Trauma Therapy and PTSD Treatment
Are You Haunted by Memories of Childhood Trauma?
A young girl with her eyes closed and her hands folded near her face.
Have you witnessed or experienced something devastating, painful, or unexpected?
Are intrusive flashbacks, nightmares, or thoughts about the event keeping you from feeling relaxed and safe?
Does your job expose you to critical or dangerous situations?
Instead of facing your emotions head-on, do you withdraw or numb yourself with alcohol, drugs, or other distractions?
Trauma is defined as any experience that compromises our sense of safety and wellbeing. Examples of trauma include—but are not limited to—accidents, injuries, sudden losses, witnessing violence, and any kind of neglect or abuse.
It’s estimated that most of us will survive a traumatic event in our lives, but how we respond to trauma varies from person to person. Not everyone who experiences trauma develops Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but PTSD is prevalent in many trauma survivors—from those who witnessed military combat to those who sustained abuse as children. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that five out of every 100 Americans meet the criteria for PTSD.
What Are Symptoms Of PTSD?
Symptoms of PTSD can be disruptive but treatable. If any of the following experiences apply, you may be struggling with PTSD that can be helped with therapy and other trauma-informed treatment methods:
You often experience recurrent, unwanted thoughts related to the traumatic event—sometimes, you may even feel like you are re-living the experience
You avoid thinking about the experience or participating in any activity that might remind you of it
When reminded of the traumatic event, you have a strong physical or emotional reaction
You’ve developed a negative self-image, hopelessness about the future, and lost interest in your hobbies and relationships
Your symptoms intensify when under stress, leading to irritability, angry outbursts, aggression, and/or self-destructive behaviors
Symptoms can be managed for some time following the event, but they often catch up with us sooner or later. As PTSD symptoms become more severe and long-lasting, it’s important to seek treatment through therapy and other trauma-informed interventions.
Fortunately, the therapists at Discovery & Wellness Counseling are trauma experts who can help you calm your nervous system, process your experience, and feel more at ease.
How Does Trauma Affect The Brain?
A man sitting pensively on an outdoor stair.
Before exploring the different types of therapy that are used in treatment for trauma and PTSD, it’s important to understand what trauma is and how it impacts the mind and body.
When something scary, unexpected, or life-threatening happens to us, our nervous system responds by jumping into action and preparing our body’s fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, the 4-F responses. Each of these responses is designed to keep us out of harm’s way, but if trauma is not processed correctly, our bodies will keep living in a heightened state of the 4-F responses.
That’s why trauma often manifests as uncomfortable physical symptoms, including muscle tension, digestive issues, headaches, flashbacks, night sweats, and feeling sick, among others. Emotional symptoms can include distractibility, agitation, impatience, and heightened emotional responses at real or symbolic reminders of the event.
Therapy that targets stored trauma in the body—as opposed to therapy that addresses surface-level issues—is most effective in treatment for PTSD and trauma-related issues. By helping clients redirect stored trauma, a therapist can facilitate the healing process.
Our Approach To Trauma Therapy & PTSD Treatment
A man and a woman sitting across from eachother in a therapy session.
At Discovery & Wellness Counseling, we specialize in a range of trauma-informed methods. We understand the emotional and physical toll that unresolved trauma has on the lives of our clients. As therapists who work with First Responders, Outdoor Industry leaders, and individuals who have experienced traumatic events and experiences, we are committed to helping our clients learn how to mitigate and relieve their symptoms of distress both professionally and personally.
Some of our trauma therapy and PTSD treatment methods include:
Mindfulness - a therapeutic tool that helps clients observe thoughts and feelings nonjudgmentally in order to have deeper self-awareness
Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) – focuses on the body’s automatic trauma responses and teaches actionable skills to calm the nervous system
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) – a body-based approach that allows clients to reimagine and rewrite trauma narratives
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) - a therapy that uses side-to-side eye movements to reprocess stored trauma in the brain
Post-Induction Therapy - an approach that is particularly helpful for treating survivors of childhood abuse and neglect (to read more, visit our Childhood Trauma Therapy page)
By learning to calm your nervous system, reframe your thoughts and experiences, and heal your trauma, you can live with less stress and worry. Trauma and PTSD may have negatively affected your quality of life, but treatment using proven therapy techniques can make a world of difference. Working together with our therapists, you can restore a sense of peace and control.
Common Concerns About Therapy…
Is therapy only for those who have been diagnosed with PTSD?
Counseling can benefit anyone who suffers from the effects of unprocessed trauma, regardless of if a diagnosis is present. Not everyone who survives a traumatic experience will develop PTSD.
At Discovery & Wellness Counseling, we are less interested in putting a label on your experience than we are in helping you live a healthy, fulfilling life. If you believe you are struggling with PTSD or trauma-related issues of any kind, you deserve to feel better.
Do I have to share my trauma with my therapist?
Our counselors will pace the therapeutic process according to your comfort level. We will never push you to discuss anything that you do not want to discuss. It can be helpful for your therapist to know some information about your experience to determine which treatment method will be most effective, but we will make sure you feel comfortable and have successful grounding tools in place before getting into any details of the trauma.
Additionally, our treatment interventions are trauma-informed, meaning they are designed to promote healing, not re-traumatization. Using gentle and often nonverbal approaches, our therapists will help you redirect stored trauma so that you don’t have to dwell on your experience any longer.
I don’t need counseling—I should be able to manage trauma on my own.
We hear this a lot, especially from our clients in high-risk professions. For example, outdoor guides and First Responders typically believe that they should automatically be equipped with the skills needed to combat trauma and PTSD because of the dangerous situations that they often encounter in their career fields. This is simply untrue; coping with trauma is something that all of us have to learn.
A therapist can be a meaningful support system on your healing journey. Instead of feeling alone and defenseless against your trauma, you can develop your skills and resources in therapy. Not only will this process allow you to feel less stressed—it will help you feel safer and more comfortable in your relationships.
Your Trauma Does Not Have To Define You
If you are living with the adverse effects of trauma and PTSD, effective therapy and treatment methods are available. To learn more about how the clinicians at Discovery & Wellness Counseling can help, contact us.
