Trauma therapy
Inner safety as the basis of regulation
Traumatic experiences do not only affect our psyche. They can also have a lasting influence on the nervous system, our stress regulation and thus on numerous physical processes.
A trauma does not always have to arise from a single dramatic event. Early experiences of insecurity, lack of emotional resonance, being overwhelmed, not being seen or a lack of attachment can also leave traces – even if, in retrospect, one’s own childhood is experienced as largely good.
Attachment as the basis of inner safety
Every child depends on caregivers to meet their needs for safety, protection, closeness and regulation.
In adulthood, this responsibility changes
Healthy relationships remain important. At the same time, an essential step in development is to find safety, support and regulation increasingly within oneself.
This is exactly where the Comprehensive Resource Model comes in.
The aim is not to make people permanently dependent on therapeutic support. Rather, the ability should develop to build one’s own inner resources and to be able to draw on them in stressful situations as well.
A stable attachment to oneself can help ensure that old traumatic reaction patterns no longer automatically determine present experience.
Inner resources instead of lasting dependence
My work in trauma therapy draws on elements of the Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM), EMDR and the Emotion Code, among others.
CRM was developed with the aim of first equipping people with inner resources before traumatic content is worked on.
As a result, the focus is not solely on the distressing memory, but first on the question:
What does the nervous system need in order to feel sufficiently safe?
Only from this inner stability can old emotional states be looked at and processed without being completely absorbed by them again and again.
This also involves not permanently fixing earlier childhood states of experience. Injured inner parts should be perceived and understood – but in the long term become part of an adult, integrated personality once again.
Traumatic reactions also affect the body
Traumatic experiences are always physical experiences as well.
Intense fear, helplessness or a sense of existential threat activate the autonomic nervous system. At the same time, the release of stress hormones and neurotransmitters, as well as autonomic and metabolic regulatory processes, change, among other things.
If such a reaction persists in the nervous system or is repeatedly activated, functional complaints can develop over time.
The body may then continue to react to a danger that has long ceased to exist in the present.
For this reason, trauma therapy in my practice plays a role not only in psychological complaints, but also in physical and hormonal regulatory disorders.
When an old stress or trauma loop is resolved, the associated permanent alarm reaction can also change. This creates more favourable conditions for the nervous system and the body’s other regulatory systems to return to a more physiological balance.
Attachment disorders are not always obvious
An insecure attachment structure does not necessarily show itself in severe mental illness.
Many people appear stable, successful, responsible and self-confident on the outside. At the same time, self-doubt, strong adaptation, fear of loss, emotional dependence, perfectionism, difficulties with closeness and distance, or split-off feelings may exist in the background.
Such patterns are often regarded as part of the personality and are therefore rarely questioned.
For me, however, the capacity for attachment is one of the central foundations of psychological and physical regulation.
Above all, this concerns the attachment to oneself.
Those who feel inwardly safe, can perceive their own needs and take responsibility for meeting them are less dependent on other people permanently providing safety, recognition or stability.
Trauma therapy as part of my treatment
For this reason, I do not regard trauma therapy solely as the treatment of severe trauma-related disorders.
It can also be an important component of a comprehensive regulative therapy.
With my patients, I therefore check whether old attachment, stress or trauma patterns may be involved in maintaining existing complaints.
My current approach to trauma therapy combines various methods and includes elements of CRM, among others. The focus is on:
- building inner safety
- developing one’s own resources
- improving self-regulation
- integrating early emotional states of experience
- resolving entrenched stress and trauma loops
- strengthening the attachment to oneself
- increasing emotional independence
The aim is not to analyse the past over and over again.
It is about ensuring that the past no longer governs the present.