Our member Elizabeth is a psychologist working with people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (cPTSD), otherwise known as relational trauma. These respective trauma disorders attend to symptoms colloquially referred to as “big T” (PTSD) or “little t” (cPTSD) traumas, which any one person can experience in a variety of ways over the course of their lifetime. Big T traumas generally refer to “single event” traumas, even though there may be multiple events (e.g. motor vehicle accident, natural disaster, physical or sexual assault) while “little t” traumas are repetitive, pervasive, chronic deficiencies of core developmental needs over long periods of time in our developmental/formative years (e.g. emotional neglect, punitive upbringing). “Little t” traumas are in no way any less difficult or disturbing, simply referring to a different type of trauma.Her presentation describing trauma memories included her practical outlining of what effective trauma-oriented therapies like EMDR and DBR assist with. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) and DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting) are structured processes, within assessed safety and self-regulating parameters, known to be highly effective in reducing the disturbance or distress of trauma memories and working toward reducing overall trauma symptoms.
It is good to know that for PTSD sufferers, effective help and therapies are available. Equally impressive was the way she presented a brief insight into the immensely complex subject. “Never to be done without a competent therapist keeping it safe”, she emphatically stated. To get us a bit closer to the subject, Elizabeth prepared a brief exercise on how we can connect with our own regular memories to understand the foundation our memory and information processing systems work. Thank you, Elizabeth, for giving us a brief insight into your field of psychology.