Massage Therapy can help heal from trauma, and can help cope with current dysfunctional situations, or with upsetting situations occurring that will simply take time to resolve.

The relaxation and healing touch of Massage can help to get over the pain of past trauma. If someone is working with a counselor , bodywork is a good adjunct therapy to allow the healing work to absorb into the body and psyche.

Because I'm a counselor who has worked with many traumatized clients, I understand the power of bodywork to complement the counseling, and I also keep excellent boundaries up. In other words, the massage is simply that, and I don't encourage the client to disclose on the table, what they're working on in counseling. 

If someone is coping with a current situation that's dysfunctional but they can't get out of it....yet....then massage can help by putting a stress free, balancing treatment in place so the person has some respite, even if temporary.

Massage can also help with a situation that is currently stressful such as coping with a death, or a move, or a job change, or an adult kid moving out, or pretty much anything that may or may not be a welcome change, but is nonetheless stressful.