The Gift of Providing Therapy

By: Dr. Denise Renye

Each day I work with people in a variety of ways – traditional talk therapy, sex therapy, sexology, yoga therapy, psychedelic integration, or a mix of the aforementioned. However, regardless or the modality, I am aware of the gift I receive by working with people. I learn a great deal from each and every person and I’m honored they trust me, that they choose to work with me.

The therapeutic relationship is a special one. It’s unique, co-created, and profound. The relationship itself allows for the potential of great healing, but the relationship goes both ways. It’s not only that the patient or client experiences transformation – I do as well. To have the honor of witnessing and walking alongside a person as they make a deep dive in the underworld, as they confront their shadow and untangle their trauma is a privilege.

That work, of truly looking at the self with the support of another human being, takes courage. It’s not an easy task. Trauma especially affects a person in a multitude of ways. Trauma is defined as anytime a person’s nervous system is overwhelmed and it impacts the person’s ability to cope on a physical as well as emotional/spiritual level. That could be from war, a car accident, abuse (sexual, physical, verbal, financial, or emotional), a sudden death or experiencing a near-death of your own or someone important to you, miscarriage, repeated childhood neglect, poverty and class differences, racism, etc. This can be a one-time incident or it can be multiple incidents over a period of time.  

Trauma is intricate, complex, and wide-ranging. It affects the brain biochemically, as evidenced by numerous studies. For instance, Dr. J. Douglas Bremner found trauma can be associated with lasting changes in the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex.

The brain doesn’t operate in isolation so that also means trauma affects cortisol and norepinephrine responses to subsequent stressors. In other words, if you’ve experienced trauma in the past, your brain and body are primed for action in the future. They are quick to respond to stress and will likely have an exaggerated response. That’s not to say the stressor isn’t real, that your response isn’t valid. On the contrary, stress is stress, but your body and brain are more sensitive when compared with someone who doesn’t have trauma in their history.

Also, as previously mentioned, trauma lives in the body, so this somatic response makes sense. Rationally, you may understand that it’s safe for you to cross the street at a particular intersection. But somatically, if you were hit by a car at that intersection, it’s likely your body will launch into a stress response. That’s what happens with trauma.

Trauma is also more than incident specific (i.e., your heart racing when you cross a certain intersection). Trauma can also be ever-present and is associated with an increased risk of certain diseases. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found in 2018 that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is linked to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, and celiac disease. The researchers didn’t establish PTSD as the cause, but I think we’re swiftly approaching that point.  

Furthermore, trauma affects the emotional and psychological self. The ramifications of this can often be seen most potently through intimate relationship dynamics. In other words, how a person reacts and responds in intimate relationships. In psychology, this is often framed as insecure attachment. What that means is a person may feel anxious that their partner will leave or that they’ll do something wrong to “push the partner away.” It can also be the reverse – craving intimacy but being scared of it. Whenever the person who has experienced trauma moves toward closeness with a partner, they may pull back because they’re scared of being hurt or may avoid intimacy altogether.

Trauma not only affects the mind and body, it also affects a person spiritually – whether they recognize that aspect of themselves or not. Trauma may disconnect them with something greater than themselves, like the Earth. That disconnect may result in ravaging the planet or not caring about pollution, for instance. Or that spiritual disconnection could result in addiction, whether that’s to a drug, a substance, or a behavior. Binge-watching TV counts as an addiction. So does playing video games incessantly. Continuing to be attracted to toxic relationships? Also a sign of trauma. Codependency or codependent tendencies? That too. 

Trauma seeps into every aspect of life so when someone takes action to say, “I’m not interested in living this way. I want to try something different,” they are incredibly brave. Being the person to walk that path when them, supporting them as they become more themselves, is truly a gift.  

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References

Bremner, J. Douglas. “Traumatic stress: Effects on the brain.” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. December 2006;8(4):445-461. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/

Song, PhD, Dr. Huan; Fang, PhD, Dr. Fang; Tomasson, PhD, Dr. Gunnar, et al. “Association of Stress-Related Disorders with Subsequent Autoimmune Disease.” Journal of the American Medical Association. June 2018;319(23):2388-2400. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2685155