Frances Ross M.Ed Counselling Psychology, SEP, MBACP.
TRAUMA COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY IN RICHMOND, SOUTH WEST LONDON,
AND ONLINE FOR CLIFTON, BRISTOL & ACROSS THE UK
Resolving Trauma
Have you noticed the following symptoms?:
- Anxiety
- Phobias or unexplained fears
- Insomnia, severe mood swings, hypervigilance
- Obsessions/compulsions
- Physical symptoms that seem to have no medical diagnosis (chronic pain)
- Difficulty learning and concentrating
You may be suffering from post traumatic stress.
If so 'talk' counselling or psychotherapy may not resolve the symptoms. A particular way of working with shock trauma is required. Post traumatic stress disorder is a state of physiology not a state of mind.
Because shock trauma causes a physiological (biologically natural) response, its effect is not under your control. Often we don't know how significant the impact of a trauma was until its symptoms show themselves later (as listed above).
In traumatic shock the nervous system must be allowed to resolve an unfinished pattern.
"Humans are wired to physiologically go through the sequences of orientation and fight/flight when in a threatening situation. Rage and terror panic are the secondary emotional anxiety states which are evoked when the internal action plans for orientation and defense are blocked or inhibited."
It is the inability to flee or defend oneself that results in traumatic anxiety. Traumatic shock can be caused by an inescapable attack, physical injury/accident, war, natural disaster, birth trauma, severe abandonment or torture/abuse.
Children as well as adults experience these symptoms but can often recover more rapidly.
All that is required is that all the energy that has been mobilized to deal with the threat must be discharged. Working somatically facilitates the healing process by helping traumatised people release stored survival energy and complete interrupted biological patterns that have become 'stuck' in the nervous system.
Both humans and wild animals have intricate biological response systems which become activated in response to percieved life threatening situations. When overwhelmed by a threat where fight or flight is not possible animals and humans enter into a freeze response (also known as immobility).
Animals quickly return to normal by surrendering to the involuntary mechanism that allows their nervous system to 'discharge' their excess survival energy and re-establish equilibrium.
Humans tend to override instinctual systems with the 'rational' part of their brain. This 'higher' brain structure blocks involuntary discharge of the nervous system. Thus the body remains in this highly charged frozen state, leaving the body in a condition like that of a car with the brakes and the accelerator floored at the same time. Containing this energy causes the above listed symptoms.
Because physical sensation is the language of the instinctual brain, the tracking of subtle body experience creates a natural opening for the involuntary release to occur. By guiding people gently into the realm of body sensation, somatic work helps them regain the ability to regulate their own nervous system.
About the therapy
Working to resolve trauma and its attendant symptoms is a more active and contained form of psychotherapy. It involves tracking the individuals body awareness in a focused , skilled and specific manner, for the purpose of moving the person out of the physiological traumatic response pattern.
The way each person has responded to the fight-flight-freeze energies is very individual, and the therapist attentively tracks that persons response pattern, in order to move towards re-establishing equilibrium of the nervous system.
The process is very natural and everyone can learn these skills and move out of the traumatic state.
Working with developmental trauma
Developmental trauma is worked with alongside the shock trauma. One must understand the impact shock trauma has on the developmental stage at which it occurs, and the subsequent stages. For example a child abused within the family at an early age will not form secure attachment. A child hospitalized at an early age for prolonged periods may loose some of their sense of earlier successful attachment.
Developmental trauma may also be as a result of adoption, neglect, and poor attunement or attachment. Having a broad knowledge of Somatic Developmental Psychology is essential in this work. Completing incomplete developmental tasks is part of this work.
My main goal however will be to develop a core within the individual to which they can attach, rather than attaching to something or someone outside themselves. In this work the individual is learning how to self soothe, rather than to turn to addiction or develop compulsions, which are the most common indicator that a person has experienced developmental trauma.
Other conditions which indicate underlying Autonomic Nervous System disregulation:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) - Bi-Polar Disorder/Manic Depression - Obsessive Compulsive - Disorder (OCD) - General Anxiety Disorder - Dissociative Disorders.
Get in touch
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how I work.
You can also call me on 07734885554 if you would prefer to leave a message or speak to me first. I am happy to discuss any queries or questions you may have.
All enquires are usually answered within 24 hours, and all contact is strictly confidential and uses secure phone and email services.
I currently run a Trauma Counselling practice in South West London, Richmond-on-Thames TW10. I no longer offer face to face sessions in Clifton but am able to offer online sessions for those in Bristol or further afield across the UK.
Regarding COVID-19; sessions can be held online or in person at this time.
©2021 Frances Ross
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