Trauma

A common question I hear is “What is trauma exactly?” I think of trauma as encompassing two “tiers” or levels. The first, most easily recognized as trauma are common traumatic events such as:

• Automobile accidents

• Major or even routine invasive medical or dental procedures

• Natural disasters like floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes

• Chronic or catastrophic illness

• Loss of loved ones; seeing loved ones suffer due to compromised health

• A suicide attempt or committed suicide by a family member or friend

• Combat, war

• Emotional, physical, or sexual abuse during childhood

• Childhood neglect, betrayal, or abandonment

• Mugging, home invasion, sexual assault

• Financial insecurity

We all respond to this level of traumatic experience individually, as the event filters through the lens of our own personality and our own life. Nonetheless, trauma has certain common characteristics for us all:

• It is an emotionally overwhelming experience that may be perceived as life-threatening

• It results when a person sustains a psychological or physical insult or assault

• It occurs when the individual cannot adequately process, understand, or respond to the overwhelming event.

With this level of trauma our brain is shoved into overdrive and our brain and body's information processing system is disrupted. Therefore the trauma information is left unprocessed and in fragmented form. These unintegrated fragments often cause symptoms that disrupt our lives. A sound, a smell, a visual perception reminiscent of the trauma can elicit a full-blown panic response. The unprocessed trauma can cause us to feel anxious and depressed. We may have nightmares and difficulty sleeping. Instead of feeling like the trauma happened in the past, it feels as if it is still with us, disrupting our present life.

The second “level” of trauma I witness in my work with clients is more subtle and often is overlooked, ignored, or unrecognized as having lasting effects. Examples of such experiences are:

• Childhood teasing, being bullied

• Pressure from family or friends to maintain a certain weight, academic standard, athletic performance; expectations of perfection rather than one's best

• Experiences of humiliation or embarrassment 

• Loss of job, disruption in career path, chronic negativity from a work colleague or manager

• Illness or developmental disability of a sibling during childhood

• Childhood moves to another home/location/school

• Loss or disruptions in friendships

• Infidelity/separation/divorce

These experiences, and others, can sometimes be a catalyst or trigger for distressing emotions and for unproductive or unhealthy behaviors such as social anxiety, a lack of confidence, interpersonal difficulties, substance abuse, addictive behavior, and disordered eating. Just as a dandelion has a long root, ranging from an average of six to ten inches, sometimes up to ten to fifteen feet, so too can our troublesome social patterns and personal habits stem from long-buried often forgotten “roots” in our past.

Another question I hear is “What is EMDR exactly, and how can it help me?” I am trained in EMDR and also am one of only two therapists in the metro-Atlanta area trained in AF-EMDR. I have found this approach to be a rapid and highly effective form of treatment not only for trauma but also for anxiety, phobias, eating disorders, addictions, and depression. It works fast, does not require prolonged exposure which in itself can be re-traumatizing, and requires no homework.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a powerful psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven to be effective for the treatment of trauma. Psychologist Francine Shapiro developed EMDR in the late 1980s, finding that people could process trauma memories at accelerated rates when accessed memories were paired with bilateral stimulation.

Attachment-Focused Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (AF-EMDR) was developed by psychologist Laurel Parnell in 2008. AF-EMDR is designed especially to heal relational trauma. It addresses the effect of neglect and abuse on the developing brain and incorporates attachment repair as one moves through the EMDR processing. AF-EMDR effectively creates emotional safety for the client and adapts treatment around the client's cultural and individual needs.

In the early days of EMDR,  rapid eye movements were used exclusively for bilateral stimulation; over time it was discovered that other forms of bilateral stimulation such as alternating sounds or alternating tapping worked as well or better than eye movements to elicit the mind's accelerated wholistic processing and healing.

Within each of us is a natural ability to heal. This ability to heal is suspended after a traumatic experience as our information processing system is disrupted. Laurel Parnell uses the analogy of a wound to your body to describe how EMDR works (see Well Being Journal, Vol 31, Fall 2022). Your body cannot heal until the wound has been cleared of debris and cleaned. Just as debris inhibits our body's ability to heal, she says, trauma disrupts our natural healing system. EMDR, with its bilateral stimulation, activates each side of our brain, eliciting an astonishing free-associative process between mind and body. The trauma is processed in a way that leads to new insights alongside new ways of viewing oneself and one's life. By the end of a session the trauma no longer feels disturbing. Our natural potential for healing and wholeness begins to emerge.