Trauma Therapy
Does It Feel Like Your Life Is Dictated By Your Past?
Have you ever found yourself at a loss for the out-of-character way you’re acting, with no explanation for your behavior?
Do you feel like you’re trapped in the past because early traumatic experiences still affect your life to this day?
You may frequently experience overwhelming emotions that feel disproportionate to the situation at hand. These can be signs of traumatic reenactment. For example, a partner or close friend may forget to complete a task and you react with intense rage, disappointment, or sadness; or you may shut down completely. In response to an unintentional mistake, you may feel alone, unheard, and unseen.
Trauma Symptoms Can Come Up Out Of Nowhere
These intense feelings and reactions may happen often, with no clear explanation in the present moment. In many cases, they are signs of unprocessed memories. When triggered, they can lead to reactions that feel damaging to you and to people around you.
You may be highly capable in your day-to-day life, yet still feel confused about why certain patterns keep recurring. You are not the problem. Your brain has encoded past trauma in a disorganized way, making it very difficult to put the full picture together without support.
The good news is that trauma treatment has come a long way. Today, the right therapist can offer a focused and compassionate path for identifying and addressing painful traumatic memories.
You’re Not Alone In Your Traumatic Experiences
It is easy to forget just how many people have lived through traumatic experiences. We are often fooled by the “perfect” images on social media that depict happy people who appear to have their whole lives figured out.
The society we live in encourages us to get back to work immediately after experiencing a significant loss, like the death of a loved one, a miscarriage, or a divorce. And we’re expected to simply bounce back after physical trauma, such as surviving a car accident or shooting, living through a natural disaster, or experiencing medical trauma, among an endless list of life’s tragedies.
Trauma Is Widespread In Our Society
Many people also suffer from trauma as a result of sexual assault and domestic violence. Our brains and bodies are programmed for healing and survival. We instinctively develop anticipatory patterns that are meant to protect us against dangers we have experienced in the past. Depression, hopelessness, flashbacks, fears, and phobias can be viewed as survival strategies for adapting to chronically stressful situations.
Through therapy, you learn to understand your trauma symptoms and their effects on your life. You can become your own trauma expert and stop blaming and berating yourself.
Trauma Therapy Can Help You Move Forward
We understand that sharing the most difficult experiences of your life can feel intimidating. For that reason, we do not encourage you to talk through trauma details in your first session. A skilled trauma therapist knows this can be re-traumatizing.
Our therapists are familiar with the science and research of traumatic memory and the impact of trauma on mind and body. They will explain possible treatment avenues for addressing your trauma and the science behind these methods in an easily digestible way. With a deeper understanding of the physical and psychological impacts of trauma, you’ll gradually be able to let go of self-blame.
What to Expect in Trauma Therapy Sessions
In session, you will learn to better recognize and cope with internal cues, such as body sensations, emotions, and thought patterns. Sensing, naming, and identifying what you are experiencing is the first step to recovery. Next, your therapist will help you develop stronger resources for dealing with triggers. And finally, you’ll begin processing your trauma using an evidence-based approach like Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR).
Although this may sound overwhelming, please know that you have agency throughout this whole process so that healing can occur at your own pace. You will be listened to every step of the way. Your therapist is simply a compassionate guide, helping you navigate the process of recovering from trauma.
How Does EMDR Support Healing From Trauma?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a streamlined, evidence-based approach to trauma counseling. EMDR can help you build a greater sense of safety and emotional stability by addressing debilitating symptoms, including suicidality and substance use. This also includes strengthening internal resources through positive imagery, mindfulness, deep breathing, and grounding through the five senses.
Another important element of EMDR is helping you develop dual awareness while talking about trauma. In practical terms, this means becoming more able to discuss traumatic memories without being re-traumatized in the present. EMDR also supports shifting unhelpful beliefs into more adaptive patterns and reframing the past. In sessions, you are given tools to build these skills over time.
But You May Still Have Some Questions About Trauma Therapy…
If I start trauma therapy, will I begin EMDR sessions right away?
Although EMDR can be a highly effective form of trauma therapy for many people, we still create individualized treatment plans for each of our clients. Therefore, we do not always use EMDR as an initial treatment or view this modality as a cure-all. Our therapists also utilize other treatment approaches, such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, to alleviate symptoms.
Our therapists will first assess your situation to determine if you’re a good fit for EMDR based on your life experiences, current stressors, support system, and coping skills. The timeline for this process will vary for each individual client. Even if our trauma therapists feel that you will benefit from EMDR, your counselor will work with you to evaluate when you are emotionally ready to begin the process.
We take this approach to ensure that the EMDR process is not only effective but also a positive experience for our clients. We have had many clients come to us to process additional trauma after being pushed through a "speedy" or "one-size-fits-all" EMDR treatment plan. Unfortunately, some therapists begin EMDR with new clients immediately and tell them that they will only need a minimal number of sessions to work through one specific traumatic memory. If a therapist takes this approach, their clients are not being properly assessed or prepared for the EMDR process, and they may not have the needed skills to manage their emotional response outside of the sessions.
Will EMDR worsen my trauma symptoms?
Your first few EMDR sessions may be challenging, but in the long term, this process is emotionally freeing. It’s a bit like pulling off a Band-Aid. At one point, you needed a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding; however, if you leave a Band-Aid on for too long without removing it, you can end up with an infection.
The same principle is true for trauma symptoms. You’ve likely placed some short-term “fix” on your trauma, such as denial or repression. Processing your trauma means that temporarily, you’ll feel the emotional pain, rather than running from it. But you will not go through this pain alone, and you will not experience it as you did in the past. Now, you’ll have an experienced therapist as your guide, and you will have valuable resources that were not available to you at the time the trauma occurred.
Addressing the past means becoming unstuck, moving forward, and finally correcting misinformation and erroneous beliefs. Ultimately, you are in charge of the experience. Your therapist is listening, trusts you, and will support you.
Can I complete EMDR sessions through online counseling, or do I have to come to the office?
We do offer EMDR through secure video sessions. And we allow all of our clients to choose which approach is more comfortable for them, be it online or in-office. If you choose to pursue online therapy, please ensure that you have a strong internet connection as well as a safe and private location to participate in your sessions.
You Can Reclaim Your Life Through Trauma Therapy
If you would like to schedule an appointment or discuss any questions you may have about trauma therapy or EMDR, please contact us.
Located in North San Diego County
Holistic Healing Psychotherapy is located in San Marcos, CA, with telehealth available across California. Learn more about our trauma therapy in San Marcos program or online therapy across California.