Trauma Therapy

It can be a single traumatic event, like a death of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a divorce. Or it can be an accumulation of trauma over the course of a person’s life. These events can include child abuse, domestic violence, the death of a parent as a child, bullying, family dysfunction, a toxic work environment, or a sexual assault.

Maybe you question if what you went through was bad enough to be considered trauma. Many of us will question if we’re exaggerating an event, and we’ll tell ourselves it wasn’t really that bad. When we dismiss our own experience, the trauma still gets stored in our brains and bodies and will have lingering effects. Trauma is about how you experienced the event, not the event itself. If this is you, we encourage you to reach out. We can validate your experience and help you understand how treatment will help mitigate the lingering effects of trauma. When you’re given the insight to better understand your experience, it’s a stepping stone to healing. To start, it’s crucial to understand what trauma is, how it impacts us, and what we can do to begin our journey of healing.

What is Trauma?

Trauma results from the exposure to any event or series of events that are either life-threatening or emotionally distressing with lasting negative effects on the person’s emotional, social, physical, and mental wellbeing. The trauma often overwhelmed our ability to cope, leaving us likely feeling helpless and profoundly afraid. When we perceive danger, we go into a mode that is referred to as fight-or-flight. This is a protective mechanism that automatically happens in our attempts to find safety from the traumatic event. With lingering symptoms from trauma, we may continue holding onto this protective mechanism even though we are no longer in a vulnerable position. Living in a constant state of stress is incredibly taxing on our bodies, and this fight-or-flight state can lead to chronic mental, emotional, and physical conditions.

When we experience something negative, depending on the severity of it, our brains store these memories differently than positive or neutral memories. Automatically, we want to bury the pain, shame, and distress associated with the memories, but unfortunately, it doesn’t really work. Unprocessed trauma lingers, and it can manifest in ways we wouldn’t necessarily expect. Additionally, if we have pre existing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or any other challenges to our mental health, it can make it that much harder for us to bury the pain without it having a significant impact on our day to day life. Lastly, if we’ve experienced childhood trauma and additional challenges throughout adulthood, we are at a greater risk of developing a more complicated presentation of trauma.
Some of the symptoms you may notice as a result of experiencing one or more traumatic events include:

• Nightmares
• Flashbacks to the traumatic event
• Trouble sleeping
• The experience of very intense emotions that are difficult to regulate
• Intolerable pain when exposed to reminders of the traumatic event
• Feeling disconnected from people in your life
• Feelings of guilt, shame and worthlessness
• Feeling easily started
• Lack of enjoyment in activities you used to love

In our attempts at coping with these painful emotions, you may find yourself wanting to feel numb. This may lead you to engage in excessive use of substances, gaming or watching television, or other addictive behaviors. Unfortunately, these behaviors lead to more problems and exacerbate our symptoms. You may feel even more alone and disconnected from the world. What’s important to know is you are not alone in your trauma. Our warm, compassionate, and highly skilled trauma therapists at Relucent can help.

We help you get to the root of your distress so you feel empowered to make the necessary changes in your life and reach a sense of strength and peace within yourself. We provide a non-judgmental and confidential environment so you can begin to feel a sense of security. Therapy is not focused on discussing every detail of the traumatic event. Instead, therapy will help you do the following

1. Develop healthy coping skills – At the beginning of treatment, your trauma therapist will ensure that you have adequate coping skills and stress management techniques so you feel safe before we begin discussing anything related to the trauma. Doing so can help in feeling a sense of control and regulation over the symptoms that have been negatively impacting you for so many years.
2. Identify Triggers – Trauma therapy can help to learn and identify memories and feelings that are associated with the trauma. Therapy will help your mind and body believe that you are no longer in a state of danger. Understanding triggers can help create a healthy response over time.
3. Decrease traumatic stress symptoms – Trauma therapy will decrease anxiety, shame, guilt, and other negative emotions associated with the event. We’ll offer practical solutions to become aware of and stop patterns of behavior that helped you survive the trauma but are no longer helpful in your life.
4. Reduce fear – Trauma therapy can reduce fear and avoidance of people or places that remind you of a traumatic experience. You will feel less triggered overall, and you’ll begin to feel like you can live a fuller, more satisfying life.
5. Create a new narrative. Your trauma therapist will provide the support and guidance to lead you toward healing and clarity about the trauma you faced. This will build self confidence and self compassion.