Understanding Reactive Parts of Your Personality From an IFS Parts Work Therapy Perspective

In my previous article, I focused on proactive parts (also known as "Managers") from an Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work therapy perspective.

According to IFS therapy, we all have many different internal parts, which are also known as sub-personalities. This is a normal for everyone's personality.

The problem occurs when these subpersonalities (or parts) take on burdened roles due to trauma in order not to feel the emotional pain.

Understanding Reactive Parts of Your Personality in IFS

These burdened internal parts include:

• Proactive Protectors Parts (also known as "Managers")
• Reactive Protectors Parts (also known as "Firefighters")
• Emotionally Wounded Parts (also known as "Exiles")

Everyone also has a Core Self which is not a part. 

The Core Self is the essence of who you are (see my article: Understanding Your Core Self in IFS Therapy).

In this article, I'm focusing on reactive parts (also known as "Firefighters") in IFS therapy.

I'll be using the terms "reactive protector parts" and "Firefighters" interchangeably because they refer to the same parts.

Core Characteristics of Reactive ("Firefighter") Protector Parts

While proactive protector parts ("Managers") work to keep life orderly and prevent emotional distress from surfacing, Firefighters,which are reactive parts, act like the "emergency response team" of your system. 

Understanding Reactive "Firefighter" Parts in IFS

For instance, if a Manager (proactive part) fails and a wave of shame, trauma or terror breaks through into your consciousness, the Firefighter reacts immediately to "douse" the emotional flames by any means necessary.

The key characteristics of Firefighter parts include:

• Extreme Urgency: They operate with a desperate need to shift, fix or run away from a feeling immediately.

• Disregard For Consequences: Firefighters care only about immediate relief and survival and they completely ignore the long-term consequences of their actions.

• High Intensity: Their behaviors are often highly reflexive, powerful and overwhelming.

What Are Common Examples of Reactive ("Firefighter") Protectors?

Firefighter parts' sole objective is to stifle unbearable emotional pain, so they often employ drastic, impulsive and numbing behaviors. These can include:

• Numbing and Distraction: Compulsive screen scrolling, binge-watching, overeating and oversleeping (see my article: What Happens When You Numb Yourself From Feeling Emotional Pain?).

• Substance and Chemical Use: Binge drinking or abusing drugs to quickly alter or black out emotional states.

• Dissociation and Shutdown: Completely detaching from the body or experiencing a "freeze" response to escape from an overwhelming reality (see my article: What is Trauma-Related Dissociation?).

• Defensive Aggression: Sudden outbursts of rage or verbal attacks are meant to push others away before they can cause deeper hurt.

• High Risk Behaviors: Self-harm, reckless spending or impulsive decision-making are meant to replace emotional pain with physical sensation or high adrenaline.

How Can You Detect Your Reactive Internal Protector Parts ("Firefighters")?

Detecting your reactive parts requires tuning into sudden shifts in your impulses, behavior and physical sensations immediately after you feel emotionally vulnerable, rejected or overwhelmed. 

Since Firefighters react to "emergencies", you can catch them by tracking the exact moments you lose your typical sense of calm and control.

You can identify and map your Firefighter parts by watching for these four specific indicators:

1. The Trigger to Impulse

Firefighter parts, true to their reactive nature, are incredibly fast. You can detect them by paying attention to a sudden impulsive urge that arises immediately after an uncomfortable interaction, thought or emotion:

• The Pattern: As an example: You receive a critical text from your boss (the trigger). Within seconds, before you even consciously register that you feel hurt, angry or anxious, you have already opened up a food delivery app or a mobile game to numb your feelings by overeating.

• The Detection Clue: In the example above, look for behaviors that are automatic, as if you are on autopilot, where it feels like you "woke up" and realized what you were doing halfway through doing them (e.g., halfway through a binge).

2. Radical Shifts in Your Body

When a Firefighter takes over your system, your physical baseline changes instantly:

• The "Numb" or "Blank" State": A sudden drop in physical sensation, a feeling of floating away or your eyes glazing over indicates a dissociative or avoidant Firefighter putting out the emotional "fire" by disconnecting you from yourself.

Understanding Reactive Parts: The Numb or Blank Stare

• The "Tunnel Vision" Surge: A sudden spike in heat, jaw clenching or an overwhelming rush of adrenaline that demands immediate and sudden aggressive action indicates an angry or defensive Firefighter kicking in to push other people away.

3. Listening to the Post-Act "Internal Backlash"

Firefighters almost always carry negative consequences, so they are usually followed by an intense backlash from your Manager parts. 

For example, to find a Firefighter, you can trace backwards from an internal critic, which is a Manager part, to discover the Firefighter:

• The Detection Clue: If you snap out of a dissociated (trance-like) state and your  internal voice says, "Why did you do that again? You have no willpower. You ruined everything", look closely at the behavior the inner voice is criticizing. The part that committed the act, whether it was drinking, drugging, overeating or overspending, is the Firefighter and the part that is criticizing you is the Manager part.

4. Recognizing Common Firefighter Parts

Firefighters usually use specific types of strategies to change your emotional state. 

Reflect on whether you have reactive parts that fit one or more of these descriptions:

• The Soother/Numbing Part: Reaching for alcohol, weed or sugar to chemically dull your anxiety. The motto of this part is "This will just take the edge off."

• The Escapist/Distractor Part: Losing a lot of time to mindless scrolling, gaming or binge-watching. The motto of this part is "Let's just change the channel."

The Reactive Protector: The Escapist/Distractor

• The Impulsive Rebel Part: Abruptly quitting a job, spending money recklessly or picking an argument. The motto for this part is "Burn it down! Who cares!"

• The Sleep/Shutdown Part: Suddenly becoming completely exhausted and oversleeping (12-14 or more hours) when stressed. The motto of this part is "Go to sleep and pull the plug."

Questions For Self Reflection

To map your own system, ask yourself these questions:

• "What do I do when a feeling gets so big it feels like it will swallow me up?"

• "What are the behaviors in my life that I try hardest to hide from other people out of shame?"

• "When I feel completely overwhelmed, what is the very first urge that hits me?"

Conclusion

We all have subpersonalities or, as they are called in IFS, parts. This is normal.

For people who have experienced trauma, especially developmental trauma in childhood, these parts take on burdened roles in order to protect the emotionally wounded parts of these individuals.

One of the main objectives of IFS therapy is to help traumatized individuals who have burdened parts to release these burdens so they are free from their history of trauma.

Get Help in IFS Therapy

Although protector parts, both Managers and Firefighters, might feel like a natural part of your personality, over time they create problems for your physical, emotional and psychological well-being as well as your relationships.

Getting Help in IFS Parts Work Therapy

If you have tried unsuccessfully to work on your problems on your own or traditional talk therapy hasn't worked for you, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who is an IFS therapist so you can lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), IFS, Somatic Experiencing and Certified Sex Therapist.

I have helped many individual adults and couples over time.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Also See My Articles:

IFS Parts Work Therapy is a Gentle Evidence-Based Trauma Therapy 

How Can IFS Parts Work Therapy Be Empowering? 

What is the Connection Between IFS Therapy and Neural Networks? 

Discovering Your Core Self in IFS Therapy 

What is the Difference Between Trauma and PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder)?

The terms "trauma" and "PTSD" (posttraumatic stress disorder) are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference.

Understanding the Difference Between Trauma and PTSD

What is Trauma?

Trauma is an emotional response to an overwhelming event which could include shock trauma or developmental trauma .

Shock trauma is a one-time event like a robbery, an accident or the devastating effect of a hurricane, to name just a a few examples of shock trauma.

Developmental trauma is ongoing trauma experienced during childhood due to stressful and traumatic events including physical and emotional abuse, physical or emotional neglect, violence, and chronic instability.

The effects of trauma can include (but are not limited to):

• Sadness
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Avoidance of people, places and things related to the trauma
• Anger
• Dissociation
• Confusion
• Exhaustion
• Numbing emotions and numbing yourself to your environment
• Nightmares

Symptoms from shock trauma and developmental trauma can persist for weeks, months, years or a lifetime.  

When symptoms of trauma persist and evolve over time, these symptoms can develop into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) if the symptoms of trauma go untreated.

What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Even though PTSD and trauma are closely related, they are not the same.

Understanding the Difference Between Trauma and PTSD

"Post" in posttraumatic stress disorder refers to the physical, emotional and psychological impact after trauma occurs.

Whereas trauma is a response to an overwhelming event, PTSD is a more serious mental health condition.

The effects. of PTSD are divided into four categories:

• Re-experiencing symptoms: Flashbacks including emotional flashbacks, nightmares and frightening thoughts

• Avoidance: Avoiding people, places and things related to the traumatic event(s) and avoiding related thoughts and feelings

• Arousal/Reactivity: Getting easily triggered, having difficulty falling or staying asleep, problems calming down, getting easily frightened and experiencing intense anger

• Mood and Cognition: Problems remembering details of the trauma, a negative view of oneself and a lack of interest in hobbies or interactions that were pleasurable before

What is Trauma Therapy?

Trauma therapy includes a variety of therapy modalities including (but not limited to):

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy

• AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

Understanding Trauma Therapy

• Somatic Experiencing (also known as Somatic Therapy)
  

• Clinical Hypnosis (also known as Hypnotherapy)

• Parts Work Therapy (also known as Internal Family Systems or IFS and Ego States Therapy)

Why is It Important to Seek Help in Trauma Therapy?

Whether you're experiencing unresolved trauma or PTSD, symptoms often get worse over time so seeking help in trauma therapy sooner rather than later is recommended.

Understanding the Importance of Trauma Therapy

Both trauma and PTSD symptoms can carry over intergenerationally, which means that your unresolved trauma can have a significant impact on your children and future generations (see my articles: What is Intergenerational Trauma?).

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

If you have been struggling with unresolved trauma, you could benefit from working with a trauma therapist (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

After you have worked through your trauma, you can free yourself from your traumatic history so you can live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

I have over 20 years of experience working with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Understanding the Connection Between Unresolved Psychological Trauma and the Need For Control

When considering psychological trauma, it's important to know there are different types of trauma, including developmental trauma and shock trauma. 

Psychological Trauma and the Need For Control

In this article I'm focusing on unresolved developmental trauma, which is trauma that occurred over time in childhood, and the need for control as an adult.

What is Psychological Trauma?

Since I'm focusing on developmental trauma (trauma that occurs over time in childhood), the definition of psychological trauma in this context is a person's unique experience of feeling emotional distress in response to ongoing events that overwhelmed their capacity to cope.

Psychological Trauma and the Need For Control

It's important to emphasize that a traumatic response is unique to the individual. So, it's not the events per se that's traumatic--it's a how the individual experiences the events. 

Children who are identical twins might experience the same events in their family where one of them is traumatized and the other is not.  So, each person has their own unique psychological makeup and their own particular response to what happened.

Another factor is whether or not the person who experienced overwhelming events as a child had emotional support at the time or whether they felt alone (see my article: Undoing Aloneness: What is AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)?).

A child who had emotional support from a loving relative will usually have a better psychological outcome than a child who went through distressing event feeling alone.

Feeling Powerless as Part of Chronic Developmental Trauma

Feeling of powerlessness is an important part of developmental trauma.

A feeling of powerlessness is especially prevalent during chronic developmental trauma where there is ongoing exposure to emotionally overwhelming events.  These individuals feel they have no power to stop, change or control these events.

Psychological Trauma and the Need For Control

For instance, a young child who has repeated experiences of hearing their parents' arguments escalate into physical violence will most likely feel terrified and powerless to do anything about their parents' fights.

Even if this same child, who is terrified, is able to muster the courage to knock on their parents' bedroom to try to get them to stop the fighting, the parents might respond in ways that make the incident even more terrifying. 

One or both parents might invalidate the child's fear by saying, "Nothing is wrong. Go back to your room" which can be very confusing for the child. 

Alternatively, the parents might respond in other ways that make the event even scarier.  For example, one of the parents might threaten the child by saying something like, "Get back to your room or you'll get a spanking!" or "Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about!"

This leaves the child in an untenable situation where not only can they not control what's happening but they also fear they will get physically punished.

An hour or two later these same parents, who might be highly volatile with each other at times, might emerge from their bedroom and act as if nothing happened in front of the child. 

Not only does this invalidate the child's fear and make the child feel alone, it can also makes the child wonder if there's something wrong with him or her to fear a situation where the parents are now acting normal.

Understanding the Connection Between Unresolved Trauma and the Need For Control

In the example given above, if there are ongoing events like this where the child feels powerless and alone, this child will mostly likely grow up with a strong need to feel in control of their own life, their loved ones' lives and the circumstances around them.

One of the consequences of a history of unresolved trauma and feelings of powerlessness is that individuals often become emotionally triggered when they find themselves in situations where they feel they can't exert control.

Psychological Trauma and the Need For Control

The need for exerting control will vary from one individual to another depending upon the person and the particular situation. But most individuals who experienced chronic trauma growing up don't want to re-experience the sense of powerlessness they experienced as children. This creates in them the need to exert control.

The need to feel in control is a self protective mechanism whereby the individual tries to create a safe space so they don't feel the same terrifying feelings they experienced as a child.

For individuals who grew up in unpredictable circumstances where it felt like anything could happen at any time, the need for predictability is paramount.

What Are Some of the Signs of a Need For Control Based on Unresolved Trauma?

The following are some of the signs people might experience when they have a need to be in control based on unresolved trauma:

• Fear of Ambiguous Situations: They can be very uncomfortable (maybe even panicked) when a situation is unclear. Ambiguous situations can be highly triggering for them which will, in turn, trigger their need to exert control over the situation.

• Setting Rigid Boundaries: They might set rigid boundaries so relationships and situations feel predictable with no second guessing about what might or might not happen.

• Fear of Vulnerability: They might have a hard time opening up to other people. As a result, they might not feel comfortable sharing personal information about themselves because they fear the other person might use this information against them (see my article: Vulnerability as a Pathway to Intimacy in a Relationship).

Psychological Trauma and the Need For Control

• Fear of Talking About the Past: They might not like talking about their past because they fear getting triggered again and also fear trusting someone else with this information.

• Fear of Allowing Others to Get to Know Them: They might be hard to get to know because they are protecting themselves from getting hurt again.

• Fear of Intimate Relationships: They might avoid getting into intimate relationships because of their fear of vulnerability.

• You're Either For Them or Against Them: They might feel you're either for them or against them. There might not feel anything in between (no gray area).

• Fear of Trusting Others: If they feel disappointed or letdown by someone, they might not trust that person again.

• A Need for Predictability: Due to their need for predictability, they might have unrealistic or perfectionistic expectations of others (see my article: Perfection vs Good Enough).

• Fear of Risks: They might be risk averse. They might avoid anything that is risky or feels dangerous to them in any way.  This can include the possibility of getting hurt in a relationship, making financial decisions that might involve a degree of risk, making a career change and so on.

• Fear of Abandonment: They might have a strong fear of abandonment. Since their childhood experiences might have included feeling emotionally abandoned by their parents, who were supposed to take care of them, they might fear abandonment in any close relationship.

What's the First Step in Healing Psychological Trauma?

Since developmental trauma occurs in the context of a relationship, healing also needs to occur in the context of a relationship (this is one of the reasons why self help books are often only minimally, if at all, helpful in terms of healing trauma).

Healing Psychological Trauma and Awareness

Unfortunately, people who experienced developmental trauma as children often don't trust relationships. They might have a strong need to feel loved, but they also dread feeling loved because of their early experiences of feeling unsafe (see my article: Wanting and Dreading Love).

Many people who have unresolved developmental trauma continue to use the same protective strategies they used as children. While these strategies might have helped them at the time, they no longer work for them. 

One of those strategies often included avoiding close relationships.

Developing an awareness about the impact of unresolved trauma is an important first step. 

Without an acknowledgement of the impact, there's often a lack of motivation and fear of getting help.

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Many people seek help in trauma therapy when the pain of doing nothing becomes greater than their fear of getting help.

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

A skilled trauma therapist can help you to work through the issues that keep you stuck with the impact of unresolved trauma.

If you're feeling stuck due to unresolved trauma, seek help in trauma therapy so you can live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

I work with individual adults and couples.

With over 20 years of experience as a trauma therapist, I believe people have an innate ability to heal from traumatic experiences with the help in trauma therapy (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?)

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

What is Parentification and Why Is It Traumatic?

Many clients who come to see me for unresolved trauma grew up as parentified children (see my article: What is the Impact of Parentification on Adult Relationships?).

The Traumatic Impact of Parentification

What Are Parentified Children?

Parentification is a role reversal between parents and children.

Parentified children are children who grew up taking on adult responsibilities in their family. 

These responsibilities might include:

• Providing emotional support to their parents 

• Taking care of younger siblings as a regular part of their chores

• Taking on major household chores that are normally done by adults

• Taking on the stress of financial problems and other major stressors in the family

• Mediating arguments between their parents and/or other adult family members

• Paying bills

• Making doctor's appointments, and so on

This often occurs when children's parents either can't or won't assume parental responsibilities and they might also unable to take care of themselves.

What Are the Signs of Parentification?

Some of the signs of parentification include:

• Children being praised by their parents and other adults for being "so good" or "so responsible" when they take on tasks beyond their developmental stage

• Children feeling they have to be the peacemakers in the family

• Getting in trouble with their parents when they wanted to engage in children's activities because parents wanted them to stay home to take care of adult responsibilities

The Traumatic Impact of Parentification

• As an adult not being able to remember being allowed to be a child

• As an adult feeling they were given responsibilities beyond their capacity as a child

• As an adult feeling they had to "grow up fast" (beyond their developmental capacities)

• As an adult only feeling comfortable in the role of a caretaker to a partner or spouse 

• As an adult feeling they have to be so "self reliant" to the point of not trusting others, including significant others, to come through for them

Why Causes Parentification?

Parentification can occur for many reasons.

In many instances the parents of parentified children grew up as parentified children themselves so it seems normal and familiar to them.  

The Traumatic Impact of Parentification

Since they were parentified children, these parents might never have learned to manage their emotions because they were preoccupied with taking care of their parents' emotions.  

As a result, it's not unusual to find a long history of parentified children from one generation to the next.

In other instances parents might have mental health or substance abuse problems and they are unable to take on parental responsibilities so one or more of their children take on these responsibilities.

Why is Parentification Traumatic?

Parentified children often feel they are special when they are children because they feel they are helping their parents and often get complimented for it. But, as adults, they might begin to sense that something didn't go right when they were children (see my article: Why is Past Trauma Affecting You Now?).

For instance, when they hear other adults talk about their childhood, many adults who grew up as parentified children sense they missed out on being a child.  For many people this is the beginning of their questioning why they took on their parents' responsibilities and what affect it might have had on them (see my article: How Developmental Trauma Affects How You Feel About Yourself).

Parentification also causes the disruption of the child's natural maturational process which often leads to negative consequences for their long term health and mental health including anxiety and depression and chronic health problems.

Parentification Can Cause Anxiety and Depression

In addition, as previously mentioned, parentification often develops into intergenerational trauma as the trauma is perpetuated from one generation to the next.

How Can You Heal From the Trauma of Parentification?

There are specific types of therapy, known as trauma therapy, for parentification and other types of developmental trauma:

EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

Ego States Therapy (similar to Internal Family Systems Therapy or Parts Work Therapy)

AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

Somatic Experiencing Therapy 

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Parentification is more common than you might think.

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Even though parentification might have been normalized in your family, you might realize it had a negative emotional impact on you.

Rather than struggling on your own, seek help from a qualified trauma therapist so you can overcome trauma and lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT, Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

As a trauma therapist with over 20 years of experience, I work with individual adults and couples to help them overcome trauma.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Why is Past Trauma Affecting You Now?

One of the questions that I often hear from clients in my New York City psychotherapy private practice is, "Why is trauma from a long time ago still affecting me now?" (see my article: Reacting to the Present Based on Your Traumatic Past).

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Before discussing why past psychological trauma can still impact you now, let's first discuss the possible physical and emotional effects of unresolved trauma.

Possible Physical Effects of Unresolved Trauma

• Headaches
• Aches and pains throughout the body
• Tiredness
• Sweating
• Changes in appetite 
• Difficulty managing stress
• Sleep problems
• Memory problems
• Dizziness
• Changes in vision
• Long term health problems
• Fight response
• Fawn response
  
• Flight response
• Freeze response
  
• Substance Misuse and other addictive and compulsive behavior (e.g, gambling overspending, etc)

Possible Emotional Effects of Unresolved Trauma

• Anger/irritability
• Emotional numbing (an inability to feel strong emotions)
• Sadness and Grief
• Worrying
  
• Confusion
• Problems with knowing what you want
• Shame
  
• Fear
• Panic
  
• Hypervigilance: Being very alert to your surroundings because you fear something is going to happen
• A loss of a sense of who you are
• Flashbacks triggered by current situations
• Hypersensitivity to the comments and behavior of well-meaning people who are close to you

What Are Possible Day-to-Day Responses to Unresolved Trauma?

Unresolved trauma can impact your day-to-day living in terms of:

• Taking care of yourself
• Difficulty trusting others even when you have no objective reason to mistrust these particular people
• Difficulty maintaining romantic relationships, friendships and familial relationships
• Difficulty in school and college
• Difficulty setting goals
• Difficulty maintaining a job and getting along with managers and colleagues
• Difficulty making decisions
  
• Lack of motivation
• Difficulty with change
• Difficulty with how to manage free time 

Why Does Trauma That Happened a Long Time Ago Affect You Now?

Unresolved trauma remains stored in your mind and body.  

Regardless of when the trauma originally occurred, the impact can last for years if the trauma remains unresolved and untreated.

Everyone experiences unresolved trauma in their own way and symptoms can change over time.

You might not experience a noticeable impact of the trauma until it gets triggered later in life and, at that point, you might not understand what you're reacting to when you experience symptoms.

Even if the trauma occurred decades ago and the current situation doesn't appear to be related to what happened in the past, you could experience emotional and/or physical symptoms now based on what happened in the past (see Example #3 below).

Examples

#1. As a child, you grew up in a household where your parents would often have loud arguments at night which made you feel scared. As an adult, you live next door to a couple who has loud arguments and you feel scared because your neighbors are triggering your earlier experience.

#2. You were traumatized during combat by a nearby explosion and after you leave the military, you react physically and/or emotionally when a car backfires near you.

#3. When you were a child, you were in a situation where you were scared and helpless and then, as an adult, you're in a plane where there's a lot of turbulence which triggers your childhood feelings of fear and helplessness.

    

    Note: In Example #3 the two situations are different, but what gets triggered, fear and helplessness, is the same.

There are many other obvious as well as subtle triggers that can impact you long after the original trauma occurred.

Shock Trauma vs Developmental Trauma

Psychological trauma is usually categorized as either a one-time trauma, also known as a shock trauma, or developmental trauma, also known as childhood trauma.

Shock trauma tends to be incidents that occur once, such as a tornado, a car accident, a robbery, and so on (see my article: Understanding Shock Trauma)

Developmental trauma, which is trauma that tends to be ongoing during childhood (see my article: How Developmental Trauma Affects How You Feel About Yourself).

Developmental trauma usually tends to be of a more serious nature because it's ongoing.  However, a shock trauma can also trigger symptoms related to developmental trauma.

For instance, if a person is beaten up and robbed, which is a one-time trauma, that one-time incident can trigger symptoms related to being physically and emotionally abused as a child.

So, even when it appears that there aren't layers of trauma involved with a one-time incident, a trauma therapist needs to explore whether there are underlying traumas that are getting triggered, similar to Example #3 above.

Intergenerational Trauma

In addition, psychological trauma can get unconsciously passed on from one generation to the next (see my article:  What is Intergenerational Trauma?).

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Unresolved trauma can get worked through in trauma therapy (see my article: What is Trauma Therapy?).

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

There are now many different types of trauma therapy, such as:

EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

Somatic Experiencing

And other modalities that were developed specifically for trauma that can help you to work through trauma (see my article: Why Experiential (Mind-Body Oriented) Therapy is More Effective Than Regular Talk Therapy).

Rather than struggling on your own, seek help from a licensed mental health professional who is a trauma therapist.

Once you have worked through your trauma, you can live a more meaningful life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT, Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

With over 25 years of experience as a trauma therapist, one of my specialties is helping clients to work through unresolved trauma.

I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW.- NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.