Trauma & PTSD

Vancouver Trauma & PTSD Counselling

Everyone deserves a relationship that fosters genuine connection with their partner.

Although not everyone has that kind of relationship, everyone can have it with the professional coaching from a therapist. You will experience a higher degree of connection as a result of a higher degree of skills. And, I can help you learn those skills. Contact me for a free 15-minute consultation.

Trauma

What is a traumatic event?

A traumatic event occurs when a person is in a situation where there is a risk of harm or danger to themselves or other people. Situations like this are usually frightening or cause a lot of stress. In such situations, people feel helpless.

Examples of traumatic events:

Serious accidents
Being told you have a life-threatening illness
Bereavement
Violent personal assault, such as a physical attack, sexual assault, robbery, or mugging
Military combat
Natural or man-made disasters
Terrorist attack
Being taken hostage
Being a prisoner of war
Anything that one perceives as life threatening

What happens immediately after trauma?

Immediately after a traumatic event, it is common for people to feel shocked, when in shock you feel:

stunned or dazed or numb
cut off from your feelings, or from what is going on around you.

What happens next?

People react differently and take different amounts of time to come to terms with what has happened. You may feel:

Frightened
Helpless
Angry
Guilty
Sad
Ashamed or embarrassed
Relieved
Hopeful

Strong feelings affect your physical health. In the weeks after a trauma, you may find that you:

Cannot sleep
Feel very tired
Dream a lot and have nightmares
Have poor concentration
Have memory problems
Have difficulty thinking clearly
Suffer from headaches
Experience changes in appetite
Experience changes in sex-drive or libido
Have aches and pains

What should you do?

Give yourself time
Find out what happened
Be involved with other survivors
Ask for support
Take some time for yourself
Talk it over
Get into a routine
Self care

What should you not do?

Don’t bottle up your feelings
Don’t take on too much
Don’t drink or use drugs
Don’t make any major life changes

PTSD

What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?

After traumatic event most people feel distressed and can have symptoms for some time. But sometimes, the acute reaction doesn’t go away and you can develop a more severe condition that we call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. The condition can also be triggered by longer-lasting traumas, such as on-going mistreatment, and physical or sexual abuse in the home.

How does PTSD feel?

Re-experiencing the trauma through vivid and distressing memories or dreams – have flashbacks and nightmares
Avoiding situations that remind them of the traumatic event
Feeling numb, as though they don’t have the same range of feelings as normal
Being in a state of ‘alertness’ – watching out for danger stay alert all the time, can’t relax, feel anxious and can’t sleep
Get physical symptoms – aches and pains, diarrhea, irregular heartbeats, headaches, feelings of panic and fear, depression
Start drinking too much alcohol or using drugs (including painkillers).

What could help?

Self-help:

Seek help and support – from professionals, friends and family.
Try to get back to your usual routine.
Talk about what happened to someone you trust and try relaxation exercises.
Eat regularly, take exercise and spend time with family and friends.
Try not to avoid other people.
Try not to resort to alcohol or street drugs to help you cope.
Body-focused therapies, such as physiotherapy and osteopathy, massage, acupuncture, reflexology, yoga, medication and Tai Chi.
Don’t be hard on yourself or expect too much of yourself. PTSD is not a sign of weakness. The strongest person can get it.

Medications:

Tranquillizers
Antidepressants

Psychotherapy:

Evidenced-based therapies: Eye movement desensitization & reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

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