TRAUMA
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T R A U M A
“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”
TRAUMA TREATMENT
There are many experiences that can cause trauma in a person’s life. Some of the most common types of trauma include:
Critical, unpredictable or alcoholic home
Verbal, physical or sexual abuse by parent, caretaker or sibling
Neglect or abandonment
Bullying events from childhood or adulthood
Birth trauma – either giving birth or being born
Divorce – either parents divorced or as an adult going through divorce
Loss, grief, unresolved situations
Attacks, rape or disaster
Events during or after active addiction
Car accidents – symptoms may not appear until months later
Medical procedures or fear of procedures
Any traumatic event can adversely affect a person’s mental health and quality of life. Often, the brain becomes overwhelmed and does not properly process or “store” these traumatic memories, which leads them to experience stress and symptoms of mental health disorders. Some of the most common mental health disorders associated with trauma are anxiety and PTSD.
PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a condition where a person has difficulty overcoming anxiety and fear related to a traumatic incident. They may experience flashbacks, nightmares, and anxiety when reminded of the event. In individual trauma counseling, therapists help clients reprocess these memories so they no longer upset them and also develop healthy coping mechanisms during flashbacks or panic attacks.
WHAT is TRAUMA THERAPY?
Trauma therapy is a broad term to describe therapy with a mental-health professional who is educated on the short- and long-term impacts of trauma. It's essential to get help after you've experienced trauma. You need to talk about your pain and start to process what happened to you. This may sound scary, but think of it as an empowering statement. You truly have the ability to process past events and live an empowering, fulfilled life.In individual therapy, a therapist will work with you to better understand your trauma and the way it affects your quality of life. After an evaluation to make sure we are a good fit, a therapist will put together a treatment plan to determine the most helpful way to proceed.
DO I HAVE TO SHARE EVERYTHING?
You share what you want to share. Trauma can be difficult to talk about, especially if it’s your first time discussing it with anyone. A therapist has the training to help you explore your memories or impressions of the past in a comfortable and healthy manner, and it’s their job to make you feel as safe as possible during individual trauma treatment.
When you enter trauma counseling, you begin building a relationship with your therapist. Recovering from trauma can be a long journey, and your therapist is there to guide you throughout the process. Once you form trust with your therapist, you can share more difficult details of your trauma. Everyone recovers at their own pace, so there’s nothing wrong with taking your time.
treatment
Several types of psychotherapy, also called talk therapy, may be used to treat children and adults with PTSD. Some types of psychotherapy used in PTSD treatment include:
Cognitive therapy. This type of talk therapy helps you recognize the ways of thinking (cognitive patterns) that are keeping you stuck — for example, negative beliefs about yourself and the risk of traumatic things happening again. For PTSD, cognitive therapy often is used along with exposure therapy.
Exposure therapy. This behavioral therapy helps you safely face both situations and memories that you find frightening so that you can learn to cope with them effectively. Exposure therapy can be particularly helpful for flashbacks and nightmares. One approach uses virtual reality programs that allow you to re-enter the setting in which you experienced trauma.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR combines exposure therapy with a series of guided eye movements that help you process traumatic memories and change how you react to them.
Your therapist can help you develop stress management skills to help you better handle stressful situations and cope with stress in your life. At A New Way we use an integrative approach with EMDR for PTSD treatment.
