Trauma Treatment

Traumatic experiences can continue to influence how we respond to situations long after the original event has passed. A sound, a place, an interaction, a sensation, or sometimes something we cannot consciously identify may trigger fear, anxiety, anger, distress, or a powerful physical reaction even when we are presently safe.

Trauma can affect people in many different ways, and established approaches to trauma treatment include trauma-focused psychotherapies and, when appropriate, medical or psychiatric care. The type of support that is appropriate depends on the individual, their symptoms, history, circumstances, and needs.

Emotional Resolution® (EmRes®) offers a complementary, body-centered approach to recurring emotional responses, including some that may be associated with past difficult or traumatic experiences.

Trauma, Emotions, and the Body

An emotional response is not experienced only through thoughts and memories. It also involves changes throughout the body.

Fear or distress may be accompanied by constriction in the chest or throat, changes in breathing or heart rate, trembling, sensations in the abdomen, muscular tension, heat, pressure, or other internal sensations.

The perception of signals originating from within the body is known as interoception, and it plays an important role in emotional experience.

EmRes works directly with this sensory dimension of emotion.

Working Without Revisiting the Traumatic Story

A distinctive aspect of Emotional Resolution® is that the person does not necessarily need to describe, analyze, or deliberately revisit the events associated with an emotional difficulty.

Instead, EmRes focuses on the physical sensations that arise when the emotional response is activated.

Through a process called Viscero-Somatic Quieting™, attention is gently directed toward these internal bodily sensations without attempting to interpret, suppress, control, or change them. The sensory experience is allowed to unfold naturally as sensations evolve and subside.

When this process reaches completion, the recurring emotional response associated with a particular trigger may lose some or all of its automatic intensity.

The aim is not to erase memories or replace “negative” emotions with positive ones. Difficult experiences remain part of a person's history. Emotional Resolution® instead focuses on the involuntary emotional response that can continue to be activated in the present.

Emotional Resolution® and Trauma-Informed Care

Working with trauma requires particular care. Emotional Resolution® should not be understood as a replacement for trauma-focused psychotherapy, psychiatric care, medical treatment, or other professional support when these are needed.

The Emotional Health Institute trains practitioners to use EmRes within the appropriate boundaries of their professional roles and emphasizes an approach that does not require people to disclose or repeatedly recount traumatic experiences in order to work with the emotional response.

For individuals experiencing severe or persistent trauma-related symptoms, PTSD, dissociation, thoughts of self-harm, or other significant mental health concerns, evaluation and support from an appropriately licensed healthcare or mental health professional are important.