Have you experienced a traumatic event? Are you suffering from lingering fear and anxiety?
Most people will experience some form of trauma in their lifetime. While many people can recover from trauma over time with the love and support of family and friends and bounce back with resiliency, others may discover ongoing negative effects far after the event has passed.
In these circumstances, the support, guidance, and assistance of a therapist is fundamental to healing from trauma.
Trauma Symptoms
Avoidance
- Avoiding specific locations, sights, situations, and sounds that serve as reminders of the event
- Anxiety, depression, numbness, or guilt
Re-experiencing
- Intrusive thoughts, nightmares or flashbacks
Hyperarousal
- Anger, irritability, and hypervigilance
- Aggressive, reckless behavior, including self-harm
- Sleep disturbances
Negative Mood and Cognition Symptoms
- Loss of interest in activities that were once considered enjoyable
- Difficulty remembering details of the distressing event
- Change in habits or behavior since the trauma
Posttraumatic stress disorder – also known as PTSD – is a mental health challenge that may occur in individuals who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event which is extreme in nature, such as an act of war, a serious accident, the sudden death of a loved one, rape, or any other violent personal assault.
What are the Symptoms of PTSD?
People with PTSD often experience intense thoughts and feelings related to their traumatic experiences. These can last for a long time after the initial event. Many people with PTSD also relive the event through flashbacks and nightmares.
People with PTSD often feel intense emotions such as fear, anger, sadness and a detachment from friends, family and community members. They often avoid people and situations that remind them of the traumatic event. Ordinary sounds such as a door slamming or firecrackers going off, may cause a sudden, strong and uncontrollable reaction.
How Can Treatment Help?
There are a variety of treatments that can be used to treat trauma and/or PTSD. However, there are three specific techniques that are consistently gaining research-based evidence of their effectiveness.
- Cognitive Processing Therapy – This modality focuses on how a person perceives a traumatic event and processes it. A therapist can help their client work through stuck points, which are certain thoughts related to the trauma that prevent the person from recovering.
- EMDR – EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. This technique uses bilateral sensory input such as side-to-side eye movements to stimulate the brain to process difficult thoughts, memories and emotions.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – CBT is a form of talk therapy that focuses on how thoughts, feelings and behaviors are related to one another. The goal of a CBT therapist is to help a client return to a place of hope with a greater sense of being in control of their thoughts and behaviors.
If you or a loved one have suffered trauma and would like to explore treatment options, please reach out to us. We have personally seen amazing transformation through therapy and want to offer the help you need to recover and enjoy life to the fullest again.