What Trauma Therapy Is and Isn't

Trauma therapy is for those struggling with hypervigilance, anxiety, agitation, relationship struggles, past abuse, grief, loss, custody, divorce, and lack of trust in themselves and others. Past abuse and trauma can make us feel insecure and unsafe. It can also harm our self-worth and our relationships. You are the only person who can tell you if something was a trauma. Everyone reacts differently to different traumas and losses. Therefore, you only need to process potential traumas if they affect you.

Desensitizing

Trauma therapy helps you to desensitize painful flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts after a loss, abuse, or trauma. Some people are concerned that they will uncover a repressed memory if they process what is causing them distress. However, repressed memories have been discredited by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus. Therefore, the memories that you desensitize are memories that you are already aware of. The point is to be able to talk about the memory or think about the memory without distress. The felt sense becomes an awareness that the event happened in the past, and you are now safe in the present moment.

Balancing out Your Mind and Body

According to the book “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Can Der Kolk, trauma is stored in our body. When we think of traumatic memory, we might feel hypervigilant or nauseous. Often when people have desensitized to these memories in therapy, they can relive them. Some people might be afraid of this process. However, processing these memories with a trusted mental health professional can help you to have fewer flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and agitation. The alternative is to have these traumatic memories intrude into your mind when triggered. Processing memories is less distressing than a flashback or a nightmare because a trained trauma professional can ease the distress through different methods. Trauma therapy helps to release the trauma and stress from your body, balancing your mind and body. In turn, this decreases hypervigilance, agitation, and anxiety.

Different Trauma therapies

Some trauma therapies include cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive processing therapy, somatic therapies, written exposure therapy, EMDR, and Brainspotting. Cognitive behavioral and cognitive processing therapy helps you understand how thought distortions lead to different moods. Our thoughts dictate how we feel and how we behave. EMDR and brainspotting use your eyes to process traumatic memories. EMDR and brainspotting also focus on negative thoughts that might make you feel anxious, depressed, or unsafe. Somatic therapies, brainspotting, and EMDR concentrate on releasing the trauma through your body. Written exposure therapy desensitizes trauma through writing. Brainspotting, EMDR, and body scans are less distressing than talk therapy because the focus is on the body.

If you feel like past abuse, trauma or loss has lowered your self-worth, harmed your relationships, or caused you distress, I would love to help.

Contact me to set up an online session by calling the MindNLife Clinic at 2521 4668 or emailing info@doctormonicaborschel.com.