Emotional and psychological trauma result from stressful events that you experience or witness that crush your sense of security and may make you feel helpless and vulnerable. Trauma can be caused by a one-off event, such as a bad accident, a natural disaster or a violent attack, or from more prolonged or sustained violence or abuse over many years.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological condition when the natural recovery from trauma is arrested or delayed. With PTSD, you often relive the event through nightmares and flashbacks. You may have problems concentrating and sleeping and feel isolated and detached. The symptoms are often persistent and severe enough to have a significant impact on your day-to-day life.

What are the symptoms of PTSD?

鈥淧TSD is the delayed recovery from trauma,鈥� said Justin, who is based in Cheltenham and specialises in trauma therapy.

鈥淭here are various reasons why people don鈥檛 recover from trauma and the symptoms they may experience are generally in three areas.

鈥淭he first is intrusive thoughts and images. What happened 20 years ago still feels like it鈥檚 happening today. They might have a flashback, which is like a waking nightmare, or indeed disturbed sleep.

鈥淭hen there is hyper-arousal, which is almost a rollercoaster of emotions. Suddenly waking up feeling intense fear or you鈥檙e doing something in the day and you suddenly get a waft of intense anxiety.

鈥淭he third classic symptom is avoiding triggers. So, if you have had a car accident you may not get into a car and avoid activities that might involve the possibility of being in a car.

鈥淭he key thing is that, like all physical injuries, we have a natural healing process to deal with trauma.

Disturbed sleep and nightmares

鈥淣ightmares are a reflection of the unprocessed trauma,鈥� said Justin, who has produced a .

The video, which can also be used by therapists with clients in session, provides education and offers a solution to stop nightmares which are simple in theory, but not always easy in practice.

鈥淚t鈥檚 normal to dream after trauma because that is our way of dealing with emotionally intense events,鈥� said Justin. 鈥淭he nightmares are when that process has got stuck. In a way, nightmares are a direct reflection of the arrested recovery from trauma.

鈥淭he connection between my video and treating trauma is if it can try to resolve the nightmares, then that natural recovery process kicks in, which is a bit like getting free therapy every night.

鈥淭his means that when we are sleeping more peacefully, overall trauma symptoms reduce. This can then allow remaining trauma to be tackled more safely in therapy.

鈥淪leep is fundamental. About 5% of the world鈥檚 population have regular nightmares, that鈥檚 about 500 million people. That has a big impact on your overall health because sleep affects everything.

鈥淔ixing sleep issues first, whether it鈥檚 insomnia or nightmares is important. They are primary indicators of health. If you mess up your sleep, it will impact everything else.

听鈥淎lthough the video I have made may not work for everybody, it does offer some hope to try to resolve nightmares where there is little help currently available and offers a way of stabilising clients to engage with therapy.鈥�

How counselling can help with trauma and PTSD

There are a range of specialist approaches that can be used, including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and trauma-focused CBT.

Justin says that all trauma is treatable and encourages people to speak to a skilled and experienced therapist.

鈥淓MDR is one of the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) approved, WHO (World Health Organisation) approved trauma treatments,鈥� said Justin. 鈥淭hat is making use of rapid eye movements, which has a similarity to the natural healing process of sleep and dreaming.

鈥淗owever, it鈥檚 important to realise it isn鈥檛 a simple technique of just quickly moving eyes from left to right, but a comprehensive psychotherapy that adheres to key tenets of stabilisation, processing and integration.

鈥淓MDR therapists need to have appropriate training in order to be able to practise safely and they need plenty of experience.鈥�

If you have any comments or would like to share your story, please get in touch with us.听

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