Making The Body Safe Again: Treating Medical Trauma

Treating Medical Trauma

Decades of research has suggested that effective trauma treatment often involves helping the body feel safe after a traumatic event. However, with individuals who have experienced a traumatic medical procedure, such as surgery or childbirth, or have experienced complex trauma from finding a diagnosis or treating an illness or disease, the body is often a source of pain or discomfort.

For these clients, disconnecting from their bodies has been a survival tool in working through the medical system. Clients who have experienced medical trauma can often experience other mental health issues such as anxiety related to their health, grief related to their body’s functioning, and relationship issues as they struggle to feel connected to others and even to their own bodies. As the world continues to grapple physically and emotionally with the effects of a pandemic, trauma-informed therapists are uniquely poised to help clients process and recover from medical trauma.