Sieff navigates emotional healing and trauma with revealing interviews on researchers and clinicians
Emotional trauma can be described as more than just an event that is scary or painful. Sieff, a researcher, creates a conversation about the effects of scary and painful events that affect not only childhood but also grown-ups on social, physical, and mental perspectives. She attempts to paint a picture of how these events relate to the psychological and physical aspects which define human interactions. She emphasizes the causes of trauma and how the expression of traumatic emotions poses an individual challenge and trans-generational level. In her book, Sieff navigates emotional healing and trauma with revealing interviews on researchers and clinicians.
Chapter 4 of the book presents emotional trauma as a resultant effect of feeling unseen and undervalued as children (Sieff, 2015). According to the chapter, we are more capable of controlling emotions because of our ability to explore creativity and mentally constructive abilities. However, Chapter 7 suggests that psychological safety is experienced by individuals with emotional security traits such as compassion. Developing in an environment that encourages emotional growth helps create restrictions in behavior and mindful emotions that influence relationships. Chapter 11, on the other hand, explores trauma through perspectives of mental, physical, and emotional fears. From this chapter, we understand how traumatic experiences can help us understand our unconscious fears.
These conclusions are drawn directly or indirectly relate to ecological model concepts. Sieff establishes that an individual’s environment is essential in trying to understand and heal emotional trauma. An individual’s microsystem, for instance, is the immediate environment that will play an essential role in the social interaction of an individual with the immediate environment, which is a critical ingredient in understanding emotional trauma if it occurs. The mesosystem will equally be impacted by the interaction of an individual’s microsystem during traumatic events for positive outcomes in healing traumatic experiences. As a social worker, I intend to draw and impart guidance by being attentive to need. I will also attempt to address the belief of inadequacy by encouraging the acknowledgment of inner-fears to shape relationships.
Mental health has always been a primary concern for my family of origin. As a result, the growth approach taken enabled me to gain a healthy self- esteem. Various family therapy was conducted instead of focusing on only one member of my family affected by mental illness. Therapy was congruent as it fostered an excellent therapeutic relationship during active engagement sessions with the therapist. Additionally, the positively directional concept of therapy helped my family maintain focus on healthy growth. I developed communication habits that allowed me to be selfless and helpful in my family. This has helped social service as I can effectively communicate, reason, and avoid unnecessary conflict with people, especially those showing signs of trauma.
Showing more concern to individual needs is perhaps one of the reasons I have developed into a leveler. I am more conscious of myself in activities and cognitive abilities that are effective for social work. However, I find myself bothered by numerous challenges, such as being considered blunt and too straightforward because of my efforts to maintain self-authenticity.
Resilience is a swift process of adaptation to traumatic events without returning to their initial state (Norris et al., 2009). Unlike resiliency, therapy is focused more on building positive qualities. In trying to cope with traumatic events, therapy uses dialogue to demonstrate the strength of the traumatized individual. This focus on strengths is sometimes perceived as resilience, although it lacks the element of swift adaptation. However, cognitive therapy has replaced resilience in people’s minds as it is viewed as a precursor to resilience. This means that therapy is exercised to focus not only on treatment but to help a traumatized individual maintain a personal referencing guide when faced with challenges. However, one notable barrier to implanting resilience strategies is that an individual, if not consistently monitored, may revert to their old self as a result of pressure or trigger by the same or different traumatizing events. As a social worker, I will implement the strategy of using assessment tools to introduce and impart resilience to clients. Specifically, I will ask my clients to describe their traumatizing experiences that they have tried to overcome on their own to give me knowledge of how my clients view themselves.