A Traumatic or Stressful Life Event by definition is any event that has had a lasting negative impact on a person to the extent that the memory of the event still elicits similar distressful thoughts, feelings (emotions) and/or physical sensations as existed on the day the memory was initally created.

Many people are living their lives without identifying or recognizing that they are carriers of unresolved trauma of the past that continues to impact their life and relationships today.  The following check list may be helpful in making a personal assessment of potentially traumatic events in your life or the life of someone you know.

Check List of Potentially Stressful Life Events

Listed below are a number of difficult or stressful things that sometimes happen in our lives. For each event check one or more of the boxes to the right to indicate that: (a) it happened to you personally, (b) you witnessed it happen to someone else, or (c) you learned about it happening to someone close to you.  Be sure to consider your entire life (growing up as well as adulthood).  In the SUD (Subjective Units of Distress) column, place a score from 0 (none) through 10 (highest you can imagine) as you momentarily recall the event and answer the question:  How disturbing does it FEEL to you NOW as you remember the worst aspect of the event?

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Your SUD scores let you know to what extent your life today may still be impacted by events of your past and can consequently be affecting your thinking, problem solving capability, emotions and beliefs about yourself and others as well as your physical health.

The therapy technique of EMDR (see additional information in EMDR & Therapy on this site) is nearly always effective for bringing RAPID relief and resolution to Life's Stressful Events.

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