9 tips to treat trauma in your practice and help your patients

The American Psychological Association establishes that trauma is an emotional response to an event that the person perceives as highly stressful. In most cases, it is an event that, who experiences it, interprets it as a stimulus that puts her life or integrity at risk.

Patients who have faced a traumatic event they suffer great emotional pain and live “partially”, as if in a state of numbness. They feel drained from the sheer amount of energy they use every day trying to be functional while dealing with a state of supreme pain that seems incessant.

• Related article: "What is trauma and how does it influence our lives?"

Understanding the trauma

Some trauma characteristics that should be considered when caring for a patient who has suffered from it are the following.

the human being is resilient, this means that our natural condition is inclined towards recovery and not towards fragility.

Traumatic experiences take place in a specific time and context. However, the experience is made up of several fragments of reality that form

comprehensive perception of the stressful moment. For this reason, the analysis requires greater care and attention to those fragments that make up the whole environment.

In most cases the patient defines himself from the traumatic event. “I am the before and after of that event.” It is very important to separate the identity of the patient from the traumatic experience, since the person is much more than an event.

Various investigations over time show that the perception of events is subjective and it is this perception that fuels the trauma rather than the event itself. The perception that the patient generates about the event directly affects his emotions. Although an event cannot be changed, it is possible to change how the patient perceives it and it is important to accompany and guide him in this process.

A direct consequence of trauma is that it causes a tangle of negative emotions that keeps the patient with the feeling that he will never be able to overcome the pain.

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Tips for Addressing Trauma in Therapy

For better or for worse, stressful events are a reality and although we cannot be prepared not to suffer when they occur, yes, we can help those who face them to have the opportunity to overcome the pain and generate better conditions after the trauma.

To have a better approach in the treatment of trauma, These tips can be a relevant support:

1. Help him focus on what will allow him to move forward

Our brain is wired to resolve conflicts and adapt to the world again. This requires a logical, functional and well-structured narrative that allows the traumatic event to be reinterpreted in a better way. Begin by identifying what your self-perception is after the trauma. How do you describe yourself after the stressful event?

Help him see the importance of knowing his strengths and abilities to overcome. Your perception of what happened will improve if your approach is based on the fact that the event is something external to the patient, alien to their identity and which is something that with his strengths and abilities he can overcome because his human nature is resilient and focused on survival.

2. Empower him through identifying his strengths

This will allow you to understand that you can compensate for any areas of opportunity or weakness that you have, because it also has the resources to face the challenges.

3. Work with him on the perception he has formed of the event

Together identify the small fragments you remember from the event to resignify the situation and change the perception, because it is precisely the perception of the events that generates the negative emotionality that becomes the greatest suffering after the trauma.

4. Avoidance is the factor that most strongly stops people from overcoming trauma

The pain takes them away from the possibility of facing that traumatic memory and confronting it is the beginning of the solution. The opportunity to help them forge the courage to face the situation It is the beginning of a better reality.

5. Identifying and accepting negative emotions is the next step

Acceptance means seeing these emotions with compassion and curiosity that allows the patient to understand that the emotions are theirs, but they do not define them as a person, simply they are there as a result of lived experience and it is necessary to identify them to work on them and improve the fact that they are there and are part of the consequences, but they are manageable.

6. Managing emotions is the next opportunity to capitalize

This is a skill that can be acquired and perfected. understand that we should not blindly obey what our emotions dictate allows for a shift in emotional control.

7. work with the pain

We usually want to get away from the pain, but this is a very effective indicator of things that are important and meaningful to the patient. Use pain as a guide to values, significant moments and patient emotions is an option recommended by Dr. Steven Hayes. Help your patient use pain as leverage for improvement by helping their mind and body learn that it is safe to see what you did not want to see and feel what you did not want to feel with a name and surname.

8. Teach your patient the importance of warmth and self-compassion

Self-criticism is usually brusque and disproportionate. Help him find his emotional center and communicate with himself with greater love and understanding.

9. Tolerance to follow the healing process is key

Although what we would most like is to overcome the pain quickly, this takes time and gradual steps. Be clear with your patient and make him notice the progress he is having. Help him see that every step counts and how every decision leads to a future with greater well-being.

Concluding...

Undoubtedly, trauma is one of the most complex phenomena due to the despair and deep pain it generates. The good news is that there are enough studies and techniques to help patients heal.

Although these are some tips that seek to help you in the mapping of solutions, it is important have a deep and structured knowledge when accepting a patient with an affectation of this nature. Helping is important, doing it with the right training is essential.