Trauma

Sometimes when we experience a very negative event in our lives, our brain cannot process this event properly and this can lead to trauma. Various complaints, such as reliving the traumatic event, nightmares, reacting very emotionally when something happens that reminds us of the trauma, or avoiding everything that reminds us of the trauma, can occur. One can also become much more anxious and/or depressed than one was before the trauma. With the help of EMDR and other techniques, these complaints can often be remedied well.

 

Some traumas are less obvious. Trauma can occur when something intense happens once, as described above, but can also occur when something less noticeable repeats itself more often over a longer period of time, and causes the same pain every time. This often happens in childhood and we then speak of developmental trauma. People can then develop mechanisms to deal with this pain that are no longer so functional later in life, and often even cause you to get stuck in various areas of life. A number of common complaints are:

 

• difficulty setting boundaries

• very high standards/perfectionism

• people pleasing

• intense emotions

• repressing emotions

• fears of abandonment

• fear of commitment

• low self-esteem

• a lot of distrust towards other people

• not knowing who you are or what you like

 

With the help of EMDR, often in combination with schema therapy, you will gain more insight into the origin of these (thought) patterns and we will work towards healing the pains of the past, learning new behaviors and new thought patterns in order to break the patterns of the past.