The backgrounds
People who find themselves in life-threatening circumstances or go through other, unexpected and shocking events are confronted with intense feelings of fear, powerlessness, vulnerability and helplessness. As a result, people may develop complaints. These sometimes disappear of their accord, but that is not always the case.
Many people re-experience the situation in which they incurred the psychotrauma and express this through such psychological or physical reactions as nightmares, hyperventilation or anxiety attacks. These may be spur-of the-moment reactions, but they can also be triggered by something or someone that reminds them of that situation.
It is common for people with a psychotrauma to try and avoid or push away feelings that are connected with the trauma. That can sometimes also lead to their ‘pushing away’ certain memories or their becoming estranged from their own feelings.
A number of people who have incurred a psychotrauma develop a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result. This is the term used when there are several complaints that persist over a longer period of time and that disturb one’s normal functioning. These include not sleeping well, fits of anger, a reluctance to talk about the events and/or being unduly alert.
Foundation Centrum ’45 is targeted on treating complex psychotrauma. This denotes a combination of several psychological problems and disorders brought about by repeated and/or long-term traumatization. The complaints may include: posttraumatic stress complaints, (other) anxiety disorders, feeling depressed, changes in the way one experiences emotions. Often, there are also problems in the workplace, in the family and/or the social environment.
