Trauma is an emotional injury resulting from an event or series of events. The source of the trauma can range from single catastrophic occurrence such as a car crash to a pattern of subtle abuse that lasts for years.
Trauma can and will affect different people of any age in different ways. It may alter a person’s sense of safety, self and other people. Consequently, it can gain a foothold of one’s thoughts, behaviors and relationships. The longer the trauma remains embedded, the more its negative impact can advance.
Empowered Life Therapy supports those who struggle with trauma responses through individual, marriage and family trauma therapy that reconnects mind, body and spirit in healthy, nurturing ways toward healing, peace and growth.
With a caring, dedicated focus on you and your journey, together we determine the path to balance and calm that is best for you according to your circumstances. We achieve it in a safe and private space where you can open up to understand, rejuvenate and follow your own personal truth forward.
Healing from trauma can often begin with knowing more about what it is and how it can change us internally.
Trauma develops from what might overwhelm us psychologically by exposing our mind to something perceived as harmful or life-threatening. Because of the intense pain, stress or shock caused by the trauma source, the effects can linger, sometimes for a lifetime, or even survive intergenerationally if they are not treated.
Trauma might be caused by factors such as:
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Symptoms of trauma can appear both mentally and physically.
Mental
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Physical
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In particular, trauma can engage our nervous system’s built-in fight, flight, fawn or freeze responses. When these responses are activated too strongly or too often, they can contribute to the development into conditions such as major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder.
To support proper treatment, trauma-related conditions can be classified according to certain characteristics. Examples of diagnoses might be:
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ׀ recurrent anxiety, intrusive thoughts and memories, negative changes in mood and thinking, heightened reactions, and avoidance of stress triggers following a traumatic event
dissociative disorder ׀ uncontrollable disconnection from one’s own body, sense of self and other people or environment (e.g. dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia, depersonalization disorder)
borderline personality disorder ׀ pervasive, long-term pattern of significant interpersonal relationship instability, a distorted sense of self and great difficulty regulating emotions
depression ׀ mood disorder with chronic feelings of sadness, anger, emptiness, hopelessness and an inability to feel pleasure
anxiety disorder ׀ inner tension, worried thoughts and physical changes (e.g. high blood pressure) caused by chronic or increasing fear, even in the absence of an actual threat
Responses to trauma might also contribute to non-constructive coping mechanisms such as addiction or an eating disorder.
The important thing to remember is that trauma responses can be effectively treated and managed with trauma therapy and, when needed or useful, a medical component.
PTSD is the most common trauma-related condition. About 5% to 6% of the U.S. population will have PTSD at some point in their lives.
Not all highly stressful occurrences will lead to PTSD, and many who do develop it recover. Individuals at greater risk for PTSD will be those who have seen or experienced a particularly shocking and threatening event, usually beyond their control. The event is internally processed as daunting enough to create lasting thoughts that one’s own life or others’ lives are frequently in danger.
A PTSD diagnosis can include worsening symptoms that last for a lengthening period and interfere with daily functioning. In some cases the symptoms may begin within one month of the traumatic event. In others, they may appear after years.
We approach individual trauma therapy by learning about you, your experiences and what they mean to you. In this way, we look to establish your comfort and trust by letting you determine what you wish to share in your own time. As we grow and discover together, we will continue to shape and define your personal path to healing.
The brain has amazing power to heal through neuroplasticity. That is the brain’s ability to re-form synaptic connections, especially as they concern brain function impacted by trauma and intense chronic stress.
Although trauma can forge neural pathways that lead to distressing thought patterns, the problems between the brain’s amygdala and the hippocampus are not necessarily permanent. The brain and the body can often recover and form new, repaired neural pathways.
One healthy, positive approach to neural repair is the combination of mindfulness, body-based psychotherapy and person-centered therapy, which aim to join the mind, body and spirit. This somatic approach blends talk therapy with activities such as dancing, breathing and meditating to train the body to release the stress and tension it stores.
This somatic approach also draws from Dr. Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory, which puts forth that our bodies react in physiological and neurobiological ways to elevated stress, especially when it involves perceived harm or threat.
By activating the vagus nerve in our parasympathetic nervous system, we can learn to maintain a state of calm recovery when presented with stress triggers while also better distinguishing between real and perceived danger.
With more awareness of inner sensations, individuals engaged in trauma therapy can move toward mindfulness in the moment and away from the loop of anxiety and hypervigilance that are often symptomatic of trauma conditions.
Person-centered therapy can be a meaningful complement to other approaches that may be well-suited for the individual, such as:
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
cognitive processing theory (CPT)
dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT)
eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy
The American Psychological Association (APA) cites CBT in particular as being highly effective in PTSD treatment and strongly recommends it.
Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on the relationship among thoughts, feelings and behaviors and how changes in one domain can improve functioning in the other two. For example, altering negative thought patterns can lead to more-positive behaviors and greater emotion regulation.
Stressful events and situations can write their own narratives in our minds, but they don’t have to be the whole story. We can diffuse their power. By better understanding our internal narrative and dialogue, bodily sensations and suppressed emotions, we can learn to relax and self-regulate in ways that free our inner beauty and resilience while making us feel more alive.
The therapists at Empowered Life Therapy are here to help you remove the barriers to the clarity and peace of mind you deserve. Together we can achieve healing that helps you live your best life. To find out more about how we can support you as your “trauma therapist near me,” call us today at (630) 842-6585 or complete our contact form.
