Trauma and Post traumatic stress disorder

Unfortunately, in some cases, this response may also prevent the natural processing of the event by dissociating the memories so effectively that they remain out of conscious awareness.

Traumatic events that do not pose a physical threat to the body are referred to as stress responses. However, they can also result in dissociative experiences similar to those encountered in physical trauma resulting in the same maladaptive response.

Responses to trauma can generally be expressed in two ways:

Normal Acute Stress Reactions

These are immediate and brief responses to intense stressors that typically last from a few hours and up to 4 weeks. The core symptoms are anxiety and depression.

Anxiety is the result of experiencing a threatening situation and depression is the result of a loss. Quite often both symptoms will appear at the same time, as the threatening situation will often involve some kind of loss (e.g. a road accident in which a companion is killed).

Other symptoms will include:

• Numbness
• Feelings of being dazed
• Insomnia
• Restlessness
• Lack of concentration
• Sweating
• Palpitations
• Tremor
• Anger

Coping strategies are also part of the acute stress reaction and include avoidance and denial.

Avoidance

This is the most frequent coping strategy and is characterised by the patient avoiding talking or thinking about the event. The patient will not confront anything that reminds them of the event.

Denial

Experienced as a belief that the event hasn't happened or as an amnesia for the event itself.

Both avoidance and denial will recede as the anxiety and depression are worked through. This allows for the appropriate processing of the event (reintegration of the dissociated memories) that will lead to an adaptive resolution.

Unfortunately if the coping strategies and defence mechanisms are maintained for too long a period they may become maladaptive and prevent the working through of the traumatic material. This can then result in a condition known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be characterised as an intense, prolonged (sometimes delayed) and abnormal response to stressful and traumatic situations.

PTSD tends to be the result of natural disaster (earthquakes, flooding etc.) and man-made disasters (major fires, war, accidents, rape, abuse, assault etc). It is thought that personal predisposition plays an important role in the development of PTSD. Epidemiological studies have shown that not everyone exposed to a particular stressor will develop PTSD.

It has been estimated that approximately 1.0% to 2.6% of the population suffer from PTSD.

Symptoms include:

Hyperarousal

• Persistent anxiety
• Irritability
• Insomnia
• Poor concentration

Intrusions

• Difficulty in recalling stressful events at will
• Intensive intrusive imagery (flashbacks)
• Recurring distressing dreams

Avoidance

• Avoidance of reminders of the event
• Detachment
• Inability to feel emotion (numbness)
• Diminished interest in activity

Dissociative symptoms (depersonalisation and derealisation) also play an important role in the symptomology.

PTSD can occur at any age and the duration of symptomology is variable with most cases resolving within a few months but some persisting for years. The disorder may begin very soon after the precipitating event but can manifest itself several months and, in some cases, several years later.

Patients suffering from PTSD may develop maladaptive coping strategies that can include persistent aggressive behaviour, excessive use of alcohol or drugs, deliberate self-harm, and suicide.

Diagnostic and statistical manual criteria (DSM)

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Trauma, PTSD and CPTSD testimonials

• "Thank you for helping me re-discover that life is worth living." {PTSD}*

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• "Without a doubt your therapy got me back on the road, I would never have done it without your help. You taught me to control and reduce my anxiety levels to the point where I could feel back in control. I found you to be highly professional and thorough with genuine concern regarding recovery." {Fear of driving following a car accident / Trauma}*

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• "Without a doubt the most effective therapist I've ever come accross, wish I'd come accross him years ago!
  Highly ethical, puts his clients first and probably most importantly he's broadly educated and uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques and is flexible enough to try different approaches. On top of that he doesn't take himself too seriously!
  In a series of sessions we managed to deal with :-
  - Getting over ongoing painful & re-occuring thoughts about a long-term relationship loss and the loss of a child - result: no more ongoing memories or emotional issues around this, fabulous!
  - Childhood traumatic events that had been troubling me and poisoning family relationships and self-esteem for years - result: significantly improved family relationships & greatly improved self-esteem.
  - Dealing with a long-term psycho-sexual issue. Result: no longer an issue
  Don't get the idea that this type of therapy doesnt require effort, work (and/or pain at times), the difference is this actually works (well it did for me anyway!)
  Couldn't recommend him highly enough!" {Relationship loss / childhood trauma / psycho-sexual issue}*

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• "Bill's therapy has been invaluable to me in overcoming the physical and emotional pain of a miscarriage. He has refocused my career and helped me find the strength within myself to make the right personal and professional changes. The EMDR removed the nightmares reoccuring for 10 years and the Timeline therapy placed the incident in my past desensitising the pain of the miscarriage and an abusive relationship. The dirty feeling/grittyness and poor self image I had gradually dispelled as I practised the meditation techniques dispelling the binge comfort eating and self harm destructive patterns. Bill taught me to come to terms with my bi-polar depression triggered by the miscarriage-reactive depression. Within mid therapy session (session 2) I made the move to come off the anti depressants, sedatives and sleeping pills all within the period of 2 weeks while he taught me depression was merely a body's reactive mechanism that could be changed and monitored useing his Time-line and stress management discs and CD's as well as controlled meditative breathing and mind exercises to control emotional pain.
  
  Particularly effective was Time-line therapy which combined cleverly the first relaxation technique then the white light healing exercise combined with the reevaluation of the past via Time-line therapy repositioning and desensitising the pain of the past event and objectifying lessons learnt from the past. I have learnt through his leads through Buddhism to gain insight from suffering and am just begining to learn Buddhist meditation techniques to help me even at work to focus more clearly on my observation work with children and pinpoint social sensitivity. Thankyou Bill. You have opened the door that was my self made prison." {Bereavement / Trauma / Bipolar}*

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• "EMDR enabled me to voice emotions that had been buried - where there was temporarily no emotional strength Bill's techniques/EMDR fueled me to accelerate important life changes. Bill Frost has enabled me to express powerful emotions in a non-destructive way using a calm anchor to stay in control. When the stakes were high at work and in personal life Bill has shown me that "issues" in themselves are part of a process and that behaviour associated with them can be changed effectively to activate pivotal life changes. BF has has made me realize boundary setting is negating the issue and concentrating on behaviour necessary (in my case to overcome re-training and job interviews)." {Trauma}*

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• "Overall, I found Bill's professionalism (pre and post therapy)to be of the highest order. In my opinion, this contributes towards a transparent, ethically attuned and sensitive healing encounter." {Anxiety / Trauma}*

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• "Bill is very welcoming and incites confidence immediately; his knowledge and understanding of human nature is second to none, and while I am still working towards my goal, without his input I wouldn't even have one! From first session, felt that positive change was achievable and compared to costs of some other "therapists" offered real value both financially and effectively." {Traumatic stress / subsequent harmful drinking and lack of confidence}*

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• "Developed almost phobic-like fear of my children screaming at me after years of abuse from the eldest who has Asperger's Syndrome. Therapy sessions with Bill relieved me of this extreme anxiety and I am very grateful for that." {Social noise phobia / Trauma}*

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• "Two sessions with Bill enabled me to sort out the confusion in my mind. I was able to separate fact from perceived illusions. Bill strengthened me and enabled me to reclaim my life back. It was of enormous benefit both to myself and family as I was able to pass on valuable information to them also." {Very traumatised and confused after my daughter developed a mental illness and became paranoid.}*

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• "I sought therapy to help me to deal with a very traumatic period in my life both at work and at home. I found the treatment that I received helped me to deal with a whole host of difficult issues." {Severe stress / both personal and work related}*

*Disclaimer required by Google: We provide testimonials to help you gain confidence about how we work and results we achieve. However, please be aware that we whilst we bring 100% of our effort and skill to the process, as with all hypnotherapy / psychotherapy practices, results may vary between individuals.

We have included the first 10 only! There are many more Trauma, PTSD and CPTSD testimonials here

Hypnotherapy related PTSD / trauma research and reading