Containment Skills For Trauma

Judicious use of distraction and other containment skills can help us manage our emotional distress when it does threaten to overwhelm us thereby allowing us to regain our equilibrium so that we can later address the trauma from a position of strength.

Containment skills for trauma. Traumatic events range from one time incidences to experiences that are chronic and even. Containment is a skill that is foundational to beginning any kind of trauma work as it is effective in utilizing the brain s natural ability to hold and contain material. Hazelden betty ford foundation. Trauma is defined as an event series of events or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects.

Containment is a standard imagery used in ptsd trauma therapy. Clark c classen cc fourt a shetty m. Difficult pictures feelings or memories can be locked into a container and won t interrupt the patient in their daily life for a while. Grounding techniques can be utilized to anchor the mind and the body in the present moment.

Treating the trauma survivor. Us department of veterans affairs. Containment requires the use of imagery creating some kind of container that can hold upsetting material until you are steady and able to properly process it. Ptsd recovery program treatment manual.

This exercise is effective in utilizing the brain. Without knowing the intricate mechanism of trauma of containment and resilience of build up and release and the necessity for dissociation this can become one of the pitfalls of ptsd counseling and why you might stay in therapy for ptsd for far too long. The idea is to shift your attention to something that actively occupies the mind preferably. An essential guide to trauma informed care.

Natalie lequang january 15 2017 counseling nashville ptsd complex trauma trauma coping skills brentwood trauma therapy. Learn how to do this for yourself. This experience of hyperarousal makes it important for trauma survivors to build skills that will strengthen their ability to not only regulate emotions but increase their ability to experience safety in the present moment. Containment is part of phase 1 of trauma therapy.