Therapy in a Nutshell: For Trauma

Presenting Issues

Sartaj* sought therapy in an attempt to handle his anger and frustration over losing his dream job in another country, after which he had to come back to his home country.

Background Information

In the intake session, he mentioned having a history of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) some years ago, from which he had recovered fully. Considering this, he mentioned that his current ‘trauma’ should be a breeze to get through - but upon coming back, he felt he was indulging a bit much in behaviours he didn’t actually approve of, and was also struggling to cope with his emotions sometimes. This had been affecting his body, sleep, focus, mood, energy levels, etc. more often than he liked.

Assessment

Sartaj* came in with signs of feeling ‘stuck’ over a recent experience of being let go from a professional role and organization that to him was part of living the best life he could ever have. Although he expressed a wish to move forward and recounted past experiences where had indeed done so, he veered often between a sense of confusion about what’s going on/what he needs to do going forward, and a sense of righteous anger about what ‘should’ have happened.

Treatment Plan

Goals

1. Using various grounding and orientation techniques to help the client feel more present and regulated within each session (considering the client’s pre-existing comfort with using meditative techniques).
2. Allowing for the facts of (and before/after) the traumatic experience to come up slowly from the client’s end, as and when they feel oriented enough to converse more.
3. Over time, facilitating the uncoupling of anger (and any other emotions it may be masking, like grief over the loss of a certain quality of life) from specific events, establishing healthier ways to take the present situation forward (to possibly relocating once more to the country of choice) while reclaiming a sense of creativity and agency about this process.

Intervention Strategies

1. Somatic Experiencing to identify a pace that’s comfortable (and is least likely to result in retraumatization), and to facilitate a sense of ‘discharge’ about the ‘stuckness’ seen in the overwhelm, commonly seen within depression.
2. Grounding techniques to help support the recovery process, within and outside of Therapy.

Frequency and Duration

Bi-monthly therapy sessions for 3 months.

Results

1. In the first few sessions, Sartaj was (upon encouragement from his Therapist) able to express himself more openly and freely – an important shift especially in consideration of a sense of socialized masculinity many individuals of his gender experience growing up in his home country.
2. He has been able to identify his goals within therapy, with some practical adjustments suggested by his therapist.
3. He has further been able to fold back into his practice of meditation and grounding in a more personalized way, which has been a great resource to him in terms of emotional regulation. As a consequence, he has been able to find more acceptance within, identify his problem points, and promptly started working on them (all processes facilitated by therapeutic interventions mentioned above).
4. The sense of self-acceptance is also coming up with a sense of accountability that has allowed for him to reflect upon his actions and their consequences from a more neutral perspective that allows him to think about the future in a healthy and hopeful manner.