Specialization
Trauma & PTSD
For many of us, developing armor and other coping strategies to spare us intolerable suffering was necessary to get through a difficult childhood or other overwhelming situations.
Specialization
Trauma & PTSD
For many of us, developing armor and other coping strategies to spare us intolerable suffering was necessary to get through a difficult childhood or other overwhelming situations.
You know how it goes: you can’t stop working, can’t really trust people, can never fully relax. The downside to keeping out emotional pain and stored emotions is that this also keeps out the good stuff. Or when the good stuff IS there, you don’t really feel it deeply or trust it.
I recognized this armor in myself and in people around me – but how to undo it? Peter Levine’s book “Waking the Tiger,” which emphasizes the importance of using the body’s natural reactions as a roadmap to heal emotional wounds, was so powerful it brought me back to the field of psychology after many years in the arts.
This roadmap emphasizes establishing safety by knowing what safety really feels like in the body and how to evoke it. Then the trauma can begin to be processed, working at the speed of trust, and maintaining stability throughout.
In time, what happened will just be a part of your history. It will no longer dominate your life. You will feel confident in the face of difficult situations. You will have strategies that are aligned with your values. Strategies that you have practiced and can rely on to have a life that is satisfying.
