A while ago, I went to a concert at the University of Connecticut. An orchestra from Germany was playing the music of Beethoven, but I came away with an appreciation of . . .
. . . Jimi Hendrix?
It might sound rather unlikely, but stay with me here.
Because as it turns out, even though the musical styles of Ludwig von Beethoven and Jimi Hendrix are very different, there’s an interesting connection between the two.
You see, before the concert, I went to an eye-opening presentation led by Alain Frogley, Professor of Music History at the University of Connecticut.
He’d just come from giving a lecture on Jimi Hendrix to students in the pop music club, and noted a slight feeling of “whiplash” in transitioning his talk from a 1960s-era rock icon to one of the 18th century’s (and beyond) most influential composers.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
These two men have much more in common than mere musical genius.
First, consider this: both pushed the boundaries of their day.
I think a lot of us remember (or at least remember hearing about) Jimi Hendrix’s infamous performance at the Monterey Music Festival in 1967, the one where he set his guitar aflame before smashing it to pieces, which he then hurled into the crowd.
As for Beethoven, he became quite well-known in his own right for banging so violently on his piano that he’d just narrowly avoid breaking it altogether. What wasn’t as well known at the time was his reason behind this: Beethoven was going deaf.
What’s more, both men were heralded as visionaries by their peers, and the music of both has withstood the tests of time and taste over decades (in Hendrix’s case) and centuries (in Beethoven’s).
But I think what struck me most of all, in learning about both musicians alongside one another, is that each had to deal with a life-changing traumatic experience in his abbreviated life.
What must it have been like for a prolific composer like Beethoven to lose the one sense he relied on most for musical expression, creativity, and his very livelihood? Just 30 years old when he began losing his hearing, Beethoven stopped performing publicly shortly thereafter.
And why did Hendrix turn to the drugs that ultimately cut his own life short? Could it have been a way of dealing with the trauma of a turbulent childhood marked by reported abuse?
It got me to thinking – some people can endure an enormous amount of trauma and still live a vital and creative life, while others seem overwhelmed by what they’ve experienced.
We need to know a lot more about trauma to really understand this.
And, even more than that, we need to know a lot more about how to treat people who have suffered from trauma.
How do you work with patients who can’t seem to overcome the effects of trauma? Please share your comments below.
I am new at working directly with trauma, but have been utilizing my skills learned in my Somatic Experiencing Training. I also recently had a client who had no conscious access to early childhood abuse but was able to access the trauma through powerful dreams. I found that the somatic work was a powerful tool in guiding him through to resolving trauma through his dreams and active imagination.
I pray a prayer I learned from Tara Brach, “May suffering bring compassion.” My childhood difficulties are bringing me a kinder heart.
My book Being Fiercely Present is out on Amazon. It tells my story of the buried trauma of incest at 4, and the painful path of life as it gradually surfaced and I found healing at 70!!! I told my mother and she said “that could not have happened’ so I had to constantly weigh her view for survival and my view for sanity. (I am severely dyslexic).I was given ECT and finally diagnosed with PTSD.
I have a feeling that the unconscious attempt to make sense of this searing conflict had some bearing on the fact that I am a member of Mensa, have a published book, read omnivorously, and, as a graduate of Duke’s Center for documentary studies, make DVD’s of my work with children and feelings.
Hello, I am also in Durham. I just downloaded your book on Kindle. Thank you.
I have wondered the same thing my whole life. I am a highly creative, intuitive, spiritual, and a healer. I was abused as a child and suffered PTSD. I was put in Intellectually Gifted Classes. Throughout my educational life I was told I was brilliant to not living up to my potential, to failing in school.
I have created, built a career as a therapist using creative and spiritual tools and practices for 35 years. Teaching third, fifth and gifted classes I used transformative tools to educate the students. My clients today are mostly abused creatives. I am married 45 years to a loving and supportive man. And I have a loving relationship with my daughter. I am intense, mood swings, depression and have anxiety that I have managed in my life through many meditative, cathartic and spiritual practices. II have recently healed a chronic illness that was a reaction to my sisters suicide ten years ago But.. and.. I still struggle to reach my creative potential I have always wondered why people such as Oprah who was abused, and Maya Angelou, could reach the heights they reached, and I have struggled with so much internally I have completed a novel, written plays and create art. but I collapse when I am about to reach a new level. Today, finally I have learned through all the trauma work I have done and studying professionally l, and working with other through recovery find my container to stand in my creative voice. So I am very interested to know this new information. I am intricately intuitive in helping others with their trauma and creative expression, and I am gifted in processing and helping others with their own process to love and forgive. The abuse and struggle I suffered is part of the gift that helps me to be more compassionate and empathic and to see into the dark places that are difficult to detect in the shadow. However, I am still grieve the years I could not function as well as I wanted to. I hope to keep learning more and more. the more I know the I can help my clients. Thank you
I listen to their soul . . .
As an individual who has experienced trauma, I realize I was created with a constitution which brought with it the beliefirst that all which happens in my life is simply a part of my time here. I’ve always seen and felt the best in all situations, knowing my life was building a more evolved Me. My traumas have taught me wonderful lessons and I am grateful for that. I have used my traumatic experienceS to help myself and others. My resilience comes from my love for life, my fortune of being surrounded by positive thought and overflowing hope for the future, and knowing there is nothing I am not able to embrace and work with. Acceptance and compassion for myself have brought me to this moment. I thank all contributing forces.
Maybe it could be we have to accept, we will never heal from trauma, and the next new magic healing like Matrix ect, can soften for some the edges, but for others more work, more hope that you will be able to accive a blank card, a new beginning, for some and for me anyway, it has lead to more trauma. The dissopointment , frustration, and feelings of betrayal, that come up, as I watch my self flaying around desperate to NOW live my life and put “it” all “behind” me as I was told to do by the developer of this therapy. I have spent 35 years chasing the next workshop, therapist, book, training, spent a fourtune and my life…wanting to be clear, to be able to be true to others, to start living and not come from my pain…..
So maybe this is just life on this planet right now with the level of consciousness collectivly available to us, and through our pain and struggle, creative people can come through, that through their expression can if only form the moment we observe that expression, that we resinate with, it speaks to our soul, that has us feel we are one, not alone, because they have moved us closer to our true selves, and in that moment another drop is added to the pool of awakening, that will eventually fill with more Light more Love, and trauma will be a word that has become extinct in our world…..So thank God for all the musicians who move us, what ever their style they all speak to someone’s heart……
I tap into spiritual unconscious using music and art using principles of logotherapy. Specifically, I also create a lament with patients which allows them to reintegrate the soul so that they can use it to move beyond the trauma. This was the subject of my dissertation. I’ve used my method to work with cult survivors and military veterans as well as active duty service members.
I am interested learning more about what you described re “creating a lament.” Is it possible for me to get a copy of your dissertation or other information about the topic?
I couldn’t agree more. But we need to make the distinction between resolved and unresolved trauma. Trauma is a part of life, it happens to all throughout life, and we often resolve it in the moment or through the help of loved ones or our innate capacity for processing it naturally in the right circumstances. But so much unresolved trauma presents itself in therapy with clients. Much of it is unconscious, either because it was split off or because it’s pre-verbal or pre-mind and/or trans-generational. I was picking this up from my clients for a long time, feeling very frustrated with a lack of effective guidance and response from supervisors and colleagues. But, thankfully, in recent years trauma has become a buzz word. I thankfully stumbled across Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing SE trauma method and am now in the last year of training. I find it has transformed the way I work and it is a fantastic tool which I couldn’t be without today, particularly because it facilitates increased mind-body connection. Clients love it. There are so many clever people out there helping us better understand and work with trauma in addition to Peter Levine – Bessel van der Kolk, Babette Rothschild, Dan Siegel and many more.
You have brought up valid questions…
Years of work have demonstrated a particular intervention stands out for its effectiveness, success and relative ease of use.
Tapas Acupressure Technique (often referred to as TAT), is fast, efficient, effective and long lasting for treating trauma and its impact.
So effective that a local medical center has expressed interest in doing fMRI research to better understand how TAT affects the brain.
A free explanatory pamphlet is available from tatlife.com/booklet
This is truly the cutting edge of trauma treatment!
I find it interesting that in the 50+ posts on this page, exactly 3 include the world Jimi.
My, how we love to talk about ourselves.
Lol, yes I thought I had been redirected to an advertising page.
well.. i think that both bethoven and jimi may have been so great in part DUE to their trauma… and that’s why they poured all of theirself into their music.. it was their way of coping.. they were actually lucky enough to have found an outlet… strangely, a lot of creative geniuses have had a lot of trauma in their life, some find really great outlets and find something they are passionate about, and pursue it wholly .. others may be creative geniuses, but some how never manage to find the passion, or the determination to pursue their dreams… that’s the worst…
To become a successful therapist took me a toll, but here is a short story of bullying. My parents moved from NY on June 1963, I was only 6 years old. The language I domained more was English, so here I am in an Spanish elementary school.Since I did not read nor write in Spanish I was placed to a “Special Education” group. Here was this older and bigger kid, that enjoyed intimidating others including me. One day I had enough, and called him a bad word he told the teacher what I had said. Inmediately the teacher Miss Rivera, will never forget her name, told the kid “next time Miguel says that word, punch his mouth and knock off his remainding tooth.
Years passed and I became a Special Education teacher; that incident helped me not to commit the same brutality. Working with clients as a psychotherapist I applied, person-centered with a hollistic approach, focus on the traumas of early age incidents.
I agree Karen O’Connor, from Ireland, “Music Therapy” is a must in the therapeutic sessions. It opens doors that many therapies would never will. I have been playing music (percussion) since I was 11 years old now 57, now I practice most of the time at home with my flute, clarinette, sax, or drums. A different one each day, or when I feel loaded of stress I play them all one by one, then am good to go. My clients use my instruments, because they canot afford them, or they do not feel like bringing their own. I do not enjoy hearing excuses so I bring my own. Is alot of heavy hardware, but when I think about what they will experience the next session, the stress of carrying all my instruments become a pillow full of foam.
The combination of therapies, with collaborating therapists puts two heads together, which is better than one (if the two work well together).
But Ruth, isn’t it really fresh information about the developing mind, attachment/bonding, head traumas, and social disabilities which have not been very adequately integrated into therapy? Complex trauma starts with an area where most counselors know little beyond supplying a safe *container*.
With the others who are overwhelmed, what I have seen *works* is literally turning non-verbalized traumas into a complete narrative AND doling out pounds of compassionate acknowledgment of the truth/validity of the EMOTIONS that percolate. They have lived with their stories invalidated, torn apart, and denied. The AFFECT is more important than the story’s *correctness*.
The limbic system circuits, which wire AFFECT, is what is in a log jam or a loop. It is after the feelings explosion out of freeze, that the client can begin to expand from a contracted place to a larger realm of possibilities. They are tender here, as they are emotionally as vulnerable as they were when they were first traumatized! Think infantile in cases of developmental trauma…
Wouldn’t Dialectal Behavior Therapy(learning to express emotions in a regulated way) and Disabilities Trainings (recognizing deficits) be the best next step?
We know that professionals suffer secondary trauma from working with traumatized individuals and groups. A colleague of mine who has worked on a trauma unit in a hospital gave the following quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, to her patients and colleagues. I think it is relevent and helpful advice:
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Our mantra at the Listening Therapy Centre, Ireland is ‘Music is the Key – to unlocking your child’s potential’. Working closely with children with a variety of different diagnoses, from autistic spectrum disorder, aspergers syndrome, to speech and language delay/disorder over the past 18 years, has shown us that music really is the key to unlocking each child’s potential. We use a variety of forms of listening/sound therapies with the children that we work with and each day we see them reaching their potential so much more quickly and more fully using the music. The music that we use shows us how the brain develops as each step along the way we can see the layers coming together, the pieces of the child’s neurological jigsaw coming together so much better. Neuroplasticity at its best! In fact we have seen such amazing results over the past 18 years that I took time out to write about it and the result “Music is the Key – to unlocking your child’s potential” by Karen O’Connor.
I like the article. But it has since come to light that Jimi Hendrix was murdered by his manager who was later killed in a plane crash.
There is hope! I suffered from PTSD, dissiosiative disorder NOS, and suicidal ideation for almost 60 years before I did something about it. Basically I hid my symtoms as well as I could and suffered in silence. Seven years ago I found an excellent therapist. However, I also participated in my treatment, i.e. I did everything my therapist suggested I do when I was not seeing him. I did research on whatever else I possibly could do to help myself. I do various meditation, EFT, Qigong, and accupressure ‘exercises’. By now I know which one to use for what. For instance, for excessive worry I use EFT. I use some form of meditation or Qigong on a daily basis.
Yes, there is hope! I have retaken the CAPS and I don’t fit the criteria for PTSD any longer (DSM-IV-TR). Although I am currently not licensed, I would advice you to tell your client that well-being is possible but it takes hard work and perserverence to become a traume survivor.
I am first and foremost a physical therapist insofar as my work is physically based but my Masters is in Consciousness Studies and Transpersonal Psychology and I have undertaken a number of counselling courses. Touching is an extremely intimate event so it is unsurprising to me that many people speak about their concerns when they get to know and trust you as a therapist. I have heard many distressing things during my work sometimes traumas which someone has not spoken about ever. The lack of direct eye contact and the nurturing of physical therapies can assist someone in speaking about deep concerns.
I believe deep listening is primary and fundamental – it maybe the very first time they feel able to speak about something so it is essential to be empathic and listen well. The need to voice their problem and be heard is a giant step forward and should be honoured.
Personally too I have found that if I hear something sad I too get upset. I have not found this interferes negatively with the patient/therapist relationship – in fact quite the contrary. To be ‘touched’ by a patient’s emotion is not in my mind a negative. To feel their pain is, I feel, ia normal human reaction. A loved one of theirs would respond this way too most probably. So I do not work in a detached way which is often regarded as unprofessional. There, I have been ‘outed’ I go against what much of my counselling training encouraged …
Thankyou for your response. I feel that you have beautifully stated the most critical part of helping anyone to find healing when you said:
“I believe deep listening is primary and fundamental – it maybe the very first time they feel able to speak about something so it is essential to be empathic and listen well. The need to voice their problem and be heard is a giant step forward and should be honoured.”
Without an emotional voice, and someone to listen, it is very difficult to even understand what you are feeling let alone find a way of expressing those feelings that have never been expressed or heard.
I found my voice and was able to express myself through a combination of art therapy, bodywork, EMDR, and writing poetry. But all of these methods were needed for me and “listening” was the critical element in all of them. Though being heard, I was able to find my own voice, and find other ways of expressing what I had no words for before I began this journey back to myself. I now know how to listen to me.
There are many many ways to achieve “healing for trauma” but it is surely possible for most, whether from childhood trauma or an adult experience. The key seems to be reaching a place where the individual really KNOWS that the traumatic incident is over, and that it cannot recur as the circumstances no longer exist.
The relationship with a therapist must permit a development of trust where the client will be able to acknowledge the trauma, but we no longer need to examine the trauma in detail with what has often resulted in retraumatisation!
I trained in EMDR. Accompanied by bilateral simulation, clients rapidly revisit the trauma, with the therapists voice linking them to the present and ensuring progression through the memories of the actual traumatic event, Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUDS) are reduced.
Since 2008 I have used LIFESPAN INTEGRATION therapy, (Peggy Pace)
which requires acknowledgement of historic events in a timeline, but includes good, neutral and traumatic memories. This process appears to form new neural pathways from past events right up to the present, thus “proving” the trauma is over.. The LI process seems to integrate past events into the client’s “self” in an amazing and permanent way.
See lifespanintegration.com for information
Cathy Thorpe has recently written a very readable book…”The strategies and success of Lifespan Integration”…available from Amazon
I want to add that I deeply believe that spirituality adds a vital dimension to therapy. The Bible often offers a verse which summarises complex theory eg Be still and know that I am God, Love your neighbour AS YOURSELF!
I am a professional counsellor, with a Christian value base…..but really don’t like to be called a Christian Counsellor, as there can be an assumption of narrow views, or worse still, a pushy approach! I’m heartened to read the active positive Christian comments on NICABM.
Some readers may like to read “The Healing Timeline : God’s Shalom for the Past, Present and Future”
Enjoyed your comment. It put an smile on my face, today. i I identify as you do with a christian value base and i am a professional counselor as well. I would like very much to know who is the author of “The Healing Timeline: god’s Shalom for the Past, Present and Future”
I meant God instead of god.
I dont at the moment share with patients.. However I have these observations to share.
Time is a healer, Triggers are our challenges, having the right support and guidance through these times, helps us to get through, to the next one, till one day, the triggers no longer exist. Patience and self love is needed, and the allowance of the anger, frustration, tears, sadness to surface to be released. How each individual handles each traumatic experience, is their own unique souls journey, through each lifetime – through what we experience, is where our growth occurs. Through each experience we are able to embrace a new aspect of ourself. Recognising that each situation – experience we have, is a gift in disguise for the souls growth, in ways we can only see, as we are experience the situations as they arise. Death is only a celebration of ones cycle of life coming to a close. So my advise, would be to support another with loving guidance, for self awareness and the ability to heals oneself, to the ability one has in each given moment. Life that is projected by society to be healthy at all times, is not what the soul needs, it needs experiences to elevate it, which includes all lifes experiences, what ever they may be…. Through suffering comes some of the greatest awakening moments of the self, to get closer to its true divine expression. When we become more aware of being a soul and that all experiences are gfits of lifes expression, we can embrace all with more empathy, compassion, love and forgiveness.
Very interesting correlation between Beethoven and Hendrix. Sometime it’s the ‘trauma’ that triggers
the creativity. In some incidents writers experience their greatest accomplishments after a heartbreaking incident. (Writing their best song or book, after breaking up with the love of their life.)
Somehow they are motivated to rise above the situation and move on. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen to all of us. We all are probably capable of making that change, but not all of us humans can make the grade.
Be compassionate,empathy and pray to the heavens and ask how can I help…oh LISTEN!!!
Interesting perspective Ruth – This makes me wonder how often people use their perceptual brain rather than their language brain. What I find in my practice is that, when students use their words to define their thoughts, they also use those words to guide their emotions. However, so many students are telling me that they never think about using their own words to help them think. I call these students, “perceptual brain” students. Any new research on this? Also, since they don’t use their words – these students are the ones who most often get into drugs, emotional issues and breakdowns…..Possible link with why some people get through trauma and others fall apart?
Dianne
I am happy to see the subject of Beethoven’s deafness come up in a forum such as this. Aged almost 90, my hearing is pretty good, having been honed by intent listening throughout my life. But you might say I have Reverse Beethoven Syndrome, since inside my head there is almost no audio. I can remember music—but not hear. Which is a distinct drawback since I try to compose music and it is not until I commit the notes to computer that I can appreciate the nuances of my orchestration and make adjustments based on what I hear played back. Only then can what I produce be assessed as satisfactory. Oh, my visual recall is extremely sketchy also, and creative imagination nil.
The strange thing is that my dreams are vivid, and in them I frequently hear music in great sonic detail; cellos rasping, horns brassily overblown and so on. So the question is: how do I locate and nullify the trauma which caused me to shut off this blessing?
I am NOT an expert, but are you willing to try hypnosis? If you can find a practitioner who will help you and who will really care about getting you to the location of this unique problem, you may come up with the answer. And, if you do, I’d like to know about it! Good luck!
Hi Monty
Your story sounds fascinating. If you really want to identify how and why you chose these things, please contact me and i would be happy to describe a few of the amazing techniques i have learned over the past five years. There is one technique i use that i have not seen mentioned in any of the other posts and that is “The LifeLine Technique”- nothing to do with our lifeline phone counselling system here in australia. This was developed in the US and cleverly combines well over a dozen therapies so that they work synergistically to produce a really notable effect for the client. This technique is also a ‘non-content’ therapy–that is, the client doesn’t have to tell the whole story to the practitioner–so all those moments of deep embarrassment we all have can remain unspoken and you still get the results
cheers
Nola Smith
Understanding there plight is the first step, letting them know they hurt and that your not saying it isn’t real or get over it isn’t the answer…but putting them in a comfortable place in there minds so they know your not going to abandon them but that you really do care…
Trauma since it isn’t the same for everyone is a very strange thing…so it taken many answers for one question.. mindfulness I believe is where everybody has to start.. just being aware of yourself and the things around you can be very comforting.. and easing the fright of who and what your are…
You have to create a new therapy for each patient. So you learn enough about the patient that you compassionately create new metaphors that first enable them to endure the pain. Then you gently enable them to feel their pain-as much as they can endure and release the anger fear and guilt. then you find an appropriate path to get them in touch with the energy or spirituality that is the love and peace beyond their pain. Hel them to see that this loving energy is the truth that heals.
I have a unique situation in that I am both a nurse and a stroke survivor.
My husband and I have been asked to speak at two professional medical conferences in the last several years. That is important to know because my husband has been a strong support in my recovery. In a situation where the national statistic for divorce after a stroke is 92%, I have been blessed with a spouse who has stood beside me. He said after my stroke, “We’ll get through this together” and he has been a man of his word.
More importantly, I have had (and we have requested) prayer support from our church and small group Bible study in the 8 years since my stroke. Yes, I still do therapy and have participated in therapy consistently (except for a few months when I wrote my PhD comprehensive examination). That is one way in which prayers have been answered is the orchestration of various therapeutic approaches to chronic stroke that I have been able to take advantage of. Prayer has also sustained the discipline and optimistic attitude needed to do long term therapy.
I would highly recommend the series offered addressing neuroplasticity. I have experienced it personally (and still am experiencing it). It is very exciting to be created twice – the second time after my stroke when I can consciously appreciate it!
As I read so many of the comments, I found myself getting upset.There is NO right therapy that works for everyone. Every person is individual and therapy needs to be individualized as well. Therapy requires Knowledge and Science but it is definately an Art and “one size” does not fit all.
What may be very traumatic for one person, may be less or more so for another. We all bring different strengths and vulnerabilities into what we live.
I firmly believe that until a person feels safe and feels heard, they are unlikely to feel hopeful. I believe that the goal of therapy should not be “telling or showing or teaching” it should be about listening, gently guiding, supporting and empowering each person to find the solution that works for them.
Well, I’m sorry, but as a classically-trained musician whose undergraduate was music and who was a professional musician and later teacher, I just cannot view Jimi Hendrix and Beethoven as musical peers on any level. That blatant personal bias aside, the traumas of the two were also very different, in that one was a choice and one was not. That brings me to one view of dealing with trauma, in that we do have choices in how we view and experience trauma. As one who has suffered the extreme trauma of the death by homicide of a close family member, I know what it is to pass through the gates of Hell. In my case, it was acceptance that provided the key–or you might consider it to be awareness, such as that associated with the practice of mindfulness. I have made my peace–it is not all right, it will never be all right. I accept that, and go on with my life. Then there is the quality of resilience–which has a lot to do with how one deals with personal trauma. That in turn leads to discussions of attachment, and the vital importance of early experience. All this, and more, need to be kept in mind by the therapist who is working with a patient with trauma issues. The therapeutic relationship, with the qualities of empathy, acceptance, and unconditional positive regard (Carl Rogers’ phrase) can bring about healing through relationship. This is a deep issue you have posed, and this answer barely skims the surface of it. A recent webinar I took looked at the value of the combination of mindfulness and compassion. I think both of those qualities are a requirement for effective therapy with those presenting with trauma issues.
I was glad to hear your reference to Carl Rogers. I find his work extremely relevant in a hoist of diverse situations – implementing unconditional positive regard wards off a host of negative reactions and creates a safe, secure environment which facilitates the building of trust.
Having been depressed since I was about 8 years old, and now retired for over a decade, I am writing on science and spirituality as I find that writing is the way that I get to understand the field that I am studying. Those who say that we can connect through the part of us that is not one of the five senses have got it right. I have been through psychiatric care once and a few visits later but did not receive any real help.
Since my problems were reconciling what I learned as a system science, with plenty of work in aircraft, spacecraft and health-sciences as it relates to housing and health, I could not my head around the limitations of traditional science and what I was experiencing and seeing in the field. I also could not get my head around the limitations of religion. After decades of study I decided that I would have to write my way out of the bind.
Recently I have spent time reading both Greg Zukav and Eckhart Tolle, as well as the late David R. Hawkins and I realized that there was an answer. The basic/founding assumptions of traditional science and medicine (including psychiatry) were not adequate to the real world tasks we are looking at now and this was being denied by those who did not even know what those assumptions were. Rupert Sheldrake, in his most recent book “Science Set Free” has shown the errors of those assumptions for the types of problems that we are now tackling. The old assumptions were a good start, well over a century ago, but are now outdated as we come up against data and work-around theories that break the founding assumptions because the theoreticians have to do so.
Many of the articles on this site aslo break them, which is why i follow along.
Keep up the good work but look over your shoulder for those who are threatened by good work being done well past the old boundaries.
I personally find that making a choice to re-frame the issues whenever possible in a way that focuses on post traumatic growth can be helpful. Stops rumination, and looks for opportunity in the challenge to stay committed to some amount of growth –no matter what.
I tell my patients that their minds and bodies can work together to find their way to healing. I also tell them that only cognitive behavioral therapy for trauma is crap. EMDR works beautifully.
You say we need to know a lot more about trauma in order to understand it. The philosopher Wittgenstein (in PI) wrote that the face that inspires fear or delight in me is not the cause of the fear or delight but the target or reason. Reasons, he argued, are usually known to people; but a cause is a conjecture. We can make various conjectures as to why that face inspires fear or delight in me; how the original association was made. If it was fear, then perhaps it was trauma that caused the learning of the association. But the association may have been learnt in other ways – gradually and through other associations. Wittgenstein went on to say that at the heart of the “abominable mess” of psychology and psychoanalysis is a confusion of cause and reason; driven in part by our ‘scientism’ or the ‘scientism’ we inherited from Freud. The good news is that we don’t need to know the cause of the association in order to treat it. We can become desensitized to that face if it elicits fear, without ever knowing the cause. Many in the Wittgenstein community believe it is far more important to be untangling these grammatical errors in our thinking – like the ’cause’ – ‘reason’ one; rather than indulging in our ‘scientism’ to find out more about more about trauma. Perhaps we could begin with the mereological fallacy?
I like to use alternative therapy, and have found that Emotional Freedom Technique, i.e. tapping can be a powerful tool. Not only powerful, but immediate turn-around in most cases. Talk therapy is an ongoing process that can last for years, and with the side effects reported for drugs being so horrendous . . . well at least try EFT first.
The short answer is radical acceptance, the idea that what they are experiencing now is very normal for what has happened to them. When they reach a greater tolerance level we can talk about how they were not responsible for what happened to them then but are responsible how they live their life and process things now. Separating then and now is huge.
Advanced degrees – advanced levels of knowing – are earned in many forms. As many have already brilliantly commented, people who have been through trauma are best able to connect with and inspire – give genuine hope to – others experiencing the same.
I educate people on the fact that Life Skills benefit from the same things as academics: passionate educators empathetic to a diversity of learning curves and optimistic about potential for success, appreciation that beginners are of no lesser “character” than experts, affirmation that those who have endured hard course work, are uniquely qualified to teach the same.
When the trauma happened is one factor to this unfortunate event on someone. For adults, somethings I noticed is how people cope with bad situations. Personally, I deny my grief and am very creative-those are my channels of survival, but I don’t if thrival is as strong. The older one gets you learn to shrug things off more or perhaps you have been taught to adapt more than rebel. Even if it looks good on the surface, one can still be less of a fully functioning human being. Or one can perceive life as a challenge and what “does not kill you, makes you stronger.” Having a spiritual strength of grace and faith, one may surive and thrive much better that others without such invisible supports. The length of the trauma or if someone could allow the traumaee to discuss his or her feelings about what happened and receiving help to be in touch with the feelings. Their are an almost infinite amount of variables: age, attitude towards, resources, resoucefulness, life expectations, loving and financial support of parents, friends, where on the develpmental latter one’s psyche may be, the existence meaning of the event to the individual, the belief level of a supreme being and how much that is working for them before the trauma, the intentionality of the perpetrators, the class level, nutrition, etc.–The virtue of resilience and what caused that resilience is what may be key to understand. And, some suffering is part of being human and can make us more compassionate to others. That’s why we are not suppose to judge someone badly because everyone has their story that is unknown, perhaps. We make judgements all the time and need to (is the milk still fresh?) But the scripture is really referring to judging someones reasons for doing things and will this person be saved or not-too many variables that we do not know. Too often we are living in a pattern of behaviours as set as “our” programed dialogue. Until we get free of them that are distructive to the self, the more we live in the past with the characters of the past (See Eckhart Tolles, The New Earth).
I work with people whose adult trauma is compounded by “undigested” childhood trauma.I find that repairing insecure attachment and using the best of desensitization, mindfulness, systems approaches, combined adjunct interventions such as domestic/sexual violence and legal advocacy, substance abuse treatment (that incorporates Seeking Safety), and other relevant adjunct therapies yields the best results.I am a strong proponent of the Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard Glasser (cf. The Children’s Success Foundation website) to assist both clients and their families in transmitting the positive energy (and resetting from negative energy).No one approach is sufficient.The most important thing is that the client knows that you are invested, that you will not give up, and that you will not leave them alone to navigate the oppressive social structures that re-traumatize trauma survivors.
I agree that trauma can affect people’s lives and can create things that are unexpected. Trauma can potentially dictate behavior and hold some people back from experiencing more in life. I believe the EMDR therapy is the most effective way to treat people with trauma. I am a therapist with over 12 years of experience. I agree with one of the comments above the EMDR should be talked about more and apply more to people who experienced trauma. This trauma can include setbacks in relationships, at work or in the environment, and family of origin. I am a level II EMDR therapist.
I agree with Coleen , My interpretation is that We address the symptoms with “psych techniques” and reconnect with Mindfullness Practices and faith based practices where they learn compassion for self and others. In embracing our wounds from trauma we are able to embrace the wounds of others that suffer. When we hide our wounds with insensitivity and/or addiction We destroy our selves.
Healing from childhood trauma is possible! There are SO many ways to find something that will heal if your mind is open. Some of these methods are mainstream and some are fairly unusual; be mindful and pay attention to what “resonates” and you’ll come up with some way to ease that pain. Also, and this is to me VERY important, Vincent Felitti, M.D. and Robert Anda, M.D. performed a 10-year study through Kaiser Permenente about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and found that early traumas affect adult health. Find the study here: acestudy.org.
I only wish more people knew about this….
I have studied ACE and find this study extremely important. The study brings home the message of how nurturing we must be to ourselves and others because we have all suffered And we all want healing. All the comments on here are significant. It gives me great hope that the evolution of the human spirit is ever developing and new methods and therapies are advancing all the time.. Some of the therapies I have found that help with the chaos of ACE traumas: EFT, TFT, EMDR, talk therapies, body based therapies, massage, polarity, Reiki, healing touch, yoga, mindfulness practice and group settings to name a few. And the recent exploding materials on the brain and how and why it functions has been outstanding, if a bit overwhelming. These developments give us scientific support for the healing methods we employ.
HELLO,
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE PLEASE ABOUT THE THERAPIES YOU
REFERRED TO YOU, I HAVE -OCD – I AM SURE YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT
THIS BEFORE. I HAVE HAD -OCD- FOR -44. YEARS IT HAS RUINED MY
LIFE. I WOULD LOVE BE FREE FROM THIS TERRIBLE NEED TO KEEP WASHING
HANDS AND ALSO AND AFRAID SOME TIMES TO TOUCH THINGS AROUND MY
OWN HOME, I KNOW ITS SILLY BUT I HAVE TO DO IT AND THEN I FEEL
BETTER, DO YOU THINK ANY OFTHE THERAPIES YOU TALK ABOUT WOULD
HELP ME. I HAVE HAD TREATMENT IN THE PAST AND THE TREATMENT WAS
CONFRONTING ONE’S FEARS BUT IT DID NOT WORK.
LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR REPLY ALSO OTHER PEOPLE
ON THIS PAGE WHO THINK THEY COULD HELP ME.
THANK YOU.
VALERIE SHEEN.
Cross cultural healing work has brought me to Ecuador. I have seen much personal healing of my heart, mind and spirit with nature, community, and indigenous culture ideas and practice. These are important parts of my life now.
I wish to share what I am learning. I have been a practitioner of Somatic Experiencing for over 10 years as well as a pychotherapist since the 1980’s.
where is among the best place(s) to learn somatic therapy? david
For those who have asked about learning Somatic Experiencing, the website is: traumahealing.com They have trainings all over the world, many in NYC. Since they are usually in modules of 4-5 days, many of the trainings are held at a site that has overnight accommodations. Good luck!
I’m an LCSW trained in EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, both body-mind therapies. I find that these and other body centered therapies really show a patient that all their feelings come from within and therefore they have the power to transform the traumatic experience. Everyone intellectually knows that feelings are within, but by bringing awareness to their body sensations and feelings, both “positive” and “negative”, one has the inner EXPERIENCE, of KNOWING. So, rather than only talking about hope, as if it is something outside of themselves and something to attain or strive for, they can actually FEEL the possibility of change. This inner knowing is very hopeful and powerful for most clients.
Well said. I speak as a recovering relationship addict, a condition resulting from previously unrecognized childhood trauma of emotional incest by my father, lack of any emotional connection to my mother and very conditional love from both of them. One of the most effective tools of my recovery process has been connecting my feelings to my body.
Without a doubt you will receive different approaches for your question because even though science is now proving what so many social workers knew for years – environment plays a significant role in trauma and other mental health problems, there is an art to helping people. That is what distinguishes successful therapy from unsuccessful. Therefore, there is no one approach.
The creative aspect of therapy means that you start from where the client is at and you guide the courses of action according to the strengths presented, or the strengths you help identify, combined with an approach the person can relate to. This “treatment” or “therapy,” is not guided by your own agenda or perspective but by the “student,” (as Yalom so humanistically defines the person /interaction).
Recently I tried to utilize a relaxation strategy which the person was very excited about. However, when I asked her to visualize the different parts of her body- she became very agitated -telling me that she can’t visualize things. This person’s strengths were intellectual, aural, linguistic, and… kinesthetic. She was perfect at summarizing anything I explained (Mindfulness CBT). So I asked her, instead of visualizing, take her hands and place them on the top of her head and she slowly worked her way down the body “touching” each part. This worked.
Building a very strong rapport is vital. This includes showing that you, the therapist, have a more than superficial knowledge /appreciation of the person’s culture and history. I cannot stress this enough, as Yalom realized, you are in a relationship with the student- you both learn something. This relates back to social work – and the equality aspect of therapy.
Environment is important, including in the therapy room. I do not sit at my desk and the client in a chair. All the seating is the same and in a circle. There is no hierarchy, a small but influential way to show empathy (that the client might not even be consciously aware of).
In my work with Holocaust survivors- some very high functioning -some not-I have found there is no one way- only a direction that they present and from which you begin. The one thing they all had in common was the anxiety level. In this Mindfulness works wonders. It is non- threatening, easily understood and immediate.
Sara, thank you for your beautiful response to this question. I appreciate your approach to meeting the “student/client” where they are at and beginning there, building on their strengths. I teach clinical mental health nursing and am also completing my Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Integrative Health and Healing at the Univ. of MN. I am also a retired Navy Nurse. My professional goal upon program completion is to work with the veteran population. I have been in conversation with some healthcare providers that are successfully utilizing iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation to help military members who are experiencing extreme stress/anxiety. Anxiety, depression, and insomnia are certainly major areas of distress for this particular population. Some providers are finding this particular type of meditation helpful for these symptoms. I am exploring it further. Your response speaks well to the fact that there is not just one therapy that works well for everyone. It is important to establish a relationship with the individual and see what might work best for that particular situation (the art/creative piece). Having the ability to provide a well rounded insightful approach is wonderful.
In my experience working with people who are often seen as the most “difficult, either due to severity of their symptoms and or their extreme behaviors ie.those who are incarcerated, are labeled violent offenders, or have turned to the use of alcohol and or drugs. While it is true that these people may have harmed others in some way, recognizing that they too perhaps have been harmed or feel that they have, serves to begin the process of assisting them in healing their trauma. Assisting people with processing the events in their lives that have impacted every aspect of what they think, how they currently feel and who they believe they are. I have found that using a combination of active listening and empathy, teaching self awareness, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral strategies, helping people understand that their lives matter, assisting them in the healing of their trauma and teaching them that they can put the “pieces of their puzzle” their lives together one piece at a time the same way I do every day of my life. I let them know, I don’t have the answers and I am just as human and it just makes sense to better work at an understanding of ourselves and how the brain works in order to have the ability to truly make decisions that do “no harm” to either ourselves or others….a life long journey….
What about EMDR. I’m not a clinician but I’ve read about and have successfully experienced the healing of EMDR therapy. Why don’t we hear more about this wonderful therapy that has helped so many people suffering from PTSD and various forms of trauma, especially soldiers?
Well said Kate. There are options. EMDR is among the most effective therapeutic options for patients working through trauma. EMDR can target the underlying memories; conscious or even subconscious (through feelings), and offers the opportunity to address them and reframe. Highly recommended.
Hope is contagious. But it has to be real. You can’t tell people to have hope, you have to show them.
those that have hope, and gratitude even after a trauma can help those that are stuck. Mostly people need to know they are not alone. That others have gone through the same or worst, and was suck too. That they weren’t speacial.That they weren’t lucky. They weren’t given extra positive feelings at birth. That you too can get better with help. Lots of help. Learning about what makes a trauma, learning about what triggers it and learning about self care. In the 12 step community there are hundreds of thousands of people getting better every day. Most need professional help along with it to sort out what is and isn’t right for them. Back in the day of Hendrix, people didn’t talk about AA or going to a theripst for help. That made it difficult to know help was available let alone that it works. So many died alone in the pain of trauma. It’s much different now, thanks God.
I removed the effects of my early traumas by doing Primal Therapy for an intense five years, followed by occasional regression work for many years after that. I am now a happy, functional person, able to live my dream and be very compassionate of others.
How do I help others? By listening with deep compassion to the hurt child within each person.
I have found a combination of psych. therapies plus spiritual principles and meditation-related teaching that has shifted trauma incredibly in a very, very few sessions. I know this sounds quite far fetched but it works. I have the satisfaction of many, many former clients/congregants who still send me their appreciation notes, Christmas cards, ‘n all…. for the way they were lifted out of an internal miasma of
memories and comping mechanisms that all the talk therapies they’d done had not eradicated.
I know– it is, again, far fetched, but the proof is in. One mental health RN said, “It almost removes it (the nursed trauma he’d carried since childhood) toooo fast!”
Sounds great, Coleen. Would love to hear more about this!
This sounds exciting, I would love to hear more about this. I have a possible telephonic client who lives in Memphis. I would love to refer for face to face with someone like yourself. She too is a member of the clergy.
This is crtyasl clear. Thanks for taking the time!
Well what can I say. I am still rather lost for words after heairng the first programme in Southampton last night. I was looking forward to it so much and always knew this would be the start of something very special, but nothing prepared me for enormous emotional impact the concert had on me. What a programme the second movment of op.59 no.3 was just devastating, and the whole journey through Op.131 was like listening to the piece being composed right in front of me. I wish I could hear that programme again but will have to wait for the Brighton Festival. Thank you all for a very very special evening.
It was with the release of Purple Haze with it’s march cdacnee morphing into future funk that Jimi was announcing that the Blues had at that moment been militarized and that he was it’s General.The parable like revelatory nature of his compositions had him naming himself as different characters like Black Gold and for me most ironically as King Out Of Sight .In the African American community we used terms like out of sight to denote that which was beyond all others and past compare like James Brown spoke of his lady friend in the song of the same name.The guitar continues to be the Sceptre of Rock and Roll and whoever holds the sceptre is King.His conscious braiding of electrical and emotive excitement to create an even more elastic arrangement of the gross condensed matter and matters in which we struggle made him travel at what he called the speed of a reborn man. King in absentia and still beyond compare.For him nothing less than justice will do.