Treating grief and trauma: How differences in therapeutic technique follow from understanding the forms of suffering in grief and trauma

While acute grief and trauma both represent extremes of human suffering, they manifest in different reactions and result in different forms of difficulty for those involved. In this forum, the nature of the impact of grief and trauma will be considered and the effects and disruptions they cause will be examined. Grief and trauma represent distinct types of effects and the challenge they present to those suffering them are different. Consequently, the aims and techniques of therapy for grief and trauma need to take these differences into account and focus on their nature. Using case material and a variety of experiential techniques, a theoretical description of grief and trauma will be developed that indicates their different modes of impact; from this specific techniques in the therapeutic treatment of the two conditions will be described. Once these two positions have been clarified, the complexities and requirements of people presenting with mixed conditions such as traumatic grief will be considered. Participants will be encouraged to discuss the ideas in relation to their own practice.