Page 467 - Total War on PTSD

Over the course of my career, I have successfully worked with clients with various painful or limiting physical conditions, stress-related symptoms, congenital neuromuscular disorders and survivors of various kinds of trauma as well as with clients who, although comfortable, wish to expand their range of motion and physical capabilities. During the time that I spent in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, I worked with numerous disaster survivors who still experienced pain and limited mobility long after the apparent healing of the initial injury. Self-medication, sometimes imprudent, did not help with their pain. The Trager Approach greatly improved their conditions, almost always decreasing or even eliminating pain and restoring greater degrees of function and enhancing ease in mobility.
One specific client experienced arm swelling a year out from the tsunami. She had been pinned down by that arm when a cabinet fell upon it, trapping her as the waves were rushing in. She nearly drowned before she was rescued. After her first Trager session, the swelling reduced by about 80% and subsequent sessions relieved the situation completely. In this particular case, it was the artifact, the memory of the experience that had remained frozen in her mind and body and produced a physical expression long after the original incident. Through the gentle touch and inquiring movements of Trager, her mind was able to experience safety and eventually release the pattern holding the physical expression.
Similarly, the effects of sexual abuse are present long after the trauma takes place, sometimes producing a fear of physical contact altogether or a dissociation with bodily identity. Through The Trager Approach I have been able to help such clients to
467 of 1042