When talking becomes healing feelings

My clients are mostly trauma survivors – survivors of childhood, military, family or sexual trauma – or they are adults who live with neurodiversity, chiefly autism traits. Indeed, many people arrive in my office living with both neurodiversity and a history of trauma.

Trauma survivors and people with autistic traits typically display at least some of a similar range of behaviours. Consequently, most people I see have a few difficulties at the same time, which might include problems such as:

• anxiety
• anger management
• catastrophising
• hypervigilance
• intrusive thoughts
• panic attacks
• poor sleep
• procrastination
• relationships
• substance use

These symptoms are liable to keep happening until the underlying emotional response to the trauma – usually fear, anger or anxiety in some form – is named and processed. Until then, it’s hard to feel safe in an uncertain world.