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Therapy in a Nutshell

The Container Method for Processing Trauma, PTSD and Intense Emotions

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8658 Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2024

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Do you want to learn How to Process Emotions and improve your Mental Health? Sign up for a Therapy in a Nutshell Membership, you'll get access to all of Emma’s courses, workbooks, and a Live Q and A with 100’s of exclusive videos: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership Check out my FREE course Grounding Skills for Anxiety and Trauma: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/grounding-skills-for-anxiety-stress-and-ptsd/ Do you tend to avoid thinking about difficult emotions or memories? Have you heard it’s unhealthy to just “stuff down” all the hard things? In this video, I’ll present a helpful strategy to use in order to slowly and deliberately work on distressing emotions and memories. And it’s a resource that trauma therapists use all the time to help people. PTSD and Trauma can create overwhelming feelings. The container method is a way to slow down the processing of them until you are in a safe place. It's often used with other trauma-healing approaches like EMDR, CBT, or other forms of therapy. Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell Learn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com Support my mission on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/therapyinanutshell Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapyinanutshell.com Check out my favorite self-help books: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/best-self-help-books  Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction. And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Therapy in a Nutshell podcast. I'm Emma McAdam, a licensed marriage and family therapist.

0:06.0

These episodes are filled with research-backed therapeutic education that you can start applying in your life today.

0:12.0

I hope you find today's episode beneficial, and if you know of someone who could benefit from this podcast, please don't hesitate to share it.

0:19.0

Let's work together and share tools everyone can

0:21.9

use to help deal with the difficult mental health struggles they're going through. Each podcast

0:27.0

episode comes from a corresponding video. You can find them on the Therapy in a Nutshell YouTube

0:32.4

channel. Also, these podcasts are educational and don't replace the advice or direction you may be receiving from a therapist or other health professionals.

0:43.3

Please enjoy the episode.

0:46.3

Do you tend to avoid thinking about difficult emotions or memories?

0:50.3

Or have you heard that it's unhealthy to just stuff down all the hard things?

0:56.0

In this video, I'm going to present a helpful strategy to use in order to slowly and deliberately

1:02.0

work on distressing memories and emotions.

1:05.0

And it's a resource that trauma therapists use all the time to help people process trauma.

1:21.6

As a therapist, it's very common for people to come in and tell me that they have stuff in their past that they haven't been able to heal from. And a lot of times they've

1:25.9

dealt with it by avoiding it or never

1:27.9

talking about it. And with good reason, because most people don't have the tools to slow down

1:34.6

overwhelming emotions. So when they think about their trauma or they get hit with a big trigger,

1:39.4

they try to deal with it all at once and this can be super overwhelming. So that's why a lot of people

1:44.9

get stuck just avoiding their trauma. And while this is protective and it has helped them

1:51.1

function in their daily life, it doesn't help in ultimately healing and lessening the impact

1:57.2

of these past traumatic experiences or the difficult things that have happened to you.

2:03.3

So in this video, I'll teach you one of the tools that you can use to help you process

...

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