Survival versus Recovery

I like to think of therapy as being compromised by two types of work or skill sets: survival work and recovery work. Both of these aspects of healing are crucial and equal in importance. Healing from trauma is a constant dance of balancing the body’s need for both survival and recovery.

Survival Work:

Sometimes, we just need to get through the day. Maybe we are in the grasps of a depressive episode or perhaps there are stressful life events and daily changes unfolding. Whenever we are in a phase of life that requires more effort to get through the day, hour, or minute, it is the right time to prioritize survival work.

Survival work includes coping skills, such as breathing techniques, distractions, pleasurable activities, and grounding techniques that help us feel more comfortable in the moment. These skills are not going to keep these difficult feelings from coming back again in the future, but they make the distress tolerable in the moment. Survival skills can keep us from reacting impulsively, losing our temper, hurting ourselves or others, and alleviate panic and dissociation.

Recovery Work:

In order to develop insight into the origins of our distress and prevent symptoms from continuing to manifest, we need to engage in recovery work. Recovery work is going to help us reach our long-term mental health goals, but it may cause us to feel worse before we feel better. By addressing unprocessed emotions, identifying beliefs that stem from trauma events, and understanding how our behaviors and reactions have been shaped by past experiences, we have to confront a lot of material that is uncomfortable.

Therefore, it is not always the right time to engage in recovery work. If your daily stressors are high or significant life events are unfolding, then it may not be the most helpful time to engage in recovery work. However, if life is relatively stable, you have a good support system, and you have well-developed survival skills, then it may be time to engage in the deep recovery work.