The individual's educational background

The individual's current physical health status

If the individual was in therapy before, what

the treatment relationship with the clinician was like

Whether the individual has a history of

substance use

A pattern of frequent therapeutic ruptures in

previous treatments

Chronic stress without clear traumatic events

A history of trauma combined with defensive

avoidance

A history of supportive relationships but

difficulty identifying emotions

Their ability to recall the event with clarity

The severity of physical injury sustained

The cultural and historical context

Whether the experience occurred during childhood

or adulthood

Asking multiple clarifying questions in quick

succession

Reassuring the client repeatedly that everything

is going well

Shaking their foot

Overexplaining the therapeutic rationale for an

intervention

A structured setting where therapists guide

clients to reframe irrational beliefs

A safe and containing therapeutic space that can

support emotions clients find unbearable on their own

A physical room designed to reduce external

sensory input during trauma processing

Safety

Empathy

Insight

Motivation

pain killers.

hallucinogens.

sedatives.

amphetamines.

Task-oriented coping

Emotional expression

Problem-focused coping

Escape

It typically results in delayed grief responses

that require separate interventions

It encourages clients to avoid their own role in

the traumatic event

It increases emotional dependency on the

perpetrator, making boundaries more difficult to maintain

It can short-circuit emotional processing and

lead to self-deception, undermining trauma work and bypassing authentic

accountability

The belief that therapy will never fully resolve

underlying trauma

The tendency to reject support out of fear of

dependency

The emotional injury tied to the very fact of

having developed symptoms in the first place

The client’s disconnection from their past due

to chronic avoidance