Letting Go of Trauma

A colleague and I recently attended a seminar on rapid trauma recovery. I relish learning new methods of treatment and gaining new perspectives. The concept of this therapy is to help the client tell his/her story several times until it becomes just a story about the facts without attaching meaning to the facts anymore. Each time the client tells the story, the counselor encourages the client to be specific with the details and facts and refocuses him so that he doesn't get lost in the feelings of terror. The client is reminded over and over again that she's in a safe place now and that the traumatic event is in the past.

Most PTSD sufferers get stuck at the most terrible moments of the trauma and can't get past that section. The feelings then take over and cripple him and the cycle keeps repeating itself. Counselors can teach a patient to focus only on the specifics of the event while encouraging her along the way and reassuring her that she is safe. Thereby, creating successful desensitization and moving past the traumatizing moment.

Wouldn't it be nice to yank the power away from the event/offender and give it back to yourself? The traumatic event is in the past and should remain there. It only has power if we give it up. A traumatic event, as terrible as it might have been, doesn't define us unless we allow it to do so. It's so freeing to focus on today and all of the possibilities of today. It's completely useless and energy draining to let the past control every future moment. Why not let it go? What do you have to lose by smiling and having a good day? Nothing, really. Except the ball and chain of the past. Let it go and let it sink into the past where it belongs. Take a chance and decide now to have a good day!