Copyright 2009, Pamela Woll When you look for help for post-trauma effects, it’s important to be a well informed consumer of the services that are available. You may not always know what questions to ask your referral sources or providers of training or therapy, so here are a few important questions about some of these services, and spaces where you can write down their answers. (This is also available as a downloadable PDF file, at the end of the page.)
General questions: What kinds of help or services are available for me here? __ Skill training __ Medication __ EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization, and Reprocessing) __ Exposure therapy __ Somatosensory therapy (using body sensations to integrate experience) Other: ________________________________________________________________________________ What kinds of help or services would you recommend for me? __________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do you recommend this for me? _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
If the provider prescribes medication: What’s the name of the medication? _______________________________________________________ What kind of medication is it? _____________________________________________________________ How can it help me? _____________________________________________________________________ What are the most likely side effects? ______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Are there any danger signs I should look out for? _____________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why is this the best medication for me? ____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ If the provider recommends exposure therapy: Before the exposure to stressful memories starts, what
kinds of training and coaching will I receive in
ways of bringing down my stress reactions? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Will
the exposure be gradual enough to give me a chance to
regulate my stress system? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Will the therapist: ___ Take me into and out of stressful thoughts and memories, or ___ Ask me to stay with a memory until it becomes very uncomfortable? What signal can we set up so I can let the therapist know if it starts to get too intense? __________________________________________________________________________________________________
If I give that signal, how will the therapist work with me to lower my stress level? __________________________________________________________________________________________________
To download a PDF file of this question list, click on the link below. The final page in this section offers Links to More Resources. (Page taken from The Power and Price of Survival: Understanding Resilience, Stress, and Trauma, Copyright 2009, Pamela Woll.) |