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dreams and nightmares, complete with the metaphors and symbols typically missing from the repetitive PTSD varieties (Lewis & Krippner, 2016). People express social, cultural, and individual "reflections that capture the most personal of experiences" (Pitchford, 2009, p. 445). However, individually, human beings do not adapt easily to trauma. Further, the factors that make a potentially traumatizing event a traumatic experience differ from person to person. A significant change mechanism necessary for trauma to take form, then, is the brokenness of the psyche – encountered through its shattering from a loss of meaning, purpose, and identity (Greening & Vallejos, 2013), and from its loss of safety due to the disruption of one's world experiences and belief system. Medication is often helpful in the short-term, but it cannot address the deep existential issues of PTSD; furthermore, its side effects often alter brain functioning in a manner counter to the positive effects of effective psychotherapy. Van der Kolk (2014) has pointed out that the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, in one decade, spent over 4.5 billion dollars on anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and anti-anxiety medications, reflecting a medical model that encourages passivity rather than active self-healing. Trauma changes the brain in several ways: the threat perception system is enhanced, the brain's filtering system is damaged, and the brain's sense of self is blunted. Medication does not provide long-term repair for any of these issues and, when it is given for traumatic brain injuries, additional damage may occur. Contrary to popular stereotype, early human beings rarely engaged in long-term warfare or other forms of deadly assault. As a result, a number of biological defenses that could have fostered rapid recovery did not have an opportunity to develop. Early humans may have been attacked by wild animals or beset by natural disasters, but these dangers were rarely accompanied by guilt, shame, or other emotions. Such feelings elicit withdrawal, suspicion, and suicide among today's combat veterans and survivors of rape and bullying. Urbanization, globalization, and the Internet have had their advantages, but they have been accompanied by unpredictability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Systematic programs have been designed to eliminate or reduce the problematic symptoms and unpleasant experiences associated with a person's or a group's post-traumatic stress. Usually, a qualified person administers these programs to an individual or a group, but some programs are self-administered. All of these treatments are therapeutic, because they have been designed to promote healing and recovery. The word "therapeutic" is, in fact, derived from the Greek term for a group of professional servants, therapeutae. Hence, therapists are specially trained "servants," and therapeutic programs serve people who are in need of help. Almost all psychotherapists are psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, or social workers who have undergone extensive training in order to serve their clients. The word "therapy" refers to the remediation or healing of a psychological, physical, or spiritual disorder. There are psychological therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists. In addition, there are spiritual counselors, who have been trained to treat spiritual, religious, or existential crises, including the loss of one's faith in God, in family, or in the "goodness" of humanity. 5 Reproduced with permission of The Licensor through PLSclear / Routledge