Bridget Beresford MA
Progressive Counselling
Professional Counselling & Psychotherapy
Trauma Responses
I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. I work supporting individuals with a variety of issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), as well as other trauma response coping strategies, which may have developed into self-harming behaviours.
These include the misuse of drugs and alcohol, disordered eating, cutting, negative self-image, self-destructive or risky behaviours and many more. These are often very 'normal' responses to 'abnormal' or traumatic experiences. It is never about 'what is wrong with you' and everything about 'what has happened to you'.
I, alongside many others, believe that trauma is stored in the body and physical pain, tension and the susceptibility to develop medical conditions can be the result of unexplored and unresolved traumas.
The prefrontal cortex is the rational part of the brain where processing and reasoning occurs. When we detect danger, the part of the brain called the amygdala takes over, working instinctively and automatically to keep us safe. During a traumatic event, we may enter into fight, flight, freeze, fawn, flop, faint or fix responses. Our logical brains might think we should fight or scream or run, but our instinctive brains are at this moment, in control of our bodies, and we may become frozen. What is good for short term, physical survival isn't always necessarily good for long term, well-being and mental health.
Let's explore together what has prompted these responses in you and discover what is informing the way you are thinking, feeling and behaving.
"It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief is found, or hopes to be found, in the drug or the addictive behaviour." Gabor Mate.