I experienced a trauma - What are my therapy options?

Experiencing a trauma usually includes being exposed to an emotionally disturbing or life-threatening event that has long-lasting negative effects in one or more areas of one’s life. These effects can include an impact on one’s mental health, physical health, social interactions, and emotional regulation. While it’s difficult to predict what may happen after someone experiences a traumatic event, experiencing a trauma often impacts one’s social and romantic relationships, how they respond to future stressful events, and it can even result to reoccurring flashbacks or risky coping methods. But what therapeutic options do you have if you find yourself struggling to cope with a previous trauma?

Though research is still developing in trauma psychology, we have included four treatment options provided by Think Happy Live Healthy that have found to create positive results:

· Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most common. This evidenced-based therapy targets problems and symptoms by trying to change patterns of distorted thinking that lead to problematic behaviors and overwhelming feelings.

· Narrative Exposure Therapy helps individuals create a life narrative that understands and integrates the traumatic experiences in a way that reestablishes self-respect, autonomy, and self-worth into the individual’s life.

· Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is trauma-focused therapy for processing traumatic memories that cause trauma symptoms such as hypervigiliance, flashbacks, and “flight or fight” responses. Some researchers believe the trauma symptoms are caused by the traumatic memory not being fully processed in the brain. EMDR aims to help clients fully process traumatic memories and decrease symptoms by focusing on the traumatic memories piece-by-piece, with stimulation, until the survivor no longer feels like they are in distress.

· Brainspotting is a research-based treatment that connects the patient’s visual field and body to fully process trauma, without requiring the patient to verbally describe the traumatic event. The brainspotting technique taps into trauma in different areas of the brain where memories are normally harder to consciously assess. This treatment is fast-paced compared to other therapy styles and holds long-term results.

If you feel like you have experienced a trauma that is causing a long-lasting impact in your everyday life, and you’re interested in one or more of these treatment options, please contact info@thinkhappylivehealth.com