Counselling For Abuse and Trauma
Counselling For Abuse and Trauma – The trauma of abuse or neglect of a child or adult can have life-long consequences. The physical wounds will heal but the emotional scares will last far into the future. Abuse is divided into four types: physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse and emotional abuse. Most people will suffer from one or a combination of these types. The first step to helping an abused person is firstly to recognize what the signs are.
One of the major challenges in knowing when a person is suffering abuse is that the person themselves will rarely discloses to anyone that the abuse has occurred.
When someone has been abused, they might feel alone and hopeless. After all, it is tough to manage your life and your emotions when you’re living with someone who shows such little regard for your mental and physical wellbeing. It would probably be a relief to find that there is someone available who can help you deal with these issues and make decisions that will benefit you now and in the future. A therapist can be that person, and here’s how therapy can help people who face many different types of abuse.
Offer your compassion and emotional support
One of the first things you can offer in therapy is your compassion and support. Emotional support may be something this person has lacked for a long time. Listen in a non-judgmental manor while your client talks over their problems as you discuss what has been happening in their lives and how they feel about it.
About the types of abuse
Sometimes, it helps to know more about what the different types of abuse are, why they happen, and what can occur as a result. Here are several types of abuse.
-
Emotional abuse
– When someone is being abused emotionally, they engage in behaviours that cause them psychological harm. Also called psychological abuse, this type of abuse may include criticizing, humiliating, threatening, or blaming. The abuser seeks power over the other person and gets it through intimidation and other tactics.
-
Sexual abuse
– Includes any unwanted sexual activity that someone forces on another, physically, by threatening, or by taking advantage of at a time when a person is unable to give their consent.
-
Physical abuse
– Being abused physically means that someone is intentionally hurting through bodily contact. It may include slapping, punching, kicking, or another painful contact. If a person is experiencing physical abuse, it’s critical to get help right away and get away from the danger.
-
Verbal abuse
– Most people have arguments from time to time. Still, when someone is calling a person names, verbally attacking them, ignoring them, or insisting that their perspective is the only one that matters, this is verbal abuse
When a person is involved in an abusive relationship, it might be hard to sort out what is abuse and what is normal behaviour. And it makes sense that your client would be confused. They may have a deep attachment to their abuser, and it’s hard to think that they might be doing things to hurt or control them. But understanding what is abusive is necessary before they can overcome it. As a therapist you can help your client know how to recognize a wide range of abuses that might be occurring. For example, you might be able to identify emotional abuse from any of the following categories:
- Bullying
- Threatening
- Controlling what a person wears or where they go
- Controlling their money
- Isolating them from friends and family
One thing that is common to many people who experience abuse is that sometimes they don’t recognize that what has happened to them is abuse, So even after your client has learnt to recognize the outward signs of abuse, they more than likely will need help identifying the feelings that have come up because of the abuse. As a therapist you can help with this by providing a safe environment and encouraging the client to think about what has happened and express their feelings that arise because of it.
Abuse can leave your client feeling many different distressing emotions, and it’s incredibly stressful to be in an abusive situation. That’s why we as therapists can work with the client to create new tools to help build a better emotional wellbeing for the client, things such as stress management techniques, which can make them emotionally stronger and less likely to accept the abuse in the future.
Abusers will use this abuse to take control of the person they’re abusing. After a while a person might find themselves letting them have their way without questioning it, they might even accept the hurtful words and behaviours as normal. However by learning that they can stand up for themselves in an assertive way, can improve their mental health and be better equipped to make any changes for the better.
For a person starting therapy during or after abuse, it can feel like a very overwhelming task. It’s natural for them to feel a little hesitant when their world is in such turmoil. But giving them the knowledge that they are not alone in this journey and that many people have felt the same way and have found that through therapy they have been able to put their lives back together again.
Therapy indeed has a wide range of benefits for someone who is being abused, so when a person decides it’s time to improve their situation and talk to a therapist about it then together you can help a person get their life back and rebuild it.