A psychological trauma is an emotional injury caused by an extremely distressing event, such as natural disasters, severe accidents, rape, experiences of war, or the loss and disruption of
relationships due to separation, bereavement, etc. These events strike both children and adults completely unprepared and can deeply shatter their sense of security, trust, and control.
Trauma as an Unprocessed Emotional Injury
Not every traumatic event leads to long-term consequences. While some people struggle with short-term acute stress reactions after a traumatic event, others develop what is known as a
trauma-related disorder. These disorders are complex and can have far-reaching effects on psychological and physical health, relationships, and overall quality of life. Timely treatment using
trauma therapy techniques is crucial for the course of the illness. Left untreated, the condition can become chronic and lead to secondary complications. Trauma-related disorders increase the
risk of psychological conditions such as substance abuse, depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and physical ailments.
Trauma-Related Disorders
Trauma-related disorders manifest in various forms, depending on the nature of the trauma and individual resilience or available resources. The most well-known and frequently diagnosed form is
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is a psychological disorder that can occur after experiencing an event of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature.
Typical symptoms include:
* Re-experiencing: Flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts about the trauma, where the person feels as though they are reliving the event.
* Avoidance: Actively avoiding anything that serves as a reminder of the trauma, such as places, people, conversations, or activities.
* Negative alterations in cognitions and mood: Persistent negative beliefs about oneself, others, or the world; loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities; feelings of detachment and
difficulty experiencing positive emotions.
* Hyperarousal: Constant vigilance, an exaggerated startle response, sleep disturbances, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
PTSD can manifest in an acute form (symptoms lasting up to 3 months), a chronic form (symptoms lasting longer than 3 months), or with delayed onset (symptoms appearing 6 months or more after the
trauma).
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
C-PTSD often develops after prolonged, repeated traumatization, which frequently occurs during childhood and involves interpersonal violence or extreme neglect. In contrast to "simple" PTSD,
which often relates to a single event, C-PTSD leads to more pervasive and profound impairments.
Additional features of C-PTSD include:
* Affect dysregulation: Difficulties controlling intense emotional states, which can lead to outbursts of anger, panic attacks, or dissociative states.
* Negative self-perception: Deep feelings of shame, guilt, worthlessness, and a sense of being permanently damaged or different from others.
* Relational difficulties: Difficulties establishing and maintaining stable, healthy relationships, often characterized by mistrust, fear of dependency, or rejection.
* Dissociative symptoms: Feeling detached from one's own body or thoughts, gaps in memory, or a distorted perception of reality.
* Somatic complaints: Chronic pain, gastrointestinal issues, or other physical symptoms with no identifiable medical cause.
Acute Stress Reaction (ASR)
ASR occurs immediately after a traumatic event and typically lasts no longer than one month. The symptoms resemble those of PTSD but are time-limited. These include anxiety symptoms, social
withdrawal, narrowing of attention, disorientation, aggression, despair or hopelessness, inappropriate hyperactivity, and extraordinary grief. If symptoms persist beyond one month, PTSD may
develop.
Adjustment Disorders
Adjustment disorders are less severe than PTSD but can also occur following stressful life events that do not necessarily qualify as trauma in the strictest sense (e.g., divorce, job loss, severe
physical illness, bereavement). The reactions to the event are dysfunctional and impair social or occupational functioning. Symptoms usually do not last longer than 6 months, though in individual
cases they can persist for up to two years.
My Treatment Methods
Neurobiological research has shown how deeply trauma affects the body and those areas of the brain that lie below the level of conscious understanding and language. For this reason, trauma and
its effects are often "unspeakable" or difficult to put into words. Both Psychodrama and Brainspotting provide wonderful tools for this and can be used or combined according to your individual
needs to enable comprehensive healing and the integration of traumatic experiences.
Trauma Therapy with Psychodrama
The focus of my approach is on regaining psychological stability and experiencing a secure attachment through a resilient therapeutic relationship that offers reliability, attentiveness,
transparency, and protection. I do not consider trauma exposure to be strictly necessary. Using my action- and resource-oriented Psychodrama techniques, I offer you many different opportunities
for non-verbal or symbolic expression. In this way, you can often process the physiological, emotional, cognitive, social, and existential consequences of what you experienced more easily than
would be possible through talk therapy alone.
The goal of psychodramatic trauma therapy is to reactivate the roles that were buried by the traumatic experiences and make them available again for coping with daily life. Within a safe
environment, you can actively try out new behavioral patterns, change dysfunctional relationship patterns, and regain your own sense of self-efficacy through corrective emotional experiences.
Trauma Therapy with Brainspotting
In addition to action-oriented Psychodrama, I also utilize the body-oriented and neurophysiological method of Brainspotting as a supportive tool. By utilizing eye positions ("Brainspots"),
Brainspotting allows direct access to deeper, subcortical brain regions where traumatic experiences are "frozen." Through the visual system and the accompanying bodily awareness, deep
neurophysiological processes of trauma processing can be set in motion, activating the brain's innate self-healing capacities.
Because the trauma does not need to be retold in detail for the therapy to be successful, this method significantly minimizes the risk of re-traumatization. As a result, Brainspotting proves to
be particularly effective for complex trauma—emotional and physical distress becomes noticeably lighter or may dissolve entirely.
