9 Tips To Treat Trauma In Your Office And Help Your Patients
The American Psychological Association states 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 their 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 exhausted by the heavy amount of energy they use every day trying to be functional while dealing with a state of supreme pain that seems incessant.
Some characteristics of trauma 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, experience is made up of several fragments of reality that form the comprehensive perception of the stressful moment. For this reason, the analysis requires greater care and attention to those fragments that make up the complete environment.
In most cases the patient defines self based on the traumatic event. “I am the before and after of that event.” It is very important to separate the patient’s identity from the traumatic experience, since the person is much more than an event.
Various investigations over time demonstrate that the perception of events is subjective and It is this perception that fuels the trauma more than the event itself. The perception that the patient generates about the event directly affects her emotions. Although you cannot change an event, you can change how the patient perceives it and it is important to accompany and guide them 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 they will never be able to overcome the pain.
Tips for addressing trauma in therapy
For better or worse, stressful events are a reality and although we cannot be prepared not to suffer when they occur, 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 better reinterpreted. Start 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, foreign to his identity and that it is something that with his strengths and abilities he can overcome because his human nature is resilient and focused on survival.
2. Empower him by identifying his strengths
This will allow you to understand that can offset any areas of opportunity or weakness you have since it also has resources to face the challenges.
3. Work with him on the perception he has formed of the event
Together, identify the small fragments that you remember about the event to resignify the situation and change the perception, since 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.
Pain distances them from the possibility of facing that traumatic memory and confronting it is the beginning of the solution. The opportunity to help them build the courage to face the situation It is the beginning of a better reality.
5. Identification and acceptance of 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, they simply They are there as a consequence 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 to us allows you to take a turn in emotional control.
7. Work with pain
We usually want to get away from pain, but this is a very effective indicator of the things that are important and meaningful to the patient. Use pain as a guide to values, significant moments and emotions of the patient is an option that Dr. Steven Hayes recommends. Help your patient use pain as leverage for improvement by helping his mind and body learn that it is safe to see what he has not wanted to see and feel what he has not wanted to feel with his first and last name.
8. Teach your patient the importance of warmth and self-compassion
Self-criticism is usually abrupt and disproportionate. Help him find his emotional center and communicate with himself with greater affection and understanding.
9. Tolerance to continue the healing process is key
Although what we would most like is to get over the pain quickly, this requires time and gradual steps. Be clear with your patient and make him notice the progress he is making. Help him see that every step counts and how every decision leads him to a future with greater well-being.
Concluding…
Without a doubt, trauma is one of the most complex phenomena due to the hopelessness 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 mapping solutions, it is important to have a deep and structured knowledge when accepting a patient with an affectation of this nature. Helping is important, doing it with adequate training is essential.
