Marriage Counseling Is Available For Spouses Who Have Experienced Childhood Trauma

Marriage counseling is available at Take Charge, Inc. for couples who are experiencing the effects of childhood trauma, whether it’s one or both spouses. Complex trauma happens while growing up, and the effect of that trauma can in turn effect who we pick in life, cause trust issues with a spouse, and determine how comfortable you are with your partner. Trauma in early childhood can cause emotional flashbacks during the holidays.

Although adults often say things like, “He was so young when that happened. He won’t even remember it as an adult,” childhood trauma can have a lifelong effect. And while kids are resilient, they’re not made of stone. Early intervention could prevent your child from experiencing ongoing effects of the trauma as an adult.

When a child experiences a trauma that teaches him that he cannot trust or rely on that caregiver, however, he’s likely to believe that the world around him is a scary place and all adults are dangerous — and that makes it incredibly difficult to form relationships throughout their childhood, including with peers their own age, and into the adult years.

What happens to us as children can affect the attachment style we carry into our adult relationships. Trauma hugely influences attachment. Often people who grew up in happy, healthy, and stable homes where caregivers were emotionally available and responsive to their needs have a secure attachment style. These people don’t push partners away or cling too tightly. While they may have troubles in their relationships, an unhealthy attachment style isn’t the cause.

During marriage counseling, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Terri Dichiser uses Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), which is based on more than 20 years of clinical studies of couples in crisis. EFT counseling is based on therapy with your spouse in the safe environment of Terri’s office to help you create a haven of safety and strength in your marriage. Marriage based on a connection with your spouse that makes you stronger as an individual and in your marriage.

Ebenezer Scrooge wasn’t the only person to be visited by unwelcome apparitions from prior chapters in one’s life. Oftentimes during the holidays, survivors of trauma may re-experience flashbacks of prior traumas. The holiday period (in the U.S. from Halloween through Valentine’s Day) is loaded with remembrances of milestones that went awry, due in large part by their history of abuse and sense of lack of personal power. Terri uses marriage counseling to focus on these effects.

For more information about marriage counseling at Take Charge, Inc., call (913) 239-8255.