TRAUMA AND ANXIETY

If you suffer from anxiety you will understand its distressing and exhausting effects.  For each person the reasons are different. It may be caused by a build up of stress, or by traumatic life events.  Some people have experienced anxiety since they were children because they have not had the right environment to learn how to calm themselves.

A traumatic event can be defined as a situation which is perceived as life-threatening.  For example, a baby who is neglected is likely to be traumatised because their care-giver is not responding – their only means of survival.

A child who is abused will feel terrified as they do not understand what is happening to them.  Such events have a powerful effect on the nervous system, especially as the person does not have the capacity to process them.  They can stay unresolved for years, and an intense emotional and physiological reaction can be triggerred by other stressful situations.

For adults too, there are many events which may cause an extreme physiological reaction, even if their background has been relatively stable, for example, car accidents or serious injury, witnessing violence, complications in child birth, being a victim of crime, or war.

It can be very difficult to process these ‘abnormal’ experiences and in some cases people go on to develop PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  Often the brain cannot store theses incidents in long term memory and for the sufferer they may remain as ‘live’ and real as they did in the beginning, with all the emotional impact.

Fortunately there have been recent developments in the field of neuroscience which have provided us with information about the way our brains and bodies function.  There are now a number of practical ways to help relieve anxiety and the other effects of trauma by soothing the nervous system and helping to change brain patterns.

Most people who come for counselling want to ‘get their lives back’ – to be able to function effectively on a daily basis.  Some also want to be able to work specifically through the traumas they have experienced, though this is not always necessary.  The most important thing for me is that the work is safe and does not re-traumatise.  I have found that this is possible by using combination of approaches:

• talking therapy
• body awareness
• information about the nervous system
• working on flashbacks
• grounding exercises
• working with cognition
• mindfulness
• relaxation and visualisation
• creative work such as art, writing, sandtray, story and movement

If you would like to discuss your trauma/anxiety or need more information about help available, please feel free to contact me.