Complex Trauma & Pain
Singular traumas are an experience most of us will have in life because life and people are complicated. Trauma is a subjective experience. Everyone survives it in their own way based on personality, history, supports, resilience, upbringing, etc. Complex trauma arises from complicated, compounding factors that are generally cumulative.
“Complex Trauma is defined as the exposure to multiple, often interrelated forms of traumatic experiences AND the difficulties that arise as a result of adapting to or surviving these experiences. An integrative term that encompasses BOTH the exposure to multiple, chronic or recurrent traumatic experiences AND the wide-ranging and long-term impact of these experiences.”
“The adverse experiences encapsulated by Complex Trauma typically, but not always, begin in early childhood, are longstanding or recurrent, and are inflicted by others. Most often they are perpetrated within a person’s formative attachment relationships. Sometimes they are compounded by patterns of dysfunction that negatively impact areas of daily life. Frequently, they intersect with structural and institutional forms of violence and oppression that beset certain peoples and communities, particularly those holding minority status within a given society.” (Source: www.complextrauma.org)
Whether single incident or complex trauma, in time, many come to believe that they must be to blame for how much they hurt, for how messed up their lives have become. People often feel like a monster has been chasing them and they no longer have the ability to run. So much time spent avoiding, numbing, blocking the “monster.” Well, the monster is real and is inside of them. That it is them. Healing this part of identity can be transformative.
"Complex trauma" provides a strength-based, survival driven reframe of trauma,
shifting the focus from “what’s wrong with you?” to “what happened to you?”
People often come into my therapy office when:
Symptoms like flashbacks, excessive fears or phobias, chronic pain, chronic depression or anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, unexplained or irrational worries become overwhelming or take over their ability to cope with everyday stressors.
People may come in feeling distressed, triggered, overwhelmed. Angry, depressed, anxious. Most come in fearful.
They may also come to me a positive and safe stage in life where “things should be fantastic” yet old “stuff” keeps coming up, negatively impacting daily life.
They might have thoughts that they have “dealt” with old trauma or are “past” those memories yet they still keep haunting them.
They may have “already dealt” with the trauma but triggering events or people come back into their life and they recognize there is more to be processed.
The Complex Trauma INFORMED Framework
Provides a strengths-based, survival-driven reframe of trauma. Difficulties can be viewed as adaptive strategies to survive overwhelming experiences and prepare for ongoing threat in a hostile world.
Emphasizes difficulties arising from a person’s efforts to endure and adapt in the face of adversity.
The complex trauma framework recognizes that a survivor’s presentation cannot be understood in isolation, but rather must be considered in the context of that person’s tremendous effort to manage and adapt to significant life adversity.
Treatment OF COMPLEX TRAUMA
The #1 best predictor of symptom improvement: WILLINGNESS to go there.
Ask yourself: Am I ready to make changes to my thinking, identity and life? Even if it’s scary?
Am I ready to stop running from the invisible monster?
Am I finally ready to deal with the monster that has been hiding out in my body, making it feel uninhabitable?
Can I keep living this way? Is hope of healing more appealing than continuing to suffer?
Evidence-based therapeutic interventions shown to improve symptoms:
EMDR
EFT
BRAINSPOTTING
CBT
Trust in your therapist
Source: www.complextrauma.org
Drawing by Asher Harrison, age 11