TRAUMA THERAPY
Do You Feel That Your Life Is Dictated By A Traumatic Experience?
- Are you experiencing emotional pain that causes great distress even at times when you should be at peace?
- Do you have frequent spells of anxiety and depression that make relaxing impossible?
Perhaps you’re suffering from nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and painful flashbacks. You may not realize it, but you could be living with unprocessed trauma, which could be causing all of these stressful symptoms.
If you are reading this page, it is likely that you’ve lived this way long enough and are ready to seek help through trauma therapy.
Untreated Trauma And PTSD Can Take A Toll On Anyone
Trauma and PTSD that is left untreated can affect many facets of everyday life, including relationships, careers, mental health, and even physical health.
You may experience mood swings, problems with keeping relationships afloat, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), or OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), headaches, stomach issues, and sleeping difficulties.
If you are having any of these problems, it would be very easy to fall into the mindset that all of this is your fault.
Trauma and PTSD is NEVER your fault. It’s important to understand that your feelings and experiences are valid and that seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Here at Middle Way Psychotherapy, our therapists can empower you to put the pain of the past behind you and move confidently and boldly into the future.
Remember, You Are Not Your Trauma
Trauma is a common experience, affecting many people at some point in their lives. Common childhood traumas can include parental separation or divorce, suffering from neglect or abuse, dealing with a major illness, being raised by a guardian with a mental illness or a substance abuse issue, having a major illness, or being exposed to racism or violence.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network reports that by age 16, over two-thirds of children report experiencing at least one traumatic event (1).
Because traumatic memories can be incredibly overwhelming, it’s a natural human response to try and avoid them, along with the situations or triggers that evoke these memories. However, this avoidance can inadvertently reinforce fear and anxiety, creating a cycle that makes it even more challenging to confront and heal from the trauma.
Remember, you are not your trauma. Trauma is an event or series of events that happened to you, but it doesn’t encapsulate who you are as a person. Recognizing this distinction is essential to healing.
That’s where trauma therapy plays a crucial role. The goal of trauma therapy is not to erase the memory of traumatic events but to reduce their hold over an individual’s emotional well-being and daily functioning.
Trauma Therapy Provides A Safe Way To Explore And Reprocess Past Traumas
At Middle Way Psychotherapy, we offer the chance to explore traumatic experiences with the help of a supportive, trained trauma therapist. Ultimately, trauma needs to be explored and reprocessed in a safe way that doesn’t expose you to new stress or trauma. That’s why we prioritize going at a gentle pace that’s right for you.
Our trauma counselors’ primary goal is to free clients from being haunted by past events.
You may have once felt scared, small, or helpless, but that does not mean you must live in fear or self-doubt. The key is learning to live in the present moment, shifting out of “fight, flight, or freeze mode” and into a wiser, more compassionate, and self-assured identity.
Methods And Modalities For Trauma Treatment
Trauma therapy is focused on healing and reframing past events and the beliefs we form based on these experiences. This healing and reframing process can occur through different treatment methods, depending on your needs. Some of those approaches are listed below:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR):.focuses on the brain’s ability to constantly move toward health and involves recalling distressing events while receiving one of several types of bilateral sensory input, such as side-to-side eye movements or hand tapping. The process aims to diminish the emotional impact of past traumatic events
- Somatic Therapy: focuses on the connection between the mind and body. It focuses on bodily sensations and physical experiences as key elements in processing and healing from trauma. This type of therapy integrates talk therapy with physical techniques, such as deep breathing, relaxation exercises, and other bodily awareness strategies
If you’d like, it’s possible to use a combination of the methods outlined above. The goal is simply to develop a treatment plan that works best for you, since you know yourself best.
Ultimately, it is possible to heal from trauma. You can live with more freedom, ease, and joy in your life.
You May Be Interested In Trauma Therapy, But Have Some Concerns…
I’m afraid to revisit what happened to me in my past.
It’s understandable that you’re apprehensive about looking back at difficult times and experiences. When working with trauma, we always strive to establish trust early on, and as the client, you are in control of how quickly you want to move. Please know we don’t start diving into painful events on day one, going after the most significant traumas. Instead, we take time to ensure you are ready to begin the healing process.
Do I have to share the specific details of my trauma?
For many individuals, recounting traumatic events can be retraumatizing, bringing back painful emotions and physical sensations. Somatic approaches offer an alternative pathway to healing that doesn’t rely heavily on verbal disclosure of trauma. Techniques like mindful breathing, guided imagery, and somatic awareness can facilitate the processing of trauma without directly engaging with the traumatic narrative. By working through the body, somatic therapy offers a gentler, yet effective way of addressing the impact of trauma, helping individuals to heal and regain a sense of control over their bodies and emotions.
I’ve tried therapy before, but it didn’t help.
It may be that the type of therapy you engaged in didn’t work that well for treating trauma.
Bessel van der Kolk, in his influential book ‘The Body Keeps the Score’, emphasizes that traditional talk therapy may not always be the most effective in healing trauma. This is because simply talking about traumatic events does not address the deep-seated emotional and physical responses stored within. Hence, somatic therapy and therapies like EMDR and Depth Hypnosis allow for a deeper reprocessing of trauma by helping individuals to not only recount but also re-experience and reframe their traumatic experiences in a way that can lead to profound healing and resolution (2).
Are You Ready To Enjoy Life Again?
You can be happier in your present life, and we can help you learn how to get there. If you want to start living life to the fullest, we encourage you to pursue trauma therapy with Middle Way Psychotherapy. Call us for a free 15-minute consultation at (718) 635-1228 or visit our contact page.
(2) Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.
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