Every person who has realized that they are suffering from trauma in some form or another and is seeking help faces these important questions.
First of all, I would like to point out something that I would like to explain to my patients as follows:
When you see a bird and a fish next to each other, you immediately realize that they have completely different needs. For example: the fish primarily needs water to survive, while the bird needs air.
How similar are we humans in fact, and how much does general advice make sense, especially when it comes to dream therapy?
We humans are much more similar in some ways than fish and birds.
Although we do differ in our origins and, for example, in our skin color, hair and eye color or stature, as I said, on the whole we are a species with many obvious similarities.
Furthermore, we all have similar (basic) needs: from air to food and sleep, to closeness and security.
This can lead us to think that we all need something similar to solve our problems.
However, caution is advised here.
Because both of ours Inner sense Both her and ours Capacity, In the end, we still differ almost as much as fish and birds when it comes to being able to process traumatic events. Even though it’s not so obvious.
Therefore, it requires a careful assessment and consideration of which treatment form is best suited for whom at what time.
Which criteria still have an important influence on choosing the dream therapy that is best suited for me?
Quite clearly: the personality of the practicing therapist.
The one for me in addition to the attitude of Patients and the chosen method has the greatest influence on the success of the therapy.
And of course, whether the „chemistry“ between patient and therapist is right. However, that is not the topic of this blog post; more on that below: What influence do the attitude of the patient and the therapist have on the success of the therapy? (Article to follow soon)
Briefly: Basics Trauma
Here are the basics about trauma again. We have made a rough distinction: Shock and development trauma, In addition to that, there are the prenatal trauma. So the traumas that occurred between our conception and our birth. And then there are the Transgenerational trauma. These are the traumas that are passed down from generation to generation until someone is ready to work on them.
Further information about this can be found at: Trauma and the consequences of trauma; Blog articles to follow Prenatal trauma and Transgenerational trauma.
What types of trauma therapy are there in principle?
When we look at the most commonly offered forms of therapy for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, we find:
# Cognitive behavioral therapy
The goal here is to change the thinking and behavioral patterns that have developed as a result of the trauma and that affect the patients„ future lives. That is, it is primarily about recognizing the “disturbing pattern” that has developed as a result of the trauma and then gradually changing it in a structured way. This is a very logical and structured approach.
#Konfrontationstherapie
In confrontation therapy, the attempt is to process what has happened by repeatedly exposing oneself to it in various forms, in order to achieve a reassessment.
# EMDR
It is a very special therapy that was discovered more or less by chance in 1987 by the psychologist Francine Shapiro. In this therapy, the two brain hemispheres are stimulated through special eye movements to process blocked and unintegrated memories and to network them anew.
In my many years of experience, this is, when applied correctly, a very effective therapy. It is often used in combination with other forms of therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy.
#Body therapy techniques, such as Somatic Experience and Polaritiy Therapy
These therapies primarily aim to restore the flow of energy that has become stagnant in the body as a result of the trauma. Since the rational, often judgmental, and suppressing mind is bypassed in this process, I consider them to be one of the best, most authentic, and most lasting forms of therapy.
# Gentle Traumatherapy
In so-called gentle trauma therapy, an integration and processing of the distressing events is achieved in a particularly cautious manner. Methods are used that allow the patient to maintain a certain distance from the events even during the trauma exposure.
#Psychodynamic psychotherapy
The focus here is on identifying and changing the unconscious effects that trauma has on the patient. This is primarily achieved through the careful observation of the relationship patterns between therapist and patient. The therapist does not act largely neutrally (as is the case in psychoanalysis), but instead approaches the patient with respect and support.
#Imagery Rescripting
Imagery Rescripting, which is often used in the therapy of early sexual abuse, involves approaching the traumatic event through images that can be viewed from different perspectives. For example, one can approach the event from the perspective of the adult self as well as the child self. The various perspectives redraw the previously internalized traumatic images, enabling processing and new experience.
# Narrative exposure therapy
This is a form of therapy that aims to bring the parts of the trauma that are often separated in memory together into a complete story and integrate them into one’s own life. Often, patients find meaning or significance in the traumatic events.
This form of therapy is usually used as part of a more comprehensive treatment plan.
#Life Review Technology
At the heart of this therapy, which is often used with older people, is the idea of drawing a balance between the so-called positive and negative events of one's own life. This allows for a reassessment of the trauma from a higher perspective, and also for insights into the gains derived from one's own experiences. For example, the much more intense experience of each day after a near-death experience.
#Gestalttherapie
In this therapy, the focus is primarily on the reciprocal influence between the body, mind, and soul and the connections between the patient and their social environment. Through increased attention, unconscious behavioral patterns can be brought to awareness and addressed. A very important role here is played by the so-called contact boundary between the individual and their environment. Since this contact boundary has often been sensitively disturbed by traumatic experiences, an important importance is attributed to building a well-functioning and clearly perceptible boundary for the patient.
This is a brief overview of Most common therapies, To give at least a small insight. More information about this can be found, for example, at https://www.therapie.de/psyche/info/
What therapies do I use for trauma?
In my over 30 years of practice, I have tried many therapies, learned to discard some, combine others, modify them, and adapt them to my findings.
I started 30 years ago with intensive training in polarity therapy, a very holistic body therapy that also includes elements from craniosacral therapy. Further information about this can be found here: https://www.polarity.ch/de/pol/polarity/uebersicht and https://www.meinmed.at/gesundheit/cranio-sacral-therapie/2468
A few years later I came across EMDR, which immediately enthralled me and has accompanied me for many years.
And a few years later, I came into contact with Brainspotting, which more or less happened by chance (in the best sense of the word, because something like that happens to you!) through EMDR.
Since then, I have been working primarily with an evolved form of Brainspotting and body awareness, which I complement with individual cases of additional therapies.
Why should the body be included in dream therapy?
For me, body integration is one of the most important factors for successful trauma therapy.
Each of us carries deeply formative early traumatic experiences within us. The ones that we cannot recall through conscious memory (https://www.spektrum.de/news/ab-wann-erinnern-wir-uns-an-unsere-kindheit/1421516). These engravings are therefore only about the body available, where they are practically energetic pattern are stored. And can only be accessed through the body memories of a therapy. There is also the theory (which I agree with) that everyone fundamental traumas in pregnancy and the earliest years of life take place, to whom we cannot consciously remember. And that all further traumatizations ultimately become so-called Re-traumatizations of these first experiences are. More about that in Prenatal trauma and A holistic view of trauma (Article to follow)).
Since I have also been working with homeopathy for many years, I use homeopathy as a supportive supplement whenever possible, see also: Dream therapy and homeopathy (Article to follow).
What is the secret behind successful therapy?
Another important criterion for good (trauma-)therapy is, in my opinion, that the focus is on the patient. not on the rational aspects, but in the Making the unconscious parts visible and integrating them exists.
I like to describe the rational part as a „library of the past“; that is, here are my past experiences and the conclusions I have drawn from them, or the evaluations I have made based on my current knowledge and understanding. This library is very useful to me every day for many things, starting with automatic operation in the car and continuing through to writing this article.
But when it comes to, to process something and evaluate it anew, For which I had no capacity and no references so far, then it is quite obvious that I have the solution for that. not in the past can find.
What do I then need to be able to process traumatic experiences in a beneficial way?
And now comes the wonderful thingOur nervous system is responsible for EVERYTHING already perfect solutions in themselves!
It has always been linked to a knowledge that goes far beyond anything we can imagine so far. And not only is it linked to this knowledge/a higher wisdom, but it also contains the knowledge of how everything we experience can be processed in such a way that it ultimately is beneficial for us.
However, we seem to have completely forgotten this incredible treasure that we all carry within us. Almost all of us do. And when you have something that you don't remember... it's as if you don't have it.
Does that sound a little crazy? I agree with that too. Over and over again. And especially when I get to witness for the umpteenth time what happens when the nervous system gets the chance to access that treasure: in good therapy. The result: pure miracles.
How do miracles actually work? Specifically: what do the digestion of a buttered bread and good dream therapy have in common?
As you may have already noticed, I am a fan of simpler, more understandable examples. And that’s why I’m now comparing this to a physical process that is familiar to all of us.
When I eat a whole wheat bun, I know that a good organic whole wheat bun is healthier than a packaged white flour bun with various artificial additives.
And I also know that chewing well is an important prerequisite for good digestion.
And maybe I also know that eating in a rush and under stress cannot be properly digested. Because under the predominant influence of the sympathetic branch of the nervous system, not enough digestive juices can be produced.
These three components can thus be my conscious contribution to optimal digestion of my butter bread.
And how much influence do I have on the actual digestive process?
To be honest and humble for a moment: almost none at all.
As for the digestion juices secreted at what time and how, and how the bread is broken down into its smallest building blocks, the gut of my body receiving and providing it in the best possible way, I generally don’t even have the basic knowledge of these things.
Not to mention having an influence on it. Aside from the above.
And, frankly, quite the opposite. Because if I imagine that I have to influence that and control or optimize something, it only gets really stupid. Because a clueless person who produces stress is not a help, but a hindrance. Obstacle It is.
What impression does someone make on you who, after eating, strains and tries hard to consciously control the secretion of their digestive juices and the absorption of the food through the intestines?
Therefore, let me be brutally frank here: Isn't our digestion a pure miracle as well?
We eat a buttered bread roll and our digestion transforms it into practically everything we need: energy, new cells, building blocks for hormones and neurotransmitters, and countless other things.
The miracle of higher intelligence
In my opinion, the same applies to Good dream therapy.
There are a few components that I should know and observe as a therapist.
I leave the rest to the self-healing and higher intelligence inherent in all of us, with complete humility, dedication, and trust. The one I PURE LOVE Name it. And I also assume that he created us all.
Here are my thoughts and findings regarding effective dream therapy.
If you want to know more about it: follow this link! (coming soon)
What a beautiful and helpful article!