QUESTION 2 OF 6
TALKING ABOUT TRAUMA
Talking or thinking about your trauma may seem like the last thing you want to do. In your day-to-day life when you are reminded about your trauma you are likely to get upset or overwhelmed. But talking about your trauma with a therapist is different.
Why is talking about the trauma helpful?
Talking about the trauma can help you gain more control of your thoughts and feelings. It can be hard at first. But many people find that over time it helps them feel better.
How open are you to talking about your trauma in detail during treatment?
See below for more info to help you make your choice.
Your Choice
See what others said...
What is it like to talk about the trauma in treatment? Hear from people who have done it.
"Going through the trauma for the first time was... I'll just use the word tough."
"Going through the trauma for the first time was... I'll just use the word tough. But it's much more than that. It was very hard because I could see it in color. In my mind, I could almost smell the sulfur. I could smell the smoke. I could see faces. I saw what I was most angry about, the heightened parts of my emotions...
I didn't want to keep anything in the closet that was going to haunt me later. So, I took it as though it was a broom and swept stuff out and brought it on the table. And I had to trust the expertise of this provider and this program to do what they said it was going to do.
Was it hard? Yes. Was it difficult? Unimaginably difficult.
The change, it came in session four. And I could see I felt a diminished amount of anxiety. It was a large relief because I was like, "This is going to work."
"It's going to be painful... but in the end, it's out and you feel so much better."
"That scares a lot of people away when you tell them they have to write a trauma narrative. I think what makes people turn away more than anything else is going back inside and trying to face their fears and to write this thing. You know, a trauma narrative is necessary, a hundred percent necessary. It's like pulling the thorn out that you've been carrying the entire time. And if you don't write that trauma narrative, you're never going to get the thorn out... It's going to be rough. It's going to be hard. It's going to be painful. You have to dig out. But in the end, it's out and you feel so much better."