wish I could make him understand that this is human error and not lack of trauma training and that we all make mistakes.
I will say that I do think it can only help to have a T who specializes in trauma but I had NO idea I had PTSD when I began therapy 2.5 years ago with him. I thought I had GAD and he listed that as his specialty and I figured... this is the right T for me. I don't want to leave him now after working so hard to establish this relationship and feeling so connected to him, but if I knew I had PTSD I would have sought a trauma trained T.
TN
@AG... thank you for those links. I remember the thread "really really mad" and remember how relieved I was to hear that others struggled with the same things I was struggling with in that it is hard for those of us with trauma to acknowledge it for what it is. I also think David Baldwin's pages are very helpful.
@UV... this was a really good thread to start and I thank you. What you describe, the CSA, the neglect and the heavy emotional abuse are all contributing factors to complex-PTSD which is different than the PTSD that comes from a major traumatic event such as being in an earthquake, a fire, or seeing a murder. They are both severe but oftentimes people don't recognize the complex-PTSD version because it occurs over a longer time period. Complex PTSD is also called "Disorder of Extreme Stress" by some researchers. Long-time ongoing abuse and neglect cause such issues as dissociation, anxiety, depression, and attachment injury comes along with it too. People who have this also have trouble with affect regulation or emotional regulation. If you want to read the research aside from Baldwin's pages, look for John Briere and Bessel van der Kolk.
You would think most all Ts have trauma training as there are so many people who have suffered trauma. Many of these people will not seek help and will be left untreated. Some end up using drugs and alcohol in order to numb themselves from the pain. But I remember reading an article on how the schools are failing therapists and patients in that they offer very little training or education in trauma. Most Ts who have this specialty have sought out seminars and other training and research on their own after becoming licensed Ts and Ps.
I, myself, am not sure where my trauma issues leave off and my "other" psychological issues come into play. It's hard to tease out one from the other and this is why I'm perplexed when my T says go work out the trauma stuff with another T and then come back to me for the other stuff. What other stuff? I ask myself. While my T does not have specific training in trauma and worries about it, we have already addressed many trauma issues and he has been quite wonderful. He worries he cannot always be there for me after hours but I see that even STRM who has a wonderful, empathic and well-trained T who cares very much for her has failed to return a phone call causing STRM distress. I wish I could make him understand that this is human error and not lack of trauma training and that we all make mistakes.
I will say that I do think it can only help to have a T who specializes in trauma but I had NO idea I had PTSD when I began therapy 2.5 years ago with him. I thought I had GAD and he listed that as his specialty and I figured... this is the right T for me. I don't want to leave him now after working so hard to establish this relationship and feeling so connected to him, but if I knew I had PTSD I would have sought a trauma trained T.
TN
quote:I will say that I do think it can only help to have a T who specializes in trauma but I had NO idea I had PTSD when I began therapy 2.5 years ago with him. I thought I had GAD and he listed that as his specialty and I figured... this is the right T for me. I don't want to leave him now after working so hard to establish this relationship and feeling so connected to him, but if I knew I had PTSD I would have sought a trauma trained T.
TN,
Yes, that would make a difference for sure. Hard to know what type of T to pick if you don't know for sure what the problem is! I had the "good fortune" (I put that in quotes, because obviously I'm not fortunate to have had trauma) to see a T last spring who just didn't "get it" and in my desperation to find someone else remembered that EMDR could help with PTSD (already strongly suspected that was what I had and the other T confirmed it) and then I was led to my T's website from the EMDR site. Everything I read on her site about trauma and how one reacts to it was like reading about myself. My husband read it too and was like, oh my gosh that's you!! So, I contacted her and thank goodness she was still taking clients (she isn't now). So, I kind of stumbled upon her by accident, but I prefer to think of it as fate or a God thing myself.
quote:Originally posted by True North:
I will say that I do think it can only help to have a T who specializes in trauma but I had NO idea I had PTSD when I began therapy 2.5 years ago with him. I thought I had GAD and he listed that as his specialty and I figured... this is the right T for me.TN
TN,
I think a lot of people have had the same experience. They go in for whatever symptom they're having and eventually it's revealed that they suffered some very serious emotional injuries. Who can possibly know until they get in there and start digging around?
I was not a victim of the kind of awful, overt and flagrant abuse that you and others here were. My trauma was a more subtle brand...a kind of abuse of regard, rejection and emotional starvation. The kind of trauma one might experience if they'd been born, then - emotionally - set down in a corner and left there like a house plant, waiting for someone to feed their incredible thirst for connection and relatedness.
I remember my T telling me that having your parental object of love dismiss you as a child is like being shot full of holes with a shotgun, and I remember not believing him for a long time. But I believe him now, and when I feel the anger I have toward my father and, now, my T...yeah, being treated like a worthless, unwanted piece of crap is trauma, in all it forms.
Please don't beat yourself up with regret for having not picked at T with PTSD training. You made a reasoned decision based on the information you had at the time. And BTW, I admire the hell out of you for the way you're handling your situation. You may think and feel that you're falling apart because of this, but I don't detect much in your writing other than some very honest strength and clear mindedness.
Russ
Russ,
Thanks so much, Russ. Some people would call it pure stubborn bullheadedness. But I guess that's what helped me survive my past.
I understand the whole potted plant analogy. Even plants need water and nutrients and they do so much better if you talk to them and rub their leaves.
All the best to you
TN
quote:You may think and feel that you're falling apart because of this, but I don't detect much in your writing other than some very honest strength and clear mindedness.
Thanks so much, Russ. Some people would call it pure stubborn bullheadedness. But I guess that's what helped me survive my past.
I understand the whole potted plant analogy. Even plants need water and nutrients and they do so much better if you talk to them and rub their leaves.
All the best to you
TN
UV,
I didn't realize something until this morning and I want to apologize. I went very left brain, providing a list of standards, and definitions and giving you a bunch of references. I did not however at all address any feelings involved.
So I just want to tell you that I'm sorry you had to endure all this as a child from the people who should have protected you and taken care of you. You deserved so much better than you got and I'm sorry I neglected to say that earlier.
AG
I didn't realize something until this morning and I want to apologize. I went very left brain, providing a list of standards, and definitions and giving you a bunch of references. I did not however at all address any feelings involved.
So I just want to tell you that I'm sorry you had to endure all this as a child from the people who should have protected you and taken care of you. You deserved so much better than you got and I'm sorry I neglected to say that earlier.
AG