Quote

Here is another quote from a recent EMDR Summit presentation on Making Sense of Psychosis in AIP-Informed Case Conceptualization with Paul Miller, MD

“Over the last twenty years there has been a growing body of research showing that many people with psychosis have suffered from traumatic experiences. Mueser (1989) reported that in a population of psychotic patients, nearly everybody (98%) had experienced trauma, while in the case history, only seldom (2%) was this acknowledged and reported.”

I share this because sometimes I hear the complaint that everything is trauma now and I think there is some truth in this. We are now finally seeing and acknowledging that trauma is intimately interwoven with many of the disorders and symptoms that show up in our offices.

Traumatic incidences can trigger a psychotic disorder, a depressive disorder, or a manic episode. There are plenty of traumatic experiences in early life that predispose people to have negative views of self, other and the world as well as unhealthy adaptations to managing things in their life, all of which can contribute to the development of later mental health disorders.

There is much trauma occurring in our unhealthy society and across the globe that we are being exposed to in unprecedented amounts. The pain is real, the dysfunction is real.