Whenever the perceived threat is greater than our felt resources, dissociation occurs. Inner distance is created in an attempt to buffer the anticipated pain.
Dissociation is the natural process of providing insulation to an over-exposed aspect of self.
The destructive power of trauma is not primarily that it keeps us locked in the past, but rather that it teaches us to be terrified of the present. At The Life Healing Center, we provide a gentle and respectful treatment program that invites residents to disempower the tyranny of trauma by becoming fully alive in the present. In a titrated manner, residents are empowered to step into the present, claim their adult resources, and nurture the frightened, angry and hurt aspects of self. Our commitment is to acknowledge the inherent unity of self while addressing the internal experience of disunity. We believe that to acknowledge one without the other is to either perpetuate neglect by not affirming the felt reality, or to become a prisoner of the trauma by not acknowledging the cohesion and unity beneath the chaos.