Healing Trauma Through Relationship

It is often said that trauma is created in relationship and therefore needs to heal in relationship. Developmental trauma, the trauma a child experiences on a daily basis due to not feeling safe with their parents/caregivers/other close relationships, is directly caused by unhealthy unsafe human relationships. The degree to which event trauma—the trauma that occurs after a life threating or potentially life threating event, turns into a traumatic experience often depends on the support one received during and after the event. Emotional wounding is created in relationship, and can be healed in relationship with a safe empathetic other. For this reason, it is very important for the therapist to create a safe therapeutic relationship with their clients/patients in order for healing to occur in psychotherapy.