‘Overcoming Past Trauma’ by Christian John Liberati

What is the meaning of suffering?  Why is life so challenging at the best of times, let alone when the storms are happening?  Is there a reason for this struggle?  I love Dr M Scott Peck’s intro to his seminal book ‘The Road Less Travelled’ which I devoured many years ago on my own self-discovery journey.  It reads; ‘Life is difficult.  This is one of the greatest truths.  The first of the four noble truths taught by Buddha which was ‘Life is suffering’.   Peck goes on to explain that once we really understand and accept this truth, we can truly transcend it.  Life is then no longer so difficult.  It is in our acceptance of this truth that we can overcome suffering (Peck, 1978).

I believe that this is a major understanding that we require to reach out to a counsellor to begin counselling.  It takes courage to accept our own pain and feelings of being lost and confused.  It takes courage to ask for help from a trained professional counsellor.  People will make many accuses to not do so.  That is why perhaps Scott Peck termed it ‘The Road Less Travelled’ back in 1978.   Fortunately therapy and mental health issues are not such a taboo subject as they were back in the day.  Back then no one spoke about their mental health, we all just pretended that we were doing ’ok’.  That’s tough, because it felt that you were the only one with any issues because no one else spoke about theirs.  Going to see a therapist was not so common, at least it seemed so, and it took extra courage.  

As a counsellor I have counselled many people with a variety of emotional issues.  Carl Rogers who developed the Person Centred approach which was influential on most therapists, spoke in his book ‘Way Of Being’ that he felt highly honoured to be able to hear the many various stories of the his clients (Rogers,1985).  I agree with Rogers and I feel the same way.  Rodgers truly understood the importance of empathic listening, and the importance of the client therapist relationship.

World famous analyst Carl Jung spoke of the ‘wounded healer’ as a positive attribute to a therapist’s tool kit bag.  After all, the best person for example who is most efficient at helping an alcoholic is a reformed alcoholic.  They have the wisdom, know the challenges, and most of all have the experience to help someone to walk through the recovery process.

In 1951, Jung first used the term wounded healer.  Jung believed that disease of the soul could be the best possible form of training for a healer.  In a book published days before his death Jung wrote that only a wounded physician could heal effectively.  ‘The analyst must go on learning endlessly…. It is his/her own hurt that gives measure of their power to heal.  This, and nothing else, is the meaning of the Greek myth of the wounded physician’. (Carl Yung, CW 16, para. 239)

Counsellors require thorough professional training and coaching.  However, it is in the counsellors own life experiences that can provide excellent training. When they have been able to successfully overcome their own emotional wounds, they can then utilize these highly useful experiences in their clients counselling sessions.

So what is the process of overcoming trauma?  It’s different to each client.  However, generally I see it as recognising and acknowledging the root of the trauma, then working through its elements with various techniques (in a safe, boundaried client led manner), then the client arrives at acceptance, and then eventually (if it is helpful) forgiveness. 

Unfortunately trauma can often occur in childhood, with up to 43% of children and young people experiencing some form of trauma in the US (National Centre For PTSD, 2024).  What to do?  Children are the least likely to be able to process trauma by themselves.  This only encourages them to create some kind of unconscious reaction to help them survive the trauma. This then only becomes an unconscious problem to plague them through into adulthood.  

This is where the counselling processing is often very helpful in helping to resolve the past trauma.  However, the client needs to want to overcome the trauma, and to be fully active in the counselling process.  Clients really benefit from being enthusiastic and pro-active with the therapeutic process, then the therapeutic results are much more positive.

‘What we resist persists’, and ‘you can’t heal what you can’t feel’, are common sayings around healing past issues.  This is where the experience and professional training of a counsellor can help the client to process past issues, to heal and to ‘move on into life’.

Buddhism has an interesting existential view of pain and suffering, recognising that suffering can often times be the most cathartic and life enhancing experience in one’s own life.  Through challenging situations people are literally forced to adapt and grow, to develop and move on in life.  I believe that if we all look at our own past challenges and sufferings most of us would agree with this, seeing the positive changes we had to make.  I definitely agree with this viewpoint.

I personally am inspired by the great pioneers of the therapeutic world, such as Carl Jung, Carl Rodgers, Fritz & Laura Perls, Eric Berne etc..  I appreciate how Carl Jung understood how dreams often contain messages from the deep unconscious self, which can be invaluable in counselling sessions.  I am also fascinated by how certain feelings can be stored in the unconscious self, that manifest in the workings of unconscious actions and speech such as; with projection, passive anger, childlike behaviour, slip of the tongue etc.

I thought about the ‘Wolf and the Dog’ story (see below), and yes the Wolf suffers hunger on some days, but he is completely free and independent, strong and moving into life.  The dog however is unconsciously stuck in his prison that he believes is good for him, as he isn’t aware of any other way of being.   

‘A famished wolf meets a well-fed dog and compliments him on his sleek appearance. The dog describes his life of ease and invites the wolf to join him. As they go on their way, the wolf asks why the fur about the dog's neck is worn away. He replies that it is merely caused by the collar he has to wear at home. The wolf then leaves him, declaring that a full belly is a poor price to pay for liberty’.

It’s actually natural and healthy to fast on some days, to allow the body to cleanse itself and heal.  Our ancient hunter gatherer ancestors did exactly this, and it’s in our collective consciousness to do so. I do an 8/16 hour fast two days a week, which I really appreciate for my body, mind and soul.   So to be free also means to suffer, but it is far less suffering than being caught in an unconscious story from the past.

I personally feel that there is a lot of hope for clients to resolve their past trauma in a counselling environment.  It’s important to have a positive client/therapist connection, for the client to be pro-active in the process, for the counsellor to be confident, courageous and skilled, with life experiences in their tool kit bag where they have successfully overcome their own issues and are able to help clients do the same.