Post-traumatic stress disorder

It is fantastic that there is so much more in the press about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) these days. More awareness about the long-term impacts of witnessing accidents, war, personal injury and mental and physical abuse means that PTSD is better understood and recognised more in society. But people still need help.

Solution focused therapy along with trauma rewind can make such a dramatic difference to people who have been struggling. In years gone by this was solely associated with members of the military and not even recognised at all for many years.

Sadly, PTSD affects many people in different ways and often due to situations that are difficult to share. I use the trauma rewind process with a variety of clients, ranging from teenagers who have had a traumatic experience, to those with longer term depression who have struggled for many years due to events which have even happened in their childhood, and clients who have held onto guilt for many years.

It is brilliant that we now have a method to unlock this negative pattern of behaviour. The wonderful thing is that it gives clients closure without disclosure. No one has to go through the situation out load with the therapist nor delve into why this has happened to try and make sense of it.  

Effectively we put the memory back into the right place where it no longer has to haunt the client. You are given a data stamp for the memory – meaning you have the power and control to access it if you wish but it won’t pop up unwanted. Obviously, no therapy should try and get rid of a memory completely, but it is much more comfortable when put in the right place where it can’t surprise clients suddenly when triggered by seeing something on the TV, reading something in a book, or reading something into a conversation that triggers the memory.

Two of my clients who have recently benefited gave me permission to share their experiences:

Client 1:

“My relationship with my mother has always been challenging because of all the childhood trauma surrounding it. When her dog attacked my daughter, I was watching through her lounge window; I had to run through the house and out into the garden before I could reach my daughter.  

"Initially, my mother told me that the dog was ‘trying to bite’ my daughter but her story quickly changed to ‘he was just playing.’  Fortunately, my daughter was not physically harmed but of course very shaken. I was extremely traumatised, by not only the event itself, but also by the fact that once again my mother had changed the trauma story, made excuses and therefore not acknowledged the true extent of the effects of trauma.

"For the two years after this event my relationship with my mother was even more challenging than before; I was triggered into anxiety and depression just by speaking to her on the phone.  I avoided seeing her and was helped by the covid outbreak to do this. Due to my belief in forgiveness, I went a long way to forgiving her and several times I reached out in kindness to her but each time I ended up stressed and depressed.

"After Rewind therapy earlier this year something very significant shifted in me. It felt as if the memory had moved from the front of my mind, where it was just a moment away from bothering me, to the back of my mind, where it is now safely filed. As a result, my relationship with my mother has greatly improved. The acute feelings of distress have been dampened down and I am able to speak to her on the phone and even see her without it tipping me into depression. I would go as far as to say that my experience of relating to her has been transformed, something I never thought would happen!”

Client 2:

“The rewind session has most definitely had an effect on me – I really haven’t worried about my daughter’s road trip this week! It has been such a refreshing change, there has most definitely been a shift in my mindset. Thank you so much for giving me the tools to take my mind to a much happier place and to realise that change is possible!”