Ways to Use Childhood Trauma Therapy and Its Realistic Applications

Many times when we go through something traumatic we will choose to not deal with as often as possible. Part of this is where the idea of repressed memories comes in. Many people who have this kind of trauma can react violently or unusually when pressed about the issues. It is very important that any and all therapies are done voluntarily for best results. If someone is forced to go through childhood trauma therapy and participates in the activities unwillingly, it will be very tough for them to be successful.

Most of the activities revolve around giving the patient a better understanding of how the events in the trauma affect their day to day lives. In addition, the steps in the therapy will attempt to alleviate the symptoms caused by the trauma so the person can lead a normal life.

Many of the patients have lived with the trauma for so long that it is difficult for them to even consider what life would be like without it. They do not even realize how they react when presented with the events of the trauma, and a part of the treatment is geared towards trying to get them to get through this critical step. By showing the person what they are like when dealing with the trauma they can hope to understand themselves better and find a way to get through the events that made them feel the way they do.

Hopefully this has helped you to understand what the goals of childhood trauma therapy are and how some of the techniques used hope to help with the problems.

Steps to Intensive Trauma Therapy

The first step in any intensive trauma therapy program is to get the Doctor and patient on the same page as to what happened to cause the trauma. This in and of itself can be a problem as many times the event surrounding the trauma are either not fully understood or remembered. This is not the important part, the important part is that the patient tells their side of the story from what they remember. There is no right or wrong answer to this, but the Doctor has to know what happened so that they can develop and prepare the right treatment. What I mean by this is that the Doctor does need to know exactly what the events were, but rather what the patients perception of the events is.

Once this step is completed the next step is usually to video tape an interview with the patient. This is so that they can see how they relate to the world in relation to the trauma. Many times a patient will not see how they actually are in relation to the trauma, and this important step in the intensive trauma therapy lets them see themselves as they truly are.

After this the patient should be ready for the real intensive trauma therapy to begin. By doing a full analysis the therapist can sit down and come up with a program to help them get through the trauma. Usually this program will involve a lot of non verbal activities such as painting that express the emotions that they are feeling.

Hopefully now you have a better idea of what intensive trauma therapy is and what you can do to help yourself get better.

The Basics of Trauma Psychotherapy

If you think that trauma psychotherapy is just a bunch of nonsense and you do not see how it could possibly help you, I am here to let you know some of the basics of how it works so you can have a better understanding of how this form of treatment can help you.

Most trauma psychotherapy session will start with a narrative portion. This is where the trauma psychotherapy patient gets to tell their side of the events that happened. Many times just going through this process can be extremely helpful. This is initial exploratory period will help to set the boundaries of what the treatment will entail. This portion can be extremely difficult for people to go through, and the hardest part is that in some cases they may not even know exactly what happened. Memory loss is a common component of many traumatic events, and this step is the first thing to help combat that.

After the first step the patient will usually then go through a video taped portion where they are asked some questions. This is important as many times patients will not understand how they interact and relate to the world especially when it comes to the trauma that they went through. It is important that they take the time to see themselves as the really are and how the react and interact with the world around them. By seeing themselves on video there is no way they can argue with what is in front of them

Once these initial steps have been completed the programs are really ready to begin. This section of the trauma psychotherapy is aimed at trying to actually heal the patient. Techniques include painting, meditation, and simply talking to others with like problems. Most of the most effective methods do not involve any communication at all and are simply non verbal exercises that are designed to help the patient not only deal with the trauma, but everything else in their lives as well.

Initial Steps of Trauma Treatment

The first thing you need to do in your trauma treatment is let you therapist and the people that you are working with know what you went through. Usually this will involve some kind of narrative that you go through all of the events that happened from your side so they have a perspective on what your side of the story is. This retelling also helps in your trauma treatment in that you start to get everything out and address the problems that you are having.

After the narrative step there usually is a video introspective part. Again in this you will talk about what happened and what you are feeling. The goal in this part is to show you what you have gone through from an outside perspective. Also, there may be things and feelings that you are repressing that you may not even know about. Many times in a traumatic experience the people that have gone through the trauma do not even know what they are experiencing or what they are repressing. By going through these therapy sessions on video they can begin to see what they are thinking and how they relate to the rest of the world.

After this exploratory trauma treatment comes the actual addressing and attempt at helping the patient get past the trauma. Once all of this has been laid out on the table, you can begin doing the art treatment and other relaxing, calming therapies that will help you to see yourself and explore how you interact with the world. With a solid understanding of what you went through and where you are you can now begin the healing process.

As you can see there are many steps to trauma treatment. While the actual programs will vary, for the most part they all will have similar themes to the ones outlined above. Each therapy session has the same goal of making the patient feel whole again.

What Trauma Therapy Can do For You

There are many benefits of going through a trauma therapy program. First off you need to take a look at the techniques that are used in trauma therapy. Many places will have an intense program of art therapy, hypnosis and externalized dialogue as well as psychotherapy. By using these techniques treatment centers can address the trauma without having to go through it. Their goals are usually to promote a life of lasting recovery without continued therapy.

The first step is usually the narrative process. In this process it is the goal of treatment to eliminate the dissociation from the trauma and address it fully. By doing this the treatment is able to progress forward after complete closure. It is needed to have this perspective in order to have the person get an idea of where and what their place in the world is. The goal of this part is to have the patient go through and have a complete narrative of the events that led up to and including the trauma. This step is crucial in getting everyone on the same page and making sure that everyone understands the patients side of what has happened to them.

The next step is to reverse the dissociation that people will generally feel towards the trauma by addressing an looking at alternate personalities or personality states that the patient may be trying to avoid. These things are important because many times a patient will not even be aware that they are pushing these things aside. A very effective treatment is to use a video dialogue treatment where the patient talks to themselves and then reviews the tape afterwards.

By starting with these steps, you should now be ready to start addressing everything that is causing you problems from the trauma you suffered. The real trauma therapy can now begin with art and other non verbal techniques. This is where the real healing process starts.

Basics of Behavioral Therapy Trauma

There are some things that behavioral therapy trauma can and can not do. When people think of behavioral therapy trauma they usually envision a direct patient to Doctor interaction. While this is the case some of the time, the majority of the actual therapy is done by the patient and not the Doctor. There are many techniques common to behavioral therapy trauma, which include hypnosis, art, and involved patient and Doctor interaction.

These methods attempt to focus the patient on the trauma they went through and express their emotions and feeling in a different way. By using non verbal methods the patients are not forced to describe what they felt, but rather instead they can simply feel what they want to and let the method express how they are feeling. There are several different ways to do this but all involve some form of expression, usually artistic in nature. You can paint, sculpt, and draw, whatever you are most comfortable with.

Once the work is completed one will usually sit down with a Doctor to go over what they were feeling and how it related to what they did. By talking things out it can bring the feelings that they were having into focus so that you can see what is going on more clearly. This is an important step in the healing process as many times the reason people are so depressed and having so many behavioral issues is that they simply do not know how to express the feeling they have. These methods and techniques let the patients express themselves and get the bad feelings out so the can progress.

As you can see the ideas behind how the therapy works are pretty simple. It is very difficult to do and many people have problems getting started. Once they are involved and start to see positive results from their actions, it becomes a lot easier to keep going with the procedures.

By working these things out the patient will start to feel much better about themselves and their place in the world. It is this that makes the therapy so important.

First And Second Rib Fractures

While it is very common to bruise, break, or fracture a rib, injuring the first or second rib is considered a completely different diagnosis than simply fracturing a rib. In order to break these ribs, excessive energy is required. When the first or second rib is fractured, it usually means that there are other underlying issues such as major cranial, thoracic, vascular, and abdominal injuries. Sometimes first and second rib fractures will require surgery to remove a large and displaced rib fragment.

Scapular Fractures

These fractures are very uncommon, but can occur when blunt trauma to the chest occurs. High energy forces are required to cause a scapular fracture, and many times there are many different associated injuries that come in conjunction with a scapular fracture. In fact, the rate of related injuries is seventy five to one hundred percent. The most common related injuries are head, abdomen, or other chest injuries.

A scapular fracture is most commonly located in the neck or body of the scapula. In excess of thirty percent of scapular fractures are actually missed during an initial evaluation. However, when one is discovered it is imperative that a doctor check for other major vascular injuries as well as injuries of the thorax, neurovascular bundle of the ipsilateral arm, and abdomen. Standard treatment for a scapular fracture is to immobilize the shoulder.

Scapulothoracic Dissociation

This injury can occur when blunt trauma to the chest happens. It is often called a flail shoulder, and it is an extremely rare injury. It occurs when strong traction forces actually pull the scapula and other parts of the shoulder girdle away from the thorax. This severely compromises the muscular, nervous, and vascular components of the shoulder and arm. It can cause significant hematoma formation, edema in the shoulder, loss of sensation and motor function in the shoulder, and decreased or loss pulses in the arm. For patients experiencing this, there is very little treatment. The best option for many people is an above the elbow amputation.

Pediatric Trauma Care History

Peter Kottmeier established the very first pediatric trauma unit in 1962 at the Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York. Later in 1976, the Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient was published by the American College of Surgeons. This booklet finally established requirements that a pediatric trauma center should meet. Starting in 1985, the National Pediatric Trauma Registry began collecting data on pediatric accidents. The United States alone houses eighty one accredited pediatric trauma programs today.

Pediatric Trauma Basics

In children older than one year old, injury is the leading cause of death. Injury exceeds every other cause of death—combined—in children. Unintentional injury makes up sixty five percent of all injury deaths in children eighteen years and younger. In a twenty year study from 1972 to 1992, motor vehicle accidents were the most common cause of death for one to nineteen year old children. The next most common cause of death was homicide or suicide (mostly with firearms), and then drowning. Every year about twenty thousand children and teenagers will die as a result of an injury or pediatric trauma. For each one child that dies from an injury or trauma, 1120 will be treated in an emergency room and forty will be hospitalized. About fifty thousand children will have an injury that leads to a permanent disability every year. Pediatric trauma is a major health and well-being threat to children.

Pediatric Blunt Trauma And Penetrating Injuries

Blunt trauma to the chest or other areas is a very common cause of pediatric trauma. Penetrating injury of this sort is responsible for about ten to twenty percent of pediatric trauma. Sadly, gunshot wounds are the cause of most penetrating injuries. These traumas have a much higher mortality rate then simple blunt object injuries. Increase in urban violence has caused an increase in the frequency of children with pediatric trauma from penetrating injuries. However, other objects can, and do, cause blunt and penetrating trauma. Fender edges, shrapnel, and door handles can all cause blunt or penetrating trauma in children.

These injuries are very common in children. In order to protect your child, make sure that your home is safe and that your child is always safely secured in their car seat.

Chest Wall Trauma Basics

Most chest injuries and chest wall traumas require no real therapy or treatment. The treatment for bruised or even broken ribs is to let them heal naturally, for example. However, broken or bruised ribs and other more severe chest wall trauma can indicate that there is a more severe underlying trauma. For example, many multiple rib fractures can mean that the patient has an underlying pulmonary contusion. This pulmonary contusion may not have been readily visible on the initial chest x-ray, but the fractures will show the doctor that he must take another x-ray.

In addition, lower rib fractures can mean that there are diaphragmatic tears and even spleen or liver injuries. Upper chest wall trauma sometimes shows injuries to adjacent great vessels. This is usually true when the first rib is fractured as that particular rib is extremely difficult to break and requires a great deal of force. Chest wall trauma can be critical when certain parts of it are injured. For example, the rib cage and sternum provide stability and support for the thoracic spine. Any major damage to the rib cage and sternum could cause damage to the thoracic spine.

Chest Wall Trauma Diagnosis

Most severe cases of chest wall trauma will be diagnosed by the initial physical examination at a doctor’s office or hospital. Seat belt bruising, grazes, or other bruises are visible on an initial exam. Palpation may show the crepitus that is often times associated with broken ribs. If the patient is conscious, he or she may complain of pain on palpation of the chest wall or on the inspiration. Other, possibly more severe chest wall trauma, will be diagnosed via chest x-ray.

An antero-posterior chest x-ray will show the most extreme and significant chest wall trauma. However, it will not show all rib fractures. A lateral or anterior rib fracture can be easily missed on an initial plain film x-ray. That said, knowing exactly where the fracture is, is not necessarily essential to treating the rib fracture, unless it is a pediatric chest trauma, as management and treatment in adults is determined by the clinical significance, not the placement.

Frequency Of Childhood Thoracic Trauma

Childhood thoracic trauma is not the leading cause of injury, death, or hospitalization in children. The frequency of such trauma is well below that of musculoskeletal trauma, neurological trauma, and abdominal trauma. However, the disheartening news is that the mortality rate in children with thoracic trauma associated with multi systemic trauma or injuries is very high. For example, an isolated case of thoracic trauma in a child has a death rate around five percent. But when you add in an abdominal injury making it a thoracic and abdominal trauma, the death rate soars to around twenty percent. If the child has a thoracic injury with the addition of a head injury, the death rate is close to thirty five percent.

Characteristics And Treatment Of Childhood Thoracic Trauma

A thoracic injury or trauma in a child is must different to diagnose and treat than that of an adult. Childhood thoracic traumas have different characteristics than that of an adult. First, in children multi systemic injuries are also present in more than fifty percent of childhood thoracic injuries. In children, the thoracic cage is cartilaginous and the chest wall is very compliant (which leads to less actual chest wall trauma in children). If the ribs are bruised or fractured in a child, it usually means that a direct blow was made to the chest with extreme force. This is very rare to see in a child. In addition, because the mediastinum is not fixed, when tension pneumothorax occurs it is difficult for a child’s body to tolerate. Also, pulmonary contusions are sadly very common in children with thoracic injuries and traumas.

The most important part of diagnosing and treating a thoracic trauma in a child is determining whether or not it is life threatening. If it is life threatening, certain treatments must be done that are not necessary in non life threatening injuries. If the injury is correctly diagnosed, chances are much higher that the child will survive in the long run.