Michael Dadson On Trauma Counselling and The Importance of Finding The Right Therapist
Dr. Michael Dadson emphasizes, ”In order to effectively resolve trauma, it is important to seek a trauma informed therapist”.
Dr. Dadson emphasizes:
- When a clinician is trauma informed, it means they are informed about, what makes traumatic stress distinctive from other stress, what are common reactions to traumatic stress. A trained trauma informed clinician will to know when traumatic stress leads to post traumatic stress disorder and how-to precise interventions can disrupt that outcome.
A trauma informed therapist is aware of the various elements of trauma including recognizing the characteristics of traumatic stress such as the psychologically impact, the impact on your body, and neurologically.
Traumatic stress activates the survival defences, because inherently traumatic stress is a life-threatening event. This perception that life is under threat gives rise to predictable defences that are subconsciously activated. When these defensive responses fail to resolve after over thirty days a person can be assessed with PTSD.
Over several decades, Dr. Michael Dadson was at the forefront of researching and developing and competencies and effective treatment programs for trauma.
As a former board member of the University of British Columbia’s Centre of Group Therapy and Trauma, the International Society of Trauma and Dissociation, and the Clinical Director for Veterans Transition Network, Mike Dadson was responsible for creating a national team of psychologists and therapists trained in the recovery of trauma and group therapy as well as creating the educational model to train psychologists and counselors in group therapy and trauma on a global scale.
To read more on trauma follow the link to Dr. Mike Dadson’s main trauma page.
To book an appointment with Dr. Michael Dadson at his clinic Gentle Currents Therapy in Langley, British Columbia, or to receive a phone consultation click here
Michael Dadson comments:
- As a trauma informed therapist, I can use interventions that can help resolve or calm down the response system so that those defensive responses subside, and the trauma memory becomes a memory that’s no longer alive. This means a memory about a past experience, that can be activated and brought into the present in with a felt sense of calm, comfort and safety with skilled, guidance and support. The goal is to resolve a traumatic memory so that becomes like any other memory. It is no longer an intrusive memory or a memory that haunts the person or comes in at unwelcome times in places, overwhelming the system again, or be troubling and activate the various defensive systems.
Dr. Michael Dadson-The Importance of Finding the Right Therapist
5 Reasons to Seek Trauma Counselling
Dr. Mike Dadson identifies when it is critical to seek counseling when you are affected by a traumatic incident or you are suffering from PTSD:
- When there’s something terrible that’s happened in your life either in the past, or even in the present, that would be impeding your growth and development. When you have difficulty being able to adjust or to cope with a particularly invasive or difficult life circumstance.
- When you find yourself engaging in a pattern of unhealthy coping behaviours (see stress section above).
- A PTSD experience either past or present. This could be an overwhelming encounter with a life-threatening traumatic experience, or it could be with a past experience that is still having a highly impactful stress on their lives. PTSD often involves one or more incidences where a person feels their life or well-being is threatened. Childhood trauma, physical, sexual, or verbal abuse can result in trauma and trigger PTSD which can exacerbate all of the above issues.
- You find you are overcome with depression, panic attacks or anxiety.
- You are depressed for more than a few weeks or have been exposed to acute stress for more than a few weeks.
