Blog

One question that is sometimes asked in supporting clients at the beginning stage of treatment in the area of trauma, grief and loss and deeper areas of trauma known as PTSD is “What is the reason my trauma is not going away?” 

I’d like you to imagine for a moment that your trauma (which, for now, is just a fancy way of saying the really, really bad stuff that happened to you in your past) is like eating an apple. In the natural, we’ll take a bite of an apple and start to chew it.  Chewing is a form of our body beginning to process the apple for digestion where eventually the nutrients go to our body and the waste goes out of our body.  

Our brain, metaphorically speaking, is very similar in this way of processing. When something happens to us, like maybe a friend jumps in front of you in a cheesy karate pose and says “danger.” We might have various reactions such as being startled, scared, or maybe even laugh out loud hysterically. The point of this is whatever the outcome, a person not dealing with trauma is not likely to suddenly say to themselves, I need to go to Trauma Counselling Calgary and deal with my unresolved Trauma. Most individuals that I ask this question to generally respond with the answer, of course not. Even if someone got really hurt by the incident, it might be similar to taking to big of a bite of an apple and it getting stuck in your throat. With, swallowing, coughing and a big glass of water we can help support the process of the chunk of apple continue on in its journey of processing.

Trauma, whether it’s on-going negative circumstances like bullying or a one-time terrible circumstance like being raped, can be like having a whole apple shoved in your mouth and someone telling you to swallow the apple to process it. First of all; good luck getting a whole apple in your mouth, let alone, there’s no way you’d be able to even swallow the apple whole…and even if you did, chances are that it would most likely get stuck and you’d end up in the hospital having to have an apple removed from your throat.

Okay, I know I might be sounding quite sarcastic here, and that’s the whole point. Trauma is not some general life challenge that in time we can get over or move on with. Trauma gets us stuck and immobile and quite often makes it difficult to maintain a healthy and productive life. Not to mention unhealthy coping mechanisms like drugs, food and alcohol that are often used to numb the pain of trauma.

Now for some individuals, a more clinical or educational approach to understanding terms like trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can support the individual or the person trying to support the person dealing with the unresolved trauma. This is a good thing as the more research and understanding of deep internal mental and emotional wounding such as PTSD, the more empowered you can get in your understanding of the reasons you or a loved one might be negatively reacting in the world around you. The Government of Canada, US Department of Veteran Affairs and even Wikipedia all have much more detailed information on trauma based challenges such as PTSD.  

Going back to the Apple analogy, some smaller traumas are more like crab apples. Small enough to get in your mouth, however, way to big to swallow whole. This is where we need to get an understanding of the brain. You see, although I might be able to chew on the crab apple and then eventually swallow it for processing, our mind has this tiny part of our brain, in between our ears and behind our nose, known as the amygdala. Many trauma therapists consider the amygdala as the processing center of our brain. Quite often, even little traumas the size of a crab apple are just way too big to process completely. Not to mention some people have multiple crab apples stuck in their amygdala or full-sized bunches of Apples waiting in line to be processed, but completely stuck.

Now this might be sounding very bleak for the person reading this article and going “great, that’s totally me, now what???

The good news is this, in the last 40 years there have been leaps and bounds in the area known as processing trauma. One such trauma therapy for challenging diagnoses’ such as PTSD that New Life Counselling has found very effective is known as Accelerated Resolution Therapy (A.R.T.). Rather then spending years and years in therapy, something like A.R.T. has demonstrated to only take 2 to 5 sessions to deal with one of your apples that is stuck in the amygdala…. Talk about getting unstuck and being able to move on in life.

If you are dealing with big or little trauma, or know someone who is suffering from the effects of trauma, grief and loss, it might be time to consider seeking out a qualified counselling therapist and get unstuck from your trauma and begin walking in New Life.

Jeremiah La Follette (MCC, RPC) is a registered professional counsellor and psychotherapist who has a passion for providing positive results by restoring individual wholeness and healthy relationships.