7/3/2018 The Trauma Timeline: A Journaling Exercise for Understanding the Impact of Relational Trauma in Your LifeRead Now“The essence of psychological trauma is the loss of faith that there is order and continuity in life. Trauma occurs when one loses the sense of having a safe place to retreat within or outside of oneself to deal with frightening emotions or experiences.”
Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD Relational trauma can be a confusing issue to deal with, partly because it is cumulative, it is not one incident but many small attitudes, incidents, and dynamics that span time. It’s easy to lose track of when something happened, how often it happened or what exactly it was that was painful, particularly if the trauma was some form of neglect, emotional abuse or disinterest. Filling in a timeline helps to make these issues and dynamics visible. It can also reveal which were significant incidents, which were ongoing dynamics and what periods felt relatively safe and happy. Next to or within each five-year span write a few words that refer to some thing, some relationship dynamic, or some ongoing situation that you experienced as traumatic. Note: neglect can be traumatic as well as abuse, divorce in the family, addiction, siblings or parents leaving, accidents, hospitalizations, family illness, etc. . . . the idea here is to understand how you experienced it, not whether or not it fits some criteria as to what is formally called trauma.Write in whatever comes to mind in this catagory we’re discussing in the appropriate lines. read more ......
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