What is ‘moral injury’ and how do I work with it?
Usually, moral injury is defined as the profound psychological distress that can arise after perpetrating, failing to prevent, or...
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murrayptsd
- Jan 18
- 5 min
Should I do imaginal reliving or narrative writing when working on my client’s trauma memories?
Our thinking on this topic, and that of the OxCADAT team run by Anke Ehlers and David Clark, has evolved over the years. Imaginal...
100 views
murrayptsd
- Jan 11
- 4 min
My client has panic attacks as well as PTSD. What should I do?
Lots of people with PTSD also experience panic attacks. If they only have panic attacks in response to trauma reminders or when the...
86 views
murrayptsd
- Jan 3
- 4 min
How do I address thoughts of being “a loser” that stop my client from using treatment techniques?
The therapist who suggested this FAQ told us how thoughts like “I’m a loser/weak for needing these techniques” were preventing their...
228 views
murrayptsd
- Dec 20, 2022
- 4 min
How do I protect against vicarious traumatisation when working from home?
The COVID pandemic led many of us to start offering PTSD therapy online from our homes. For many of us, this arrangement has continued at...
69 views
murrayptsd
- Dec 13, 2022
- 5 min
Should we teach our clients grounding techniques for them to use during reliving?
In short – sometimes! It really depends on whether an individual client is dissociating when they access the trauma memory. If they have...
172 views
sharifelleithy
- Oct 25, 2022
- 4 min
My client became sexually aroused when reliving abuse memories in session – how should I respond?
When reliving distressing and aversive traumatic memories in therapy, it is entirely normal for people to experience strong physiological...
465 views
sharifelleithy
- Oct 11, 2022
- 6 min
How do I help my client reduce their PTSD hypervigilance?
Feeling on edge, being extra-aware and looking out for potential dangers is a core symptom of PTSD. People who have been traumatised are...
165 views
sharifelleithy
- Oct 4, 2022
- 5 min
My client froze during their trauma and feels really ashamed of this. How do I help?
Freezing during a trauma is a common reaction – up to 70% of survivors report feeling frozen during a sexual assault, for example. Often...
139 views
murrayptsd
- Sep 27, 2022
- 4 min
My client’s trauma memories are from early childhood and are unclear. How do I use reliving?
Memories formed very early in life are often unclear or fragmentary, not least because our autobiographical memory system is still...
223 views
murrayptsd
- Sep 20, 2022
- 3 min
As a PTSD therapist, is it okay to show my emotions in sessions?
Therapist are people, not robots. Especially when working with PTSD, we hear some very distressing things and it is a normal, human...
223 views
murrayptsd
- Sep 13, 2022
- 4 min
How should I work with PTSD alongside chronic pain?
The experience of pain can interact with PTSD in several ways. Some clients experience pain relating to physical injuries caused by the...
143 views
murrayptsd
- Sep 7, 2022
- 4 min
When doing an imagery conversation with someone who has died, what if they say something unhelpful?
Having a conversation in imagery with a person who has died is a useful technique for addressing some loss-related appraisals and dealing...
143 views
sharifelleithy
- Sep 2, 2022
- 3 min
How much alcohol use is too much for trauma-focused therapy?
Drinking alcohol is a common coping strategy for managing PTSD symptoms, often temporarily relieving stress, aiding falling asleep, and...
115 views
murrayptsd
- Aug 26, 2022
- 5 min
My client is too ashamed to talk about their trauma – how can I help?
Strongly associated with the emotion of shame is the belief that others will judge us negatively, leading to a natural desire to hide...
253 views
murrayptsd
- Aug 19, 2022
- 3 min
How do I manage the risk of vicarious traumatisation when the trauma resonates with my own life?
By including indirect, work-related, exposure to trauma (criterion A4) in the PTSD diagnosis, DSM5 formalised what many already knew -...
246 views
sharifelleithy
- Aug 8, 2022
- 3 min
My client will be giving evidence in court soon – should I offer trauma-focused treatment?
Past guidelines have tended to err on the side of caution over whether to offer psychological therapy to people who are due to give...
255 views
murrayptsd
- Jul 29, 2022
- 3 min
How do I use trigger discrimination techniques following a sexual assault trauma?
Usually with trigger discrimination, we are helping our clients to focus on the differences between ‘then’ (the trauma) and ‘now’ (the...
315 views
murrayptsd
- Jul 22, 2022
- 4 min
Are trauma-focused psychological therapies safe for pregnant women?
During a pregnancy, the health and wellbeing of the mother and unborn child are of paramount importance, so it makes sense that...
584 views
murrayptsd
- Jul 15, 2022
- 5 min
My client has gaps in their memory of the trauma – what do I do?
Gaps in trauma memories are quite common and can occur for several reasons. There may be an obvious reason, for example if your client...
342 views
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