Rebuilding trust after a traumatic experience

Five years after a traumatic experience she still could not sit alone in a closed room with any man. That single situation had gradually destroyed most of her relationships. Her sleep was full of sudden awakenings and returning to work had become almost impossible.

The first four months did not touch the memory at all. We taught her to respond to involuntary arousal and rebuilt her psychological sense of safety. Without that step, nothing else works.

Processing with EMDR followed at a pace she could tolerate, and we worked on relationships alongside it, because trauma is not only a memory — it also builds a pattern of relating.

She returned to work in month seven, on reduced hours. By month fourteen she said that not everything was easy, but her life no longer turned around avoidance and she could decide where to go and where not to.