Beyond Buzzwords: Trauma Therapy and the Mechanism of Healing
Beyond Buzzwords: Trauma Therapy and the Mechanism of Healing
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Issue Date
2025-05-14
Authors
Novakowski, Lindsey
Journal Title
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Volume Title
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Abstract
In Canada, many people will be exposed to a traumatic event at least once in their lives, some of whom will seek counselling to address any subsequent effects. Some clinicians report not feeling prepared to provide adequate care to clients seeking trauma treatment and can even re-traumatize people if not careful. To explore the ways that trauma can be treated, it is important to have a solid conceptualization of what trauma is. The mental health disorder called post-traumatic stress disorder was formalized in the DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980), but not all experiences of trauma will end up as a diagnosable disorder. Trauma exposure has been shown to cause both neurobiological and physiological effects. Options for treatment can be categorized into cognitive modalities, somatic modalities, and alternative approaches. There is evidence for a variety of trauma treatment methods (Hoppen et al., 2023), and it is recommended that further studies utilize different treatment modalities at the same time to explore the efficacy of a combined approach. Trauma is a deeply personal experience, which can affect people in a variety of ways, and thus healing will also take place through a variety of approaches. Because of the risk of potential re-traumatization, it is important for counsellors to be knowledgeable about trauma-informed practices and to be able to collaborate with clients to help meet their individual needs (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014).
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Keywords
trauma therapy , trauma , post-traumatic stress disorder , complex post-traumatic stress disorder , trauma-informed , somatic therapy , PTSD , adverse childhood experience , cognitive therapy , historical trauma
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess