Trauma is the destruction of certainty. Trauma betrays the expectation of being understood, accepted, and protected in a reliable, responsive world. When an event of unquestionable magnitude occurs, such as that of September 11, 2001, or when a sequence of experiences takes place, such as repeated sexual molestation, the wound of trauma leaves a person feeling unbearable uncertainty and plunged into a world of hopelessness and helplessness.
A person’s post-traumatic experience is likely to be aimed primarily at two things: maintaining a cohesive self at any price, and warding off all risk of repetition. The role of the therapy is also two-fold: to help the patient maintain self-cohesiveness, and to help restore the patient’s shattered expectations of control and self-determination. The therapist is finely tuned to the patient’s needs, and never pushes for a more speedy process. Here, possibly more than anywhere, safe and measured steps are the keys to healing. |