Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
The toxic nature of trauma can make it an overwhelming area of work. This book by a recognised expert adopts a systemic perspective, focusing on the individual in context. Very positively, it shows how every level of relationship can contribute to healing and that the meaning of traumatic experiences can be 'unfrozen' and revisited over time.
Gerrilyn Smith is a Clinical Psychologist and Systemic Psychotherapist.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Title | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| Contents | vii | ||
| Preface | xi | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| PART 1 The Gateway to Practice | 5 | ||
| 1 Diagnostic Labels Across the Life Span | 7 | ||
| Introduction | 7 | ||
| Psychiatric diagnostic labels | 7 | ||
| Stigmatisation | 8 | ||
| Post traumatic stress disorder – the diagnostic category | 9 | ||
| DSM criteria | 13 | ||
| Systemic perspectives on trauma | 17 | ||
| Critical ideas regarding PTSD | 18 | ||
| Systemic thinking and diagnostic labels | 21 | ||
| Transgenerational transmission | 22 | ||
| Mentalisation and trauma | 25 | ||
| Neurobiological ideas | 25 | ||
| Life-cycle issues | 26 | ||
| Diagnostic labels and contexts | 27 | ||
| Conclusion | 28 | ||
| 2 Resiliencies Across the Life Span | 29 | ||
| Introduction | 29 | ||
| Theoretical overview | 29 | ||
| Trauma as a crucible for resilient identities | 31 | ||
| Individual neurobiological context | 32 | ||
| Resilience and individual beliefs | 35 | ||
| Secret shameful identities | 37 | ||
| Spirituality | 39 | ||
| Family stories of resilience | 40 | ||
| Resilience and community action | 45 | ||
| Conclusion | 48 | ||
| PART 2 The Field of Practice | 51 | ||
| 3 Engagement and Creating a Safe Context | 53 | ||
| Introduction | 53 | ||
| Engagement | 53 | ||
| The client's journey into therapy | 55 | ||
| Making use of symptoms | 55 | ||
| Understanding the system's initial position | 56 | ||
| Establishing a safe context | 58 | ||
| Enabling trauma narratives to be told | 60 | ||
| Safe space in sessions | 62 | ||
| Safe pace in sessions | 63 | ||
| Working with sub-systems | 63 | ||
| Feeling unsafe or threatened | 66 | ||
| From monologue to dialogue | 69 | ||
| Affect regulation in sessions | 69 | ||
| Safety issues in sessions | 72 | ||
| Dissociative responses in sessions | 73 | ||
| Conclusion | 74 | ||
| 4 Stories We Tell Ourselves | 75 | ||
| Introduction | 75 | ||
| The function of stories | 75 | ||
| Naming traumatic experience | 76 | ||
| False memories | 79 | ||
| Developing and evolving narratives | 79 | ||
| Using multiple perspectives | 80 | ||
| Stories of denial | 83 | ||
| Stories of witnessing | 84 | ||
| Stories of minimisation | 87 | ||
| Stories of forgiveness | 88 | ||
| Stories to rationalise difficult choices | 90 | ||
| Stories over generations – linking past to future | 91 | ||
| Stories of resilience and resistance | 95 | ||
| Identifying identity | 96 | ||
| Conclusion | 98 | ||
| 5 Working Systemically with PTSD Symptoms | 99 | ||
| Introduction | 99 | ||
| Systemic therapists and symptoms | 100 | ||
| Common symptoms associated with PTSD | 101 | ||
| Interventions aimed at increasing resilience | 102 | ||
| Flashbacks and intrusive thoughts | 104 | ||
| Avoidance | 109 | ||
| Nightmares and night terrors | 111 | ||
| Re-enactments | 112 | ||
| Hyperarousal and hypervigilance | 118 | ||
| Catastrophic disconnection: self harm, psychosis and suicide attempts | 120 | ||
| Conclusion | 121 | ||
| PART 3 The Practice Neighbourhood | 123 | ||
| 6 Working with Family, Friends and Community | 125 | ||
| Introduction | 125 | ||
| Public and private disclosure | 125 | ||
| Acknowledgement | 127 | ||
| Family perspectives on shared traumatic experience | 128 | ||
| Involving others in treatment | 131 | ||
| Wider systems involvement | 134 | ||
| Community strategies | 135 | ||
| Spiritual practice | 136 | ||
| Collective narratives | 138 | ||
| Public and private ritual | 139 | ||
| Apologies and acts of reparation | 144 | ||
| Conclusion | 146 | ||
| 7 Supervision in Trauma Work | 147 | ||
| Introduction | 147 | ||
| Role of supervision | 147 | ||
| Trauma-specific supervision issues | 149 | ||
| Vicarious traumatisation | 150 | ||
| Intrusive flashbacks not from your experience | 152 | ||
| Shame and other unacceptable feelings | 152 | ||
| Clinicians' beliefs about the therapeutic process | 155 | ||
| What's not in the manual | 155 | ||
| Peer group supervision | 156 | ||
| When the personal and the professional collide | 158 | ||
| Life-cycle issues | 161 | ||
| Overwhelmed organisations | 162 | ||
| Supervision as safe space for exploring unsafe issues | 163 | ||
| Supervision as part of self care | 164 | ||
| Conclusion | 165 | ||
| Glossary | 166 | ||
| References | 171 | ||
| Index | 185 |