What is trauma?

Trauma is the response to a very stressful or intense event. A variety of events can be considered traumatic, such as abuse (emotional, physical or sexual), loss of a loved one or poverty. Although trauma can happen at any age, trauma in childhood can have a dramatically longer lasting impact than if the trauma were to happen as an adult. 

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How does trauma affect a person?

The effect of trauma on a person can be both physical and/or emotional. Physically, a victim of trauma may have headaches, feel easily agitated or have digestion problems. Emotionally, a person can have a very difficult time processing the trauma which can leave them feeling overwhelmed and helpless. They can experience a wide variety of emotions ranging from shame, guilt, anger, sadness and/or denial. 

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When is trauma a problem?

​Those who suffer from trauma often feel either too much emotion or too little emotion. As a result, this emotional impact can take a toll on interpersonal relationships at home, school or work. Sometimes, those suffer with trauma may start to abuse substances as a way to cope with the difficult emotions, which can impact physical health as well. If you find that a traumatic experience is impacting your overall quality of life, then it might be a good idea to seek help!  

How can you benefit from working with a psychotherapist?

A therapist can work with you to address fears that you may have as a result of a traumatic experience, as well as to address the typically behaviours of avoidance that might arise to cope with the traumatic experience. For those that have trauma arising from a particular relationship, the therapist can help you process the trauma in a safe way so that you can begin to trust others again. Shame and guilt are can sometimes be a consequence of trauma. By working with a therapist, you can examine and work towards correcting problematic beliefs.  

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What can I expect during a therapy session? 

A variety of approaches and techniques can be used to deal with trauma. One effective approach is the use of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). During counselling sessions, the therapist can help you learn techniques to help with distress tolerance and improving emotion regulation. Improving interpersonal relationships may be another important for some clients. The majority of treatment plans are 12-14 sessions depending on the goals and needs of each client, although more sessions may be needed for more complex situations.