Imagine arriving on the scene of a car accident and you notice someone walking toward you speaking gibberish. They look like they are in a daze and appear incoherent. Hospital workers and EMTs refer to this as shock. Shock indicates that a person is not present; they are out of their cognitive minds.
In the field of psychology, researchers have discovered that shock affects more than accident victims or people with physical trauma, it profoundly impacts people who have emotional, spiritual or psychological distress or trauma. According to Zimberhoff and Hartman, “shock is a physiological response to any distress that seems intolerable and in which a person feels intensely helpless.”
When a dazed accident victim is attempting to collect himself, it is called shock. The effort to collect oneself is often beyond the naked eye’s capacity to see. Returning veterans of war experience the aftershock of trauma when they temporarily relive their war experiences.
This is termed Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD), in other words the soldier goes through an out-of-body experience after the initial trauma. Researchers have found that the No. 1 factor determining the severity of a soldier’s level of PTSD is if they suffered trauma early in their life; the younger the trauma experience, the greater the severity of the PTSD symptoms.
When a child experiences trauma, that child will deal with said trauma with the age maturity at which the trauma occurred. If a child is molested at age 2, their experience of the trauma is understood and acted upon with the understanding of a 2-year-old. When the trauma is emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually driven the trauma is non-physical. The aftershock of non-physical trauma is referred to as Complex Post Traumatic Disorder (CPTSD) and is considered a more severe manifestation the disorder.
Complex trauma occurs repeatedly and cumulatively, usually over a period of time within specific relationships and contexts. Child abuse is the prototype example for determining CPTSD and is a recent categorization in the past 10 years.
The expanded understanding now extends to all forms of domestic violence and attachment trauma. One aspect of early childhood trauma is an inadequate response by family members or others on whom the child relies on for safety and protection.
In a 2017 research paper, the researchers found that Trauma Based Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TB-CBT) for CPTSD clients statistically increased the number of symptoms compared with PTSD clients.
This is the result of the severity of the trauma and not reflective of the treatment, which showed statistically significant improvement for both PTSD and CPTSD participants. However, the researchers indicated the need for longer interventions (treatments) to aid in the recovery and reduction of symptoms associated with CPTSD.
Hypnosis is recognized as a promising intervention for ameliorating the suffering of PTSD or acute stress disorder victim. In one case study a 12-year-old girl affected by PTSD manifested no symptoms after four weeks of treatment and remained symptom-free during a 1-year follow up. The research in the field of hypnosis and PTSD and CPTSD is new, but the research to-date supports the efficacy that hypnosis is a treatment that has statistical relevancy.
Hypnotherapy is a process that allows the client to access his subconscious and retrieve the memory associated with the trauma, which is often not possible through cognitive or behavior based therapies.
Once the memory is activated, the client, with the guidance of a skilled hypnotherapist, is guided through a rewiring of the memory and effectively removes the pain and trauma associated with the experience.
Such memories, when unprocessed, lie dormant within the subconscious and resurface when triggered by similar events, feelings, people, situations, words, phrases, clothing, songs, smells or places. When the memory is activated (triggered), it leads to a flooding of emotions and chemicals that alter the behavior in a maladaptive manner.
When causation is determined and processed, the driving cause for the maladaptive behavior can be addressed through cognitive coaching. In contrast to medicating — which is a bandage and not meant to heal or address causation — hypnotherapy, used in conjunction with Emotional Intelligence coaching (social skills), can create a lifestyle change and free the client from his past.
Richard P. Himmer, Ph.D., treats PTSD and CPTSD along with anxiety and stress challenges. For information visit the website: http://ift.tt/2g19D31 or DrRichardHimmer@gmail.com.
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