Complex Trauma

Many areas of abuse survivors' life are shaped by their traumatic experiences. Abuse survivors' cognitive and emotional re-regulation improvements are often nuanced and multifaceted.

Trauma Coaches may incorrectly identify these adjustments or changes as pathological if they are not evaluated through a trauma lens, rather than as comprehensible adaptations a person has made in order to deal with life's circumstances. Many persons who are battling addiction often have a history of abuse or trauma that has not been dealt with.

Trauma Coaches and drug use services must have a firm grasp of the complex and frequently unique coping mechanisms that individuals develop in response to severe stress.

Using a trauma perspective, we can see how childhood trauma, such as abuse and neglect, is not a one-off incident but rather a defining experience that may permanently alter a person's underlying values and beliefs. People's sense of who they are, how they relate to others, and what they think the world is like are deeply shaped by the traumas they endured as children (Harris & Fallot, 2001).

Trauma Coaches would do well to remember that abuse survivors often cannot recollect these early negative events, but rather, they are aroused or reactivated. People who have experienced prolonged maltreatment or neglect may be vulnerable to a wide range of stimuli, and a trauma-informed approach takes this into account. As an example of a potential stressor, a lack of respect for the customer is a common source of 9.

Experiencing Trauma as You Grow Up Experiences of informed safety and a lack of power and choice, which are similar to and evocative of earlier traumatic events.

To work in a trauma-informed manner, more is required of Trauma Coaches than just following a set of guidelines. In order to help someone who has experienced trauma, service providers need to have a deep familiarity with the ways in which a person's development might shift across many different areas.

Prolonged abuse and neglect in childhood may cause traumatic reactions that can have far-reaching effects later in life. Substance abuse is one coping mechanism for dealing with the overwhelming sensations and unpleasant emotions that may result from traumatic events.