London: How to Heal from Trauma ... Really
The survivors of yesterday’s massacre in London will, unfortunately, be joining the ranks of many people around the world who have suffered physical and psychological trauma at some point in their life.
I recently encountered a book that does a remarkably good job of explaining the nature of trauma and the newest research on how it can be successfully treated. I would be grateful if other bloggers would help me bring this book to the attention of Londoners and others around the world who have experienced trauma.
The book is titled Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal, by Belleruth Naparstek. (For the record, I have no relation to the book or its author. And I don’t get any commission from Amazon for this link to more information.) You can also compare prices for this book from various booksellers at Bublos.com.
Here’s a short summary of the book’s thesis:
Most health care providers, including the vast majority of psychotherapists today, believe that the best way to heal trauma is by talking about the traumatic experience. In reality, the reptilian parts of the brain that encode traumatic experiences, and later cause the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, are not receptive to language-based cues.
Further, attempting to address such traumas through talk therapy can actually be quite harmful, leading to a deepening of the original trauma and its symptoms. This is why PTSD patients so often get worse during the early months of therapy.
Fortunately, new research points to a variety of far more successful ways of treating trauma. Chief among these is the use of various forms of guided imagery.
Some trauma survivors discover and use such therapeutic visualizations on their own, to great success. Others can learn to use the visualizations, which amount to a kind of “guided daydream,” to help heal their traumas and the stress-related chemical imbalances that result from trauma.
The book is extremely well written, and includes not only a description of the psychological and physical mechanisms of trauma, but also a wide range of effective, research-supported treatment options. It also includes a lengthy discussion of how to create and use therapeutic visualizations oneself.
Many people (myself included) experience traumas at some point in their life without realizing that it was actual trauma, or realizing that trauma can cause a wide range of maladies, including chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety, headaches, fibromyalgia, migraines, and other oft-maligned “psychosomatic” disorders.
I cannot recommend the book highly enough for anyone who has experienced trauma or the above symptoms of trauma.
Please join me in bringing this valuable information to the attention of survivors of yesterday’s bombing in London. We cannot undo the massacre, but we can in fact help Londoners suffer less, physically and psychologically, from its consequences.
