TRAUMA

means from the origin (ancient Greek) wound, injury.

The use of language suggests that it is a – perhaps even singular – event, such as an accident, an operation, an assault, experience of violence, war or similar ( shock trauma). It can also be an overwhelming experience that is persistent (mostly lovelessness), with noch chance of evasion (developmental trauma). However, the term also refers to the inner experience, the inner state after the injury, after the overwhelming event or persistent suffering. How our nervous system reacts to being overwhelmed, what reactions the body and psyche show in response to the unendurable, and how this keeps us in the past.

IoPT assumes that all people are traumatized, but to varying degrees. Coping patterns are always age- and experience-dependent, i.e. very individual. However, the following applies equally to all people: in early life and preverbal stage we are all extremely vulnerable, in need of protection and have to adapt. 

Trauma is not an illness/disease. 

Traumatization is a completely normal human reaction to abnormal experiences.

Everyone is traumatized when a situation is stressful and overwhelming beyond the norm and/or the overwhelming experience is persistent with no chance of escaping. In IoPT, we assume that most people have experienced early overwhelm. In early life we are very fragile, very dependent.  Loneliness, abandonment, no safe counterpart, no attachment, no healthy relationships is unbearable, means feeling a threat to life. A child then feels constant fear of death.

With IoPT and the Intention Method we have a very effective tool to explore the development of ones own identity. Step by step, self-encounters can be used to promote development towards autonomy, self-determination and expansion of behavior at your own pace and based on your own impulses.