Trauma and Abuse
How can the Midlands Counselling Clinic help me with my Trauma?
At Midlands Counselling Clinic, we specialise in the treatment of Trauma and Abuse. Our highly trained and experienced counsellors use the most up-to-date evidence based practices to resolve trauma at all levels. Having both experienced trauma of varying sorts, we have the knowledge, skill and competence to help you through your experiences. The treatment approaches we use are, trauma focused CBT, Psychodynamic Therapy and Person Centred Therapy.
Trauma & Abuse
If you were given a choice, would you choose to make a difference or would you carry on suffering as you do?
The words Trauma and Abuse can mean so many different things to so many people. Often, our experiences can become distorted, hidden, or, blocked out over time. We may believe that our experience wasn’t “that bad” or “others have seen harder times or had worse experiences!” However, the destruction caused by Trauma and Abuse continues to grow stronger within us. Our lives are affected by low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness – we adapt an inability to believe in ourselves, to value our qualities and achieve our goals. We continue to take on unhealthy relationships with others and sometimes misuse substances or processes. We are searching for a solution; solutions that will finally make us feel better, braver, worthy, and justified in freedom.
The torment of a traumatic event such as Bullying, Tiger kidnapping, any kind of Physical, Sexual, Emotional or Psychological Abuse, Violent Attacks, Explosions, Car Accidents, Surviving War and/or Torture, the effects of Surgery or a Life Changing Diagnosis can cause us to feel less than the person we know we can be. We can unknowingly adapt maladaptive coping mechanisms for expelling fear such as anxiety. We can feel like giving up, begin to isolate ourselves and become depleted or fatigued – often referred to as Depression. Our ability to perform daily tasks becomes inhibited by disturbing images known as flashbacks and as time passes we form negative self-beliefs that cause us to doubt our abilities and our safety. We may believe to trust others is to be vulnerable and letting our guard down could be detrimental to our survival based on our past experiences.
Each person’s experience is unique to them regardless of the cause. Trauma isn’t always related to the points above. Emotional and psychological trauma can be caused by ongoing and relentless stress, such as living in a crime-ridden neighborhood, battling a life-threatening illness or constant pressure to meet deadlines at work. Commonly overlooked causes, such as surgery (especially in the first 3 years of life), the sudden death of someone close, the breakup of a significant relationship, or a humiliating or deeply disappointing experience can also cause us to have disturbing images or emotions.
An event can lead to trauma if it happened unexpectedly. For example, if you were unprepared for it, you felt powerless to prevent it, it happened repeatedly, someone was intentionally cruel, or it happened in childhood. Many children who experienced being ignored by their parents for prolonged periods of time report feeling as though they were going insane or feeling completely powerless and desperate during this time. In adulthood, this can manifest as being angry when feeling ignored in other relationships or repeating the same behavior as their parent when issues get too much for them. Either of these reactions continue to cause problems for the person and their loved ones.
Understanding how we have been traumatised or abused is not about blaming others. It’s about finding the solution to creating the life we want for our self. When we finally understand our feelings, and experiences we can clear our mind from torment and move into our future by enjoying the peace of our present mind. Our life need not be filled with shame, guilt, anger and/or regret about our past. Often we punish ourselves because we simply don’t know how to care for ourselves. In therapy, we discover a new way of coping that will finally leave the past behind us and one that will welcome our future.
Complex Trauma – Historical Child Abuse and Neglect
Breaking the silence of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect is one of the most difficult things to do – even as an adult. No one can tell you what your life has been like or what kind of coping mechanisms you’ve used to survive; only you can know the impact abuse has on your life and what you have had to do to survive it.
Every day the disturbing images may haunt you as though they were just happening in the present moment. The same feelings of pain cripple your body and the same terror drenches your mind. The hopelessness and desperation of your past makes every achievement not enough and every smile a hidden agony. Even when life in the present is great, and you feel proud or accomplished in the moment, the past can take it away with a sudden flashback that makes you feel worthless – even still.
At the Midlands Counselling Clinic, we understand the challenges you may face every day, trying to fit into functional adaptation whilst dealing with flashbacks, tremors, and disturbing thoughts or beliefs about yourself. We understand that in some cases, when you see a sexual assault or rape scene on television your biological system might react in arousal, whilst you feel sick, disgusted and horrified at the sight of it. As odd as this may sound to some, these are common symptoms for those who have suffered sexual abuse. Sadly, those who suffer in this way may often find themselves engaging in promiscuous behaviour or people pleasing. This is not at all how it is presumed. Often, sexual abuse survivors give sex freely because they feel powerless, worthless, or have the detrimental belief that “it’s going to happen anyway – even if I say No!”
Survivors of childhood abuse and neglect are some of the most heroic people we at the Midlands Counselling Clinic have had the privilege to know. At the Midlands Counselling Clinic, we have helped many survivors reach their goals in therapy and leave the past right where it should be – behind them. We acknowledge that it takes courage to make the first call, and we assure you that if you contact us you will be treated with dignity and respect.
The Midlands Counselling Clinic does not operate a crisis telephone service. If you are in distress and need to talk to someone immediately, call the confidential National Rape Crisis Helpline on 1800 778888 (operates 24 hours a day) or the Samaritans on Freephone 116 123 (operates 24 hours a day).
