Trauma Healing Notes
Definitions
Trauma splitting/structural dissociation is a process by which the mind erects walls within the psyche to compartmentalize and shield against overwhelming emotional inundation. It is a mechanism designed to protect someone from the torrential flood of emotions.
- Ima Lo, Psychology Today 2023.
Structural dissociation is the psychodynamic process of creating a separate self/selves that deal with the different aspects of chronic trauma. The personality becomes split into different parts, and each part has its own emotions and behaviors, leading the individual to feel different from one moment to the next. It manifests as rapid mood swings, with the individual moving from happiness to rage or even a sense of numbness within a short amount of time.
Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services
Trauma can alter three main cognitive patterns: thoughts about self, the world (others/environment), and the future.
- Treatment Improvement Protocol, No. 57, Ch 3.
Deliverance and Trauma-healing Method
Deliverance is simple. The model we see in scripture is Jesus and the disciples telling evil spirits to leave with the authority of Christ.
When I cast out demons, I tell them to leave in Jesus’ name.
The following method is a preliminary counseling session that tends to make the deliverance go more smoothly because it focuses on tearing down demonic strongholds in a person’s life. After this counseling time, evil spirits tend to leave with little fight.
My entire deliverance and Trauma-healing session consists of asking the following questions leading specifically toward praying for deliverance and Trauma-healing.
Intro: Why do you want this kind of ministry?
I begin by asking, “Why do you want this kind of ministry?” Or I begin by saying “Tell me your story.” During this portion, listen, listen, listen. Resist the urge to start preaching to them even though you might hear all kinds of sinful mindsets and bad theology. A great deal of healing can come from having a listening ear to talk to.
While they’re talking, you will likely hear things that you can put into the following four categories to ask about later: sin, unforgiveness, curses, and trauma. The rest of the session will focus on asking questions about each of these categories.
Question 1: Do you have any hidden sin?
After they have told their story, I begin by asking, “Do you have any hidden or unconfessed sin?” Then I go on to explain the three types of unconfessed sin. I’ll say the following:
“One kind of hidden sin is anything that you are currently doing that you know is sinful, but you don’t want to tell anyone about.”
“Hidden sin can also be any sin you committed a long time ago–you hate that you did it, and you’ll never do it again–but you don’t want to ever tell anyone about it.”
I’ll tell them that the devil will try to use that kind of hidden sin to afflict a person.
“Hidden sin can also be a sin that you are committing, but you aren’t aware that it is sinful.”
For this one we pray and ask the Lord to reveal anything.
Whenever a person confesses a sin, I say, “Okay, let’s put that on the table for now. Is there anything else?” After the person is finished confessing, I pray for the Lord to bring anything else to mind that we might have missed. If something comes to mind, we add it to the table. If not, we move on to praying for forgiveness.
I offer to lead the person in a prayer to ask for forgiveness. I usually pray something like “Heavenly Father, please forgive me of these sins that I’ve just confessed. Please wash me in the blood of Jesus and make me clean from all guilt.”
After the prayer, I ask, “How did it feel to pray like that?” Sometimes, the person will feel basically nothing, and I let them know that is fine. Sometimes, the person will feel an evil spirit starting to afflict them. If so, I’ll take authority and command it to leave in Jesus’ name.
Question 2: Do hold anyone in unforgiveness
In this section, I ask, “Is there anyone in your life that you hold in unforgiveness?” I explain that unforgiveness means you are holding a grudge against someone or harboring hatred toward someone. I’ll explain that it means you hope that someone will come to ruin or something bad will happen to them because of something they did to a loved one or to you.
If they don’t understand the importance of forgiving others, I explain that if a person does not forgive, then he or she will not be forgiven by God based on Matt 6:14-15. I’ll also show them the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matt 18:21-25 to show that if we refuse to forgive, we are promised to be tormented.
I’ll have the person name people they need to forgive and we’ll “put them on the table.” Many people have an easy time forgiving, and many will not have a single person to list in the section. That’s great! However, if someone needs to forgive, I teach this about forgiveness:
“Forgiveness is NOT saying that it was no big deal.”
Satan wants people to think that in order to forgive, you have to discount the offense.
Forgiveness is the opposite. In order to forgive you have to acknowledge the offense.
“Forgiveness does NOT mean you have to trust the person who sinned against you again.”
Some people are not safe or trustworthy. Forgiveness does not mean trusting against.
“Forgiveness does NOT mean that you no longer feel the pain from the offense.”
Satan wants people to think that they cannot forgive as long as they still feel the pain of the offense.
“Forgiveness DOES mean that you acknowledge the sin that someone committed against you, and you choose not to hold it against them.”
When someone is struggling to forgive, I will lead them in the following four prayers that I call the four stages of forgiveness. You do not have to follow all four stages in order to forgive, but this is a helpful tool when someone is struggling:
“Heavenly Father, what (this person) did was wrong, but I will not be their judge anymore.”
Heavenly Father, please forgive (this person).
Heavenly Father, I forgive (this person).
Heavenly Father, please bless (this person)... For the last one, I tell the person they need to pray to bless whoever hurt them. I tell them to pray for all the good things they want for themselves.
After this section, if they have forgiven others, I ask, “How did it feel to pray that way?” I cast out demons if they start to manifest.
Question 3: What generational curses can you identify in your family?
In this section, I ask the person what kinds of patterns of issues they see in their family. Are there divorces, miscarriages, deaths, insanity, drug abuse, sexual sins, etc? Usually, the person can spot things easily.
When the person identifies possible curses, we “put them on the table.” Afterward, ask the Lord to reveal any other curses we he wants us to name and pray against. I am clear with the person that God knows everything, and we don’t need to, but if he wants us to be aware of a specific curse or sin from the person’s family history, he can reveal it to us.
Then we pray:
“Heavenly Father, please break every curse. Please overturn every oath and blood covenant by the power of the greatest blood covenant, the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood.”
Question 4: What traumas have you experienced?
In this section, I ask “What traumas have you experienced?” And before I give time to answer, I make sure I define trauma. I say that it can be anything from the very intense (abuse, loss of a loved one, etc) to what would seem small (my family moved when I was 8 years old, and I felt insecure.
I explain that trauma can cause a soul to fracture, as the psychologists call it. When a soul has fractures, a person can become triggered by something that reminds them of their trauma, and suddenly they lose rationality. They begin to act and feel like they are back in the trauma moment.
(I don’t necessarily share this part, but it’s good to know)
Often, the wounds will manifest in certain self-protection behaviors. Some common manifestations are as follows:
Fight - The person has irrational anger.
Flight - The person has overwhelming fear and tries to escape from situations when they feel triggered. They may escape physically by running away or they may escape into addictions, drug abuse, pornography, etc.
Fawning - When triggered, the person becomes fanatical about appeasing others out of an effort to self protect.
Rejection, self hatred - When triggered, the person spirals into self-hatred and actually feels like it is a noble action to hate themself.
(I share this part)
After the person has told their story of trauma, I’ll ask a few questions:
Whenever something happens that triggers you, do you lose rationality?
Do you have moments of your life where you know something happened but it is blacked out?
When you talk to yourself in your head like everyone does, do you have multiple versions of yourself?
Do you feel like you are frozen at a certain age?
The final action I take is to attempt to bring healing to the broken pieces. I will try two things.
Broken Pieces Healing - I pray over them like this: “Heavenly Father, please unlock the deep places in this person’s soul where they have been locked up in fear and trauma. Please bring out all the broken pieces of their soul and put them all back together.”
This prayer is simple and effective, but often the most effective thing to do is the next part.
Parts Work - I tell the person that I would like to talk to the part of them that feels angry, fearful, hated/rejected, etc. This is based on their story and whatever I am sensing throughout. I always ask if they feel like a part of them is angry, sad, fearful, etc. I only proceed if they feel like that describes them and if they allow me to talk to those broken pieces.
When I begin to speak to that part of them it sounds like this:
“I know that what you experienced was terrible. I’m sure it was scary and painful. No human is ever supposed to experience something like that (acknowledge their pain).”
“I know you’ve been working very hard to protect yourself and keep yourself from anything like that happening again, and I know you are exhausted from all of that hard work. (acknowledge their hard work).”
“I have good news for you, Jesus will protect you (share the good news of Jesus in the context).”
“Would you like to retire from all of this hard work and rest in Jesus? (invite them into Jesus)”
Then I pray for the Lord to bring them into rest.
Final Deliverance:
After praying for the inner healing, as a matter of course I will stand over the person and command any evil spirit that has been afflicting them to go in Jesus’ name.
Sometimes there is a demonic manifestation. Sometimes there is not. Wherever there is, at this point, it’s usually small, but the results are often big. People often report major life change afterward.