Trauma & Difficult Life Experiences

Trauma and difficult past experiences can silently impact the ways that we feel, think, behave, and relate to others. Trauma does not just exist in our childhood, but we can also experience it in later adulthood, such as after a single event, or witness an occurrence of a traumatic event in front of us. In addition, sometimes the impact is immediate and very acute. At other times, people may notice that changes last longer than we can imagine after an experience has happened.

Counselling isn't to 'fix' or 'remove' the experience, but supports our brain, body, and hear to make sense of the impact, and find ways of moving forward.

What Is Trauma?​

There are a lot of definitions to define trauma, and it may also vary depending on different cultural perspective, while according to The American Psychological Association (APA), trauma is defined as "Any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning." 

They also indicate that "Traumatic events include those caused by human behavior (e.g., rape, war, industrial accidents) as well as by nature (e.g., earthquakes) and often challenge an individual’s view of the world as a just, safe, and predictable place. any serious physical injury, such as a widespread burn or a blow to the head."

​​​

​We also suggest to bear in mind that not everyone responds to the same experience in the same way, and an experience that can be overwhelming for one person, but it may affect another person differently. For people who have been impacted, trauma can potentially, and ongoingly influence our daily functions in relationships, communication, our worldview's understanding, physical responses (such as headache, shaking, chest pain etc.).

​

How Can Counselling Support People With

Trauma and Difficult Life Experiences?

​

Counselling does not intend to remove our feelings and 'forget' what happened before, while carrying the unsettled feelings could significantly make an impact in our nervious system and long-term personal development. Counselling could help:

​

• Understanding your experiences — help our mind, body, and brain make sense of what happened and increase awareness of how it continues to affect your emotions, thoughts, behaviour, or relationships.

• Emotional regulation — developing greater awareness of difficult emotions and finding ways to respond to them without feeling overwhelmed by them.

• A greater sense of safety — gradually developing experiences of emotional safety in our inner world and in the therapeutic relationship, starting to trust, and creating stability from the counselling relationship to everyday life.

• Relationships and connection — relationships sometimes would be impacted because of the past experiences of mistrusts, betrayal, abandonment, and rejection.

• Self-understanding and self-compassion — supporting you to create meaningful meanings on the experiences, rather than considering yourself weak, broken, or at fault for how you responded.

• Equiping Yourself — developing new ways of coping, making choices, and relating to yourself and others while building a greater sense of agency in your life.