Counseling and Education about Trauma

Trauma counseling, or psychoeducation, is usually provided to individuals or groups after a traumatic event such as a natural disaster or serious traffic accident. Such counseling is an educational intervention and an important aspect of trauma therapy. It primarily describes the information provided by clinicians during the ongoing process of psychotherapy and can be offered either verbally or through written material. In the digital age, it has become common for clients to use the Internet to seek information concerning their problems. Many websites offer valuable information in a self-help format that is informative and helpful. Information gained in this manner can be viewed as psychoeducation.

When used in psychotherapy, psychoeducation is presented relatively early in treatment although it can be helpful throughout the therapy process. For example, as the client addresses traumatic material later in treatment, he or she may benefit from additional information that normalizes reactions and that provides informational understanding. Psychoeducation can be used in both individual treatment and group formats with a small number of people with similar trauma histories who can benefit from factual information about a traumatic event. Psychoeducation must always be individualized for a particular individual or group.

The educational process is always embedded in the therapeutic context, but it is more easily integrated into a client's understanding when it is directly relevant to the client's experience. When psycho-education is provided in this manner, the therapist is better able to monitor the client's responses to the material and to clear up any misunderstandings that might arise. Psychoeducation does not replace psychotherapy, but competent psychotherapists are able to maintain a correct balance of content and process. They use psychoeducation as an integral part of the therapeutic process but are attuned to the client's clinical issues.

In psychoeducation with trauma victims, the therapist provides information through verbal discussions, handouts, or books. The information provided through psychoeducation tools prepares clients for symptoms that arise in the future; it is an important empowering component of recovery from trauma. Psychoeducation about the long-term effects of traumatic experience empowers trauma survivors by making their symptoms comprehensible and manageable; it validates their experience and explains uncontrollable responses, while at the same time providing coping skills to effectively manage distress. Psychoeducation allows the unbearable to become bearable by assisting survivors in developing self-compassion, self-understanding, and emotional self-mastery of the traumatic event. Through psychoeducation, clients often learn about symptoms before they occur. Clinicians who predict trauma reactions and prepare clients to expect them can significantly reduce posttrauma anxiety among trauma survivors. Additionally, successfully predicting potential traumatic symptoms enhances the overall credibility of the therapist, especially when symptoms are presented as a normal reaction to stress and trauma. It is important to provide clients with a nonpathologizing analysis of symptoms and what they mean and/or do not mean. Awareness and understanding of trauma reactions is an important first step toward coping and recovery.

Counseling and education about the physical reactions to a traumatic event, such as mood instability, flashbacks, memory problems, and depression, allows clients to view their symptoms not as personal weaknesses or failures but normal reactions to stressful events. Trauma survivors are best served when they understand that symptoms such as dissociation or aggression developed in the context of a traumatic event may have been initially adaptive in a traumatic situation; it allows them to better accept their reactions and to view their behaviors as changeable. While general information on trauma and violence may reduce a client's sense of victimization, it may also overestimate the danger in the environment and could lead to an increase in fear.

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