For many people, describing traumatic incidents and exploring their emotional responses to them, such as shock, anger or shame, is a key part of their healing process.
Understanding why you feel the way you do about it, helps the brain to categorise the memory and store it accordingly. Coming to terms with what happened in a way that makes sense to you (eg. it was a random accident/the perpetrator was responsible, not me).
When this happens (with or without therapy) over time, your brain files the traumatic memory in ‘unpleasant experiences’ somewhere in the ‘past’ section.
This is what humans do naturally, with their friends, loved ones and peers, which is why not everyone who experiences a traumatic event, goes on to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
What if you don’t want to talk about PTSD?
For some, especially those with PTSD, the thought of describing what happened can be overwhelming and understandably, they avoid going anywhere near the subject. These people are very unlikely to seek help, for fear of being re-traumatised by reliving the experience. Thankfully, there are ways therapy can help, without the need to explain the trauma in detail, or to go over it again and again.
Two types of therapy that can be conducted without detailed disclosure are; rewind technique, which this article focuses on, and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR). Both types can reduce or stop PTSD symptoms such as heightened anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks, anger outbursts and low mood.
You can ask your therapist if they’re able to offer either method without full details of the trauma. I also recommend that you read up on EMDR, so you can decide which may suit you best.
How does it work?
The jury is out on the neuroscience of precisely how it works. Most research points towards something called memory reconsolidation – whereby the memory, which has been stuck on a loop, in the part of the brain responsible for emergency response, gets filed properly (in unpleasant, past).
A traumatic memory can’t be filed in the past until it’s been processed and made safe to access, so it stays under something like: ‘current, urgent!’ until we teach the brain that it can be accessed without the alarm going off and survival mode kicking in. This is why even thinking about it can feel terrifying or unbearable for those with PTSD.
Reconsolidation allows you to access the memory without it having an impact.
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