Trauma, Shock, and Dissociation: Part 2

Trauma, Shock, and Dissociation: Part 2 - Solutions

Working With Shock

The first and most essential element in working with shock is a sense of safety.

If a therapist can create a safe physical and emotional environment, it is much easier for the client to eventually face—and open up to—deep, painful feelings/imprints.

Another important element for people working with shock is to assess their level of stability and strength in life. All stresses must be assessed, from work and finances to family and personal health, since any stress will tax the system and interfere with healing. Strategy sessions are recommended so they can gradually eliminate stresses and introduce healthy options and resources. These alternatives will act as healthy defenses that will protect growth.

It is essential to realize that feelings of shock, by their nature, often appear "suddenly." Less severe traumas are like a ravine that we see opening up before us. Shock, on the other hand, is like a hidden chasm with a suddenly drop.

People who go into a traumatic feeling are visibly upset, and physically express their grief, fear, or rage. A person going into shock often seems suddenly quiet, distant, unfocused or dissociated.

When shock moments occur in session, therapists need to help clients gently return to the sensations of the present moment. If dissociation is severe, asking mundane questions (“Did you eat breakfast?” “What's 7 plus 4?” “How's your dog?”) will often help create a sense of normality. It is also helpful to mention that it is safe in the present, and any frightening feelings are from past experiences ("old stuff") rather than anything dangerous in the present. Waking up to this grounded reality is an essential part of healing.

The work also involves having people recognize shock moments and what triggers them. This can create a safe, witnessing perspective that many shock survivors need to develop.

The witness perspective is a way of telling or describing a scene as if one is observing from a distance. This perspective can keep shock feelings in control and allow people to slowly—over time—move towards being "in the scene" with full-body awareness and emotional release.

When the therapist and client—as a partnership—can catch shock moments as they start to happen in session, the work is about stopping at the edge of that "cliff"—but going no further, if possible. The very first feelings or "aura" of impending shock is often called the "near edge" and is where the work first needs to focus.

It is very hard for people working with shock not to fall off that cliff. Methods need to be developed to keep from dropping into the shock. It may help to sit up from a lying position, stand from a sitting position, and even walk around the room. The intention is simply to contain the shock and to witness the first signs of it in the body. If they can learn to hold off the shock, it can create a significant feeling of power and control —something that shock victims rarely have. They are more familiar with feeling "blindsided," "sideswiped," or slammed "out of the blue."

If people can keep themselves from dropping into shock, then feelings, images, and body sensations can be reported in small portions—from a safe, witnessing perspective. It is essential that they are not rushed, or rush themselves. They need to recognize that this is difficult work, and that it takes time to fully integrate.

Further Exploration and Resolution

Dealing with painful, frightening feelings and sensations is not an easy task, but it can be done.

Knowing how repressed traumatic imprints cause body reactions can take the mystery—and further fear—out of these symptoms. "I feel terrible, but I am not actually in danger. These are old imprints. I am safe even though I feel that I am not."

Knowing that these extreme feelings emanate from an "old" source is a huge step. They are "mind stuff," just images, however repulsive or scary. The body wants to flee as if the danger is happening now, but it is not happening now. This understanding will build the courage to actually face the imprints and release them.

Understanding is essential because it bolsters the adult, rational mind, which we need to direct us through the childlike emotions that are contained in the imprints. The adult consciousness needs to be present, rooting the experience in present-day reality. This is one of the things that makes this type of trauma therapy healing rather than simply distressing and disintegrating.

Another essential element is that resolution will not be found in the original event. That event is over. The resolution is found in releasing and resolving the imprints. That's great news—because the imprints are yours, so you have the power to heal them.

The imprints—sensations, feelings, images—need to be explored. At first, describing the images and feelings is a major step. This can be done by journalling and telling a trusted support person/facilitator. Eventually, full physical and emotional expression with an experienced therapist will deepen the process.

Some people wonder, "why bother going back to painful stuff?" The fact is, this is not about going back to actual events. They're gone. The focus is on the present problem—the imprints (of those events) that live in you now, actively making a mess of your mind, body, and emotions every day. Ignoring this does not make it go away.

It's simply realistic. Old feelings are a force of nature that will torment us unless we deal with them. In a therapeutic setting, we need to let them do what they need to do. If the pain and fear is there, it's there. We can either suffer with it, hide from it—or let it out.

By gradually experiencing the imprints, we get to know them and more easily separate those sensations (the "old") from present-day reality. With that advantage, we can make life choices based on present-day information unclouded by traumatic reactions. Eventually, imprints lose their charge. Physical and emotional symptoms, driven by the repressed material, gradually evaporate. We are more "in" life, rather than watching or avoiding it.

We do not have to stay frozen in shock.