Knowledge is Power

     The first step in managing any mental health symptom is

understanding the root cause, and research has shown

that understanding alone can reduce the severity. Often,

therapists fall short of adequately educating their

clients, worried about boring them or coming off as if

they are talking down to their clients – this is a huge

mistake. In this handout, I will discuss the psychology of

fear and how ignorance of why a trauma response

happens makes confronting those challenging

experiences even more difficult.

But first, let’s talk about the movie Jaws.

      In 1975, Steven Spielberg directed what is still regarded

as one of the greatest horror movies ever – Jaws. Stay

with me here: I promise there is a point to this outside of

my love of Jaws. Spielberg spent $150,000 on an

advanced animatronic shark to film this outstanding

creature feature. He encountered a major issue – at the

time, it was impossible to film animatronics in water, so

his hopes of including this ambitious practical effect

were dashed.

     Spielberg worked around it, and the movie was largely

absent of its title creature. But something unexpected

happened: viewers did not feel bored during the movie

or complain about the lack of sharks; instead, an entire

generation of people developed a fear of the ocean. It

was a compelling horror movie built largely around the

unknown terror lurking under the water's surface. What

our imaginations do with the unknown is more terrifying

than anything a filmmaker can put on the screen.

So, our first task as trauma therapists is to shine a light

on the nebulous symptoms of trauma. Why are they

happening? When we demystify it and see the crude

machinations of our trauma animatronics, we are better

prepared to manage what lies beneath.