The Purpose of Emotions with Psychologist Tara Hicks

Tara mentioned that each of us experience a varying degree of hardship over a lifetime. When this hardship evokes emotion that is too intense for us to handle it can cause emotional injury to the brain. This emotional injury is known as trauma. Trauma falls into one of two categories, including little ‘t’ traumas (disruption to a healthy bond between a parent and a child, loss of a significant relationship, bullying, harassment, or other non-life-threatening events) and Big ‘T’ traumas (abuse, neglect, violence and other life-threatening events).

Although Big ‘T’ traumas are life threatening events, little ‘t’ traumas should not be dismissed. Research has shown that in some cases repeated exposure to little ‘t’ traumas, can cause more psychological damage than a single Big “T” traumatic event.

If left untreated emotional injury to the brain can contribute to psychological symptoms and diagnosis, particularly if it occurred during important periods of brain development such as early childhood and adolescence.

Tara Hicks focuses in a treatment model, which is a little like emotional surgery, called Emotion Focused Therapy. Listen to how Tara can identify emotional injury caused by little ‘t’ or Big ‘T’ trauma and help her clients to re-process the emotion associated with the traumatic memory. Sceptical? We were too but this is an evidence-based treatment style and Tara shares some pretty amazing case studies.

Find Tara at her clinic in Beaumaris - www.mindedpsychology.com.au 

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