A traumatic event is an event that involves a threat to one’s own life or body, or involves witnessing a life threatening event that someone else faces.
If you or a friend have experienced a trauma it is helpful to know what to expect. Most people will experience some of the symptoms mentioned in this list after a trauma - you are not going crazy, this is normal. It is a really good idea to seek professional trauma counselling so that these normal symptoms do not turn into PTSD - a long term and complicated reaction to trauma.
Article as it appeared in Vroukeur magazine. By Lize Maritz (Translated into English)
Exposure to trauma as a child, such as witnessing your parents ongoing violence towards each other, may have repercussions in your adult life. Most adults, however, do not associate their adult behavioural patterns with their childhood trauma. Understanding this link empowers you to make powerful changes in your life.
Article as it appeared in the Vrouekeur magazine. By Lize Maritz (Translated into English)
If your partner has been raped, it does not only change her (or his) life, it also changes yours.
Such a traumatic experience can impose great strain on a relationship, but it is possible to survive it as a couple and in fact come out of it positively. For this to happen, you need to support each other and have the support of family and friends.
Not a day passes without a traumatic event – an event that involves a threat to one’s own life or body, or involves witnessing a life threatening event that someone else faces. Such an event is way beyond the range of usual human experience; an event which would be markedly distressing to almost anyone. The critical factor seems to be the person’s cognitive construction of what has happened to them. Typically the reaction is one of fear helplessness or horror.
This course equips you with the specialised counselling skills necessary for trauma counselling.