Events that are surprising, uncontrollable, and deeply disturbing usually create traumatic experiences. It is too much for us to handle at that particular time and can affect us negatively emotionally, psychologically, or even physically long after the incident is gone. Trauma can result from a single occurrence, such as assault, accident, natural disaster, or violence.
Other causative factors include childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, bullying, or war. No matter where it comes from, trauma destroys our feeling of being safe, having control over life events, and self-esteem. This is where Trauma Therapy, a special treatment aimed at helping people recover from their painful pasts, can help.
What Is Trauma Therapy?
A qualified mental health professional offers secure surroundings where patients can start dealing with their pasts during trauma therapy sessions. The main idea behind this kind of counseling is to bring out the underlying causes as well as effects of the traumatic event so that it becomes easier for an individual to comprehend what took place.
In such case, an experienced therapist should take you through step by step in a way that would not re-trigger your feelings about the same incident but let you feel like moving forward, always coping with new ideas apart from just giving explanations based on old ones which may not work out well eventually. They will teach you how to deal with intrusive thoughts, distressing emotions, and troubling physical sensations linked to the distress.
Modalities Used In Trauma Therapy
There are many evidence-based modalities for trauma therapists to choose from, such as:
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT): This therapy focuses on recognizing and changing negative beliefs about an event that have developed since it occurred and now cause distress.
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) – In this type of therapy, patients repeatedly relive their traumatic experiences in their imagination or through writing, which reduces avoidance and helps them gain control over thoughts and feelings related to their traumas.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR uses a patient’s rapid eye movements during recall of the trauma to help them process and integrate memories along with associated cognitions, affect states, bodily sensations, etc.
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Effective Trauma Therapy
Regardless of how it is done precisely, understanding one’s reaction towards trauma, dealing with overwhelming emotions, challenging distorted thinking patterns, and making sense of what has happened are some common goals shared by all types of trauma therapies. The main thing is that you should feel safe again.
Going through traumatic events can be difficult because they force us to confront painful ideas, memories, feelings, and bodily sensations that we may have buried deep down or avoided altogether. Still, according to studies conducted so far, nothing beats this method in terms of effectiveness when it comes to overcoming PTSD. At first, these thoughts will remain disturbing even after sessions; however, with time, they become less intrusive – eventually disappearing altogether.
This is why commitment to an experienced therapist who deals with these issues becomes necessary. If you have had any traumatic experience(s) that has led to problems like anxiety disorders followed by depression episodes, consider trauma therapy from Discover And Deepen.