Trauma Therapy
Do You Struggle To Trust Others After Living Through Trauma?
Have you been dealing with high stress levels or feeling easily overwhelmed by responsibilities that you used to handle with ease? Are you often angry and frustrated in specific situations without knowing exactly why? Do you have trouble forming or maintaining relationships because it seems as though nobody understands your experiences?
Trauma can impede your ability to trust others as well as yourself. Your symptoms might make you feel isolated and misunderstood by others, and you may find yourself longing for connection. But because you’ve been so deeply hurt before, it’s hard to truly feel emotionally and physically safe in relationships.
Traumatic Experiences Can Leave You Feeling Emotionally Numb
You have a hard time being optimistic about other people’s intentions, and when other people are kind to you or express interest in pursuing a friendship, you can’t help but feel suspicious and look for underlying motives. You may have even cut off existing relationships because maintaining these connections felt too vulnerable. Committing to a romantic relationship might seem too overwhelming because you fear that your partner could betray you.
Additionally, trauma symptoms can make it hard to get out and socialize. You might have unwelcome flashbacks brought on by unexpected triggers, or you may experience intense anxiety when you’re around large groups of people.
You do not have to keep struggling with trauma by yourself. If you feel as though you have nowhere to turn, working with a therapist can help you find the support you need in order to heal from your trauma and start cultivating relationships again.
Have any questions? Send us a message!
Trauma Can Lead To Lingering, Unresolved Pain
Whether someone has experienced trauma because of dysfunctional family dynamics, an accident, an abusive relationship, a natural disaster, or surviving war or conflict, these events can cause residual pain and tension in one’s body. An individual can’t help but try to make sense of what happened to them, even if there is no justification for their suffering. Your body can “forget” that you are no longer in this situation, and as a result, you feel unsafe wherever you are.
Some people who survive trauma develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which can lead to problems like intense paranoia, insomnia, substance abuse, depression, and other symptoms which can inhibit an individual’s day-to-day functioning.
Many People With Trauma Are Ashamed To Talk About It
People who have lived through trauma or developed PTSD often become accustomed to having their pain dismissed by others. They may be told to “toughen up” or “get over it,” and they might feel ashamed of their experiences. This shame can translate into silence, and people will try to suppress their trauma and hide their past. But this creates barriers that get in the way of forming healthy relationships with others and finding the support they need.
In therapy, you can finally release the shame that often accompanies trauma. Your therapist will help you unpack and process your experiences, identify specific triggers that make you feel unsafe, and assist you with gaining confidence when it comes to navigating stressful situations.
Therapy Centered Around Trauma-Informed Care Can Help You Heal
At Bloom Therapy, we utilize a specific trauma-informed approach to counseling for those who are living with trauma or PTSD. Your therapist will not challenge your reality or minimize your pain. Instead, your therapist will listen with empathy and validate your experiences with trauma and PTSD. Additionally, your therapist will prioritize creating an environment where you feel truly safe and focus on empowering you so that you begin to trust yourself again.
Some people who want to pursue trauma therapy have difficulty accessing the care they need because they have particularly busy schedules or lack transportation. We offer telehealth services so that limiting factors like these won’t prevent you from getting treatment.
What To Expect In Trauma Therapy Sessions
In therapy, you’ll have the opportunity to share your personal experiences with trauma. You do not have to open up about everything right away, and your therapist will support you in moving through treatment along your own personal timeline. You’ll review how your trauma affects you on a daily basis, discuss your triggers, and begin working towards developing a healthier response to these triggers by engaging in mindfulness techniques for staying present in the moment without becoming retraumatized.
As you add effective self-soothing skills to your toolbox, your therapist will also help you foster new relationships, gradually open up to people, and rebuild your community and support system.
Treatment Approaches For Trauma Counseling
Ultimately, your trauma-informed treatment plan will be centered around your unique needs and experiences. Your counselor will guide you through Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for trauma, which deconstructs unhelpful narratives around trauma, like the idea that you might have “deserved it.” You’ll also start trying a range of mindfulness techniques, like deep breathing, grounding yourself by tuning into your five senses, using positive affirmations, fact-checking what’s true at the moment to establish that you’re safe, and thought-stopping.
When you’re ready, your counselor will also support you in navigating Prolonged Exposure Therapy to help you better handle distressing situations. For example, if you were scared to drive on the freeway because of past trauma, you’ll start by visualizing this scenario in your therapist’s office and talk about the process step-by-step. Your therapist will help you build up to driving on the freeway to meet your goals.
Overall, your counselor will apply a solution-oriented, strengths-based perspective so that you can realize just how capable you are. Your therapist can help you create a life that supports your mind, body, and soul in the aftermath of trauma. With therapy, you can step into a new, empowered version of yourself and begin cultivating strong, trustworthy relationships.
But You May Still Have Questions About Trauma Therapy…
-
Research demonstrates that attending in-person or online therapy sessions can be highly effective for people suffering from the impact of past trauma. For example, one study showed that people who attended regular, customized trauma therapy sessions saw a 60% reduction in their symptoms in just 12 weeks (1).
-
It’s understandable to worry about how you might feel when sharing your traumatic experiences with a stranger, especially if you’ve kept quiet about your trauma for a long time out of shame. Revisiting these experiences in a safe, clinical setting with a patient, compassionate therapist can actually feel freeing. Your therapist will help you manage stress-inducing situations so that encountering reminders of your trauma no longer feels triggering.
-
Healing from trauma is an individual journey, and there is no timeline for this process. No matter what you’ve been through or how severe your symptoms are, your therapist will create a space where you can feel safe, comfortable, and relaxed so that you can begin experiencing this sense of safety outside of sessions, too.
Therapy Can Help You Find Emotional Safety And Stability After Trauma
With support from a Bloom therapist , you can rebuild your ability to trust in others and understand that you are so much more than what happened to you. If you’re ready to begin your healing journey, we invite you to call our office at 619-500-1843 or fill out the contact form on our website to book a free 15-minute consultation or schedule your first session.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5047000/
Recent Posts
