Treating Trauma and Loss
All human beings experience loss of some sort; indeed, “suffering is part of the divine idea” (Beecher, n.d.).
Many of us also experience trauma, which is a deeply troubling and painful experience, such as involvement in a natural disaster, combat, personal violence, or the death of a child. Sometimes people can get through the various stages of grief and ultimately move forward with life after loss or trauma. But often, it becomes too much to bear without clinical help.
While many of the counseling approaches noted above are applicable, methods that are especially appropriate for treating trauma and loss are outlined below.
CBT is frequently used to treat loss, as well as trauma resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, Prolonged Exposure Therapy was designed to treat PTSD.
With this approach, the therapist combines repeated in vivo and simulated exposure to enable the patient to experience trauma without the feared outcomes. This technique is considered by many clinicians as the best option for PTSD (Van Minnen, Harned, Zoellner, & Mills, 2012). Additionally, exposure that utilizes virtual reality headsets is also effective at treating PTSD (Powers & Emmelkamp, 2008).
Interpersonal Therapy is an additional option for those dealing with trauma and loss. Interpersonal Therapy examines symptoms related to loss through the lens of personal relationships.
Bereaved clients undergoing Interpersonal Therapy also may be guided in establishing new relationships (Wyman-Chick, 2012). Although often used to treat depression, research also has indicated that Interpersonal Therapy is a practical approach for PTSD (Rafaeli & Markowitz, 2011).
Another approach for treating loss, trauma, and PTSD is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR is based on the idea that psychological distress is the product of traumatic events that have been inappropriately processed.
The EMDR approach involves stimulating the brain’s information processing system while painful events are being recalled. Such stimulation may include eye movements, hand tapping, or listening to tones (Shapiro & Solomon, 2010). It is believed that the bilateral stimulation applied during EMDR enables the client to reprocess connections between memories and emotions.
Scientific research has indicated that the EMDR approach is valid for treating PTSD (Shapiro & Solomon, 2010).
Attending support groups is another approach that has the added benefit of creating a place in which clients are supported by those who can genuinely empathize with their feelings. Feelings of relatedness are often comforting for those who have felt isolated in their grief.
Support groups are not for everyone, as they do require the ability to interact with multiple people about painful life experiences. But for those who are ready and able to share in this way, they may enable participants to form deep bonds with others and benefit from multiple perspectives, as opposed to that of just one therapist.
Overall, these approaches only represent a few examples of counseling techniques designed to help people through stress, trauma, and loss. Various additional techniques are available (e.g., Spiritual Counseling, Hypnotherapy, Stress Inoculation Therapy, etc.) based on the client’s needs and preferences.
Approaches for Counseling Couples
A couples counselor serves as an unbiased observer of the issues impacting a couple’s relationship.
The counselor helps the clients to uncover underlying feelings such as mistrust, resentment, and pain. The couple will learn new ways of communicating and navigating areas in need of compromise.
There may also be situations in which a relationship is not salvageable (e.g., spousal abuse, serious substance use issues, etc.). In this case, the couples counselor may guide one or both clients toward the conclusion that the relationship is in such a state that counseling is not recommended.
Couples counselors work with several counseling tools and styles; for example:
- Drawing from Reality Therapy, the therapist might work with the couple regarding issues of power and control (Wubbolding, 2010).
- Interpersonal Counseling with couples emphasizes the role of relationships in affecting psychological outcomes. Systemic Therapy with couples aims to enhance connectedness and build stronger relationships (Johnson & Best, 2003).
- Narrative Counseling with couples guides clients toward improved relationships by acknowledging and adjusting their narratives (Besley, 2002).
- Existential Counseling with couples supports clients in experiencing more purposeful and meaningful lives.
- Finally, Client-Centered Counseling with couples guides clients in discovering the sources of their relationship issues.
Other couples counseling approaches not previously described include Holistic Counseling and the Gottman Method. With Holistic Counseling, couples therapists address a client’s full range of experiences and the entire being (e.g., mind, body, emotional, spiritual, and psychological).
The Gottman Method is a science-based couples therapy approach that enhances affection, respect, and admiration between couples. It takes place in three parts: the friendship system, the conflict management system, and the shared meaning system (Garanzini et al., 2017). The Gottman Method has been found to improve long-term relationship stability and satisfaction (Gottman & Gottman, 2008).
For Helping Students
Reality Therapy has been used among school counselors and educators in numerous schools worldwide (Mason & Duba, 2009).
With an emphasis on personal responsibility, Reality Therapy techniques helps to empower students with the motivation to make decisions that are consistent with their goals (Mason & Duba, 2009).
Reality Therapy applies to a wide range of student levels and issues, including conduct problems among children and career development needs among college students.
Counselors use Reality Therapy by developing respectful and trustful bonds with students and serving as advocates to help them attain their goals and acquire a greater sense of self-esteem.
Effective educational applications of Reality Therapy have been reported for treating:
- Public speaking phobia (Harris, Kemmerling, & North, 2004)
- Identity crises (Kakia, 2010)
- Bullying behavior (Madukwe et al., 2016)
Reality Therapy has also been found to improve teacher happiness (Nematzadeh & Sary, 2014), which is yet another way of improving positive student outcomes.
Additional examples of counseling techniques for students include the following:
Motivational Enhancement Therapy
Motivational Enhancement Therapy is a brief approach designed to help school counselors enhance student motivation. It has been shown to promote academic achievement (Oluwole & Olanrewaju, 2016), reduce drinking-related outcomes (LaChance, Feldstein Ewing, Bryan, & Hutchison, 2009), and reduce problematic gambling behavior (Petry, Weinstock, Morasco, & Ledgerwood, 2009).
Systemic Family Therapy
Systemic Family Therapy is designed to improve student outcomes by addressing dynamics between individual, school, and family systems. It has been shown to reduce school refusal and anxiety (Schweitzer & Ochs, 2003), improve social and emotional learning (Oberle, Domitrovich, Meyers, & Weissberg, 2016), create safer school environments (Hernández & Seem, 2004), and promote family engagement in school (Davis & Lambie, 2005).
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
School counselors use CBT to work with students to identify the thought patterns and behaviors related to their presenting problems, treating student depression (Shirk, Kaplinski, & Gudmundsen, 2008), school refusal (Heyne et al., 2011), and behavior problems (Eyberg, Nelson, & Boggs, 2008), and improving students’ psychological wellbeing (Ruini, Belaise, Brombin, Caffo, & Fava, 2006).
What our readers think
This article is good and very very helpful. But can you please throw more light on the psychodynamic for me?
Hi Mary,
Sure thing. As the article suggests, Psychodynamic Counseling is a very traditional approach as it focuses on a problem the client is experiencing (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress, PTSD) and finding ways to relieve that problem. By talking through mental processes, emotions, and circumstances, the client and the counselor work together to alleviate the symptoms and discuss ways to manage them. Ultimately, Psychodynamic Counseling teaches the client to understand the root of their emotional patterns so they can manage and cope with future issues more effectively.
I hope this helps!
Kind regards,
-Caroline | Community Manager
Very wonderful write ups. Thanks much
I love this articles especially that part, how to treat depression, anxiety and how to solve the couples or marriage problems. The reasons are my family have been through all this things. and it helps and give some points or ideas on how to deal to this articles.
It’s good and need more on the techniques of counselling
What are the different between approaches and theories?
Good day Mustapha,
Counseling approaches are guided by theory and research, both of which inform the method of practice.
Regards,
Annelé
is nice explanation wow I like it
Approaches to counselling have been simplified especially for students and any interested person, maintain the tempo please.
Good point. This article, albeit touches base on our more recognized theories, also noting in a few cases the theorist behind them (maybe a tad bit more on this), and it’s impressive the inclusion of some of the lesser utilized directly but sometimes incorporated into our clinical ‘styles’ (skill sets and perspective), however because I think a bit more explanation of the major would be helpful. And I would have noted specifically DBT in the ‘mindfulness’ reference. Just my thoughts
Hi Muhammad,
Thank you for your insightful feedback. Your perspective is truly valuable.
We appreciate your suggestion to elaborate more on the major theories and their respective theorists, as well as to specifically mention Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in the mindfulness section. It’s essential for us to strike a balance between providing an accessible overview of the topic and offering more in-depth information for those who are interested.
Based on your suggestions, we’ll explore the possibility of creating supplementary resources that delve deeper into specific theories and therapeutic techniques, which might be of interest to our readers.
Feel free to reach out if you have any other suggestions or comments, as we are continually working to improve our content and better serve our audience.
Warm regards,
Julia | Community Manager