Trauma is a situation that negatively affects an individual's life, leaves permanent effects, causes anxiety and fear, stress and helplessness. Traumatic events affect the individual cognitively and sensory/affectively. The reason why the events experienced are felt so intensely and are considered extraordinary is that the negative event experienced by the person is severe and he cannot cope. Traumatic events can also occur due to sad events that happen to important people in an individual's life. Negative situations such as natural disasters, work accidents, traffic accidents, unexpected loss of a close person or pet, wars, unexpected diseases, witnessing an atrocity, and harassment can be given as examples of traumatic events. Individuals who have experienced trauma may experience sleep disorders, changes in eating patterns, frequent remembrance of the negative event and nightmares, feelings of helplessness, regret, unhappiness, worthlessness, and behaviors such as avoiding places, people, and situations that remind them of the event. Examples of possible psychological problems associated with trauma include depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders. Mourning is one of the problems that has something in common with and is linked to trauma.
Mourning is a difficult process that occurs as a result of the loss of an item, a person, a pet or a situation that has an important place in an individual's life. Throughout their lives, people encounter events that challenge them and have difficulty coping with them. Loss is one of the issues that individuals have difficulty coping with in their lives. Of all the various losses, the most difficult to deal with is the death of a valuable, important person or pet. Every individual goes through a difficult process in different dimensions and for different periods of time after the losses they experience. Even though people experience these processes differently, they react similarly.
Mourning is the universal and natural reaction experienced by an individual as a result of losing an important person in his or her life or a pet. The characteristics of the mourning process vary from culture to culture. Every culture has its own normal reactions and durations regarding grief. During the mourning process, reactions reduce their effects over time. If the mourning is longer than it should be If it cannot be ended after a long time and the symptoms continue at the same level, this may be a sign that it has turned into traumatic grief. The word trauma in the concept of traumatic grief indicates how traumatic the loss can be for individuals. Thus, the concept of traumatic grief refers to both the pathological state of mourning and the severe effects of losses on the individual.
There are various types of psychotherapy used to treat trauma and grief. One of the most effective methods is "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing" (EMDR), which is a psychotherapy method and has been translated into Turkish as "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing". During the therapy process, negative emotions and information from the memories in our minds are reprocessed.
EMDR therapy helps to reduce and neutralize the disturbing effects of negative events and emotions experienced by the person. Thus, the negative emotions experienced occupy the individual's mind and begin to cause no further harm to the person. The important thing in this therapy is to neutralize the memories and emotions that disturb the individual. EMDR is widely studied on issues such as trauma and grief. Apart from trauma and grief, depression, developmental disorders, psychosomatic disorders; It can also be used to control emotions such as fear, helplessness, anger and sadness. Neutralizing negative emotions does not mean erasing trigger memories. After therapy, memories are remembered, but not with the negative emotions and thoughts associated with that memory.
EMDR therapy is effective for individuals who have difficulties with trauma and grief. The psychotherapy method applied with bidirectional stimuli is effective in eliminating physiological and psychological problems that occur as a result of trauma in the brain.
Another most commonly used therapy approach to trauma and grief issues is cognitive behavioral therapies. Although Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is generally applied individually, productive results have recently been obtained from group applications. CBT has techniques such as exposure therapies, cognitive restructuring, systematic desensitization, social skills training, relaxation training, and self-monitoring. CBT searches for emotions, thoughts, and behaviors It examines the relationship between the two and focuses on how they affect each other. It is intended to change negative thoughts and symptoms. Psychotherapists can use some of the above-mentioned techniques to reduce violent, frequently recurring, unfounded thoughts and turn them into positive ones. These techniques help the individual change his thoughts about his traumatic memories and gain the ability to cope with them.
Trauma and grief are problems that should be taken seriously, and help should be sought from experts in this field for treatment.
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