Why Trauma is more directive than talking therapy

Trauma therapy is naturally more directive than counselling because most trauma survivor’s experience overwhelming emotions and sensations when revisiting trauma memories.

A more directive approach allows:

1. Safety and Structure: Trauma survivors may experience overwhelming emotions and sensations when revisiting traumatic memories. Directiveness in trauma therapy provides a sense of safety and structure, helping clients feel more secure in navigating their experiences.
2. Focus and Clarity: Trauma therapy often involves addressing specific traumatic events and their associated emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations. Directives here help to the trauma therapy session on these targeted areas, providing clarity for both the therapist and the client.
3. Empowerment: Directives in trauma therapy can empower our clients by providing them with specific tasks or exercises to address their trauma. This can help our clients to feel more in control of their healing process, fostering a sense of agency and self-efficacy.
4. Skill Building and Coping Strategies : Trauma therapy often involves teaching our clients coping skills and strategies to manage distressing symptoms related to their trauma. Directives can facilitate skill-building by providing opportunities for our clients to practice these techniques in-session and apply them outside of therapy.
5. Boundaries and Limits: Directiveness in trauma therapy can help establish boundaries and limits around the exploration of traumatic material. This is crucial for ensuring that trauma therapy proceeds at a pace that is manageable and safe for our clients.
6. Time-Limited Interventions: Some trauma therapy modalities, such as Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), involves structured, time-limited interventions that follow specific protocols. Directives are integral to these modalities as they guide the therapeutic process within the framework of the chosen intervention.

Overall, while directive approaches may not be suitable for all clients or all phases of trauma therapy, they are highly beneficial in providing structure, focus, and support for individuals navigating the complexities of trauma recovery.