Responding to the trauma response of ‘flight’ when it occurs in the therapy room

So many times in therapy, I wanted to run out of the room. Things would just get too much, I'd feel overwhelmed, and some unconscious force would propel me towards the door ... Then, not surprisingly, I would feel terribly ashamed of this urge – I was wasting the therapist's time, I was being rude, I was being ungrateful! – and so it really helped to understand that it's the trauma response of 'flight' from the amber zone and not just my 'badness' manifesting.

In this video I talk about how trauma therapists can work therapeutically with this urge to flee whilst preserving the client's autonomy.

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My name is Carolyn Spring. I’m an author, trainer, and trauma survivor. Through my writing and speaking, I help people to recover from trauma. If you want to learn more about trauma, dissociation and recovery – either for yourself or to help others – then this is the place for you. My unique perspective is the ‘both/and’ of a survivor-professional – combining the latest neuroscience research and the clinical literature (making the complex simple!) with the personal: someone who’s actually been there.

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