Tag: Trauma
Designed For Crisis
The term crisis tends to bring with it thoughts of difficult events and our worst fears including our own mortality. Part of what amplifies our distress is how we approach a crisis cognitively and behaviorally. There are a few things you can do to tap into your own natural ability to cope with a crisis and perhaps even capitalize on it. Rethink How You Understand the Term Many things we consider good or positive events are in fact crises. The birth of a child, going to college, starting your first job, transitioning from one developmental stage to another all involve …
EMDR – it really isn’t that mysterious.
The goal of EMDR is for an individual to feel no distress or the least amount of distress possible when confronted with a traumatic memory, thought or prompting event. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is still the subject of some controversy despite being recognized by the World Health Organization and the United States Veterans Affairs, Center for PTSD as one of three strongly recommended, evidence based models of care for PTSD. EMDR uses many of the same techniques as other therapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. EMDR simply repackages what’s always been done in a way that is contained in …
Nightmares
Nightmares are not something you may have to live with. There are both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic options that may help reduce nightmares. The DBT and CBT protocols involve a combination of relaxation exercises, writing the nightmare out (with a different ending) and imagining the nightmare (with the new ending) before sleep and throughout the day. If the nightmares are related to PTSD or a trauma event an additional option includes EMDR which is specifically designed to help those with traumatic memories eliminate or reduce the distress associated with the memories and change their thinking about the trauma. CBT and DBT …