Is Your Past Affecting How You’re Currently Living?
Are you having difficulties regulating your emotions within your relationship?
Has a transition in your life revealed that something from your past is creating an imbalance in your life?
Do you frequently pick fights with your partner, but you have no idea why?
Changes in your romantic and professional life can sometimes cause difficulties. And perhaps you go into fight, flight, or freeze mode when conflict arises in your relationship. Or maybe you grew up in a chaotic environment and associate love with disarray. As a result, you may believe love can only exist in chaos.
Whatever the reasons might be for your responses, you know that you want something better and need support in finding a better way of being.
Responses To Trauma Can Take Many Different Forms
The attachment style you develop in your relationships may be linked to past trauma.
Perhaps you become aggressive or defensive at the mere perception of abandonment or conflict. Or maybe you find all the negatives and leave the relationship in order to keep yourself safe—”leave them before they leave you” to keep from getting hurt.
On the other hand, you may simply shut down and allow your partner to be the main or only voice in the relationship. Or your response to difficulties might be to freeze up, dissociate, or have the sensation of leaving your body.
All you want is to feel safe in your relationship. If you could just be understood or help those around you understand you better, you could have the relationship you’ve always desired.
Trauma therapy can help you get there and feel understood, validated, and valued.
Past Traumatic Events Often Continue Haunting Us
According to the National Council for Behavioral Health, “About 70% of adults have experienced some level of a traumatic event in their lifetime.” (1). The National Center for PTSD states: “More than half of all women will be exposed to at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.” (2). And the American Psychological Association identified that “women are typically exposed to more interpersonal and high-impact trauma.” (3).
These high-impact traumas can include sexual assault, even at a very young age. In fact, childhood trauma can look like many things. It can be any event that invokes intense fear and perceived threats, including violence toward the child or others in the family.
Today, generational norms related to parenting continue to shift. What were accepted parenting skills and punishment techniques in the past have changed over time—but the scars remain.
Experiencing Trauma Is Unique To Each Person
Whether the trauma you endured was explicit or because your parent(s) could not keep you feeling safe and wanted, your trauma is unique to your experience. There is no right or wrong trauma because trauma is linked to your perception. No one has the right to tell you if it is real or not.
Because of the continuing stigma, fear, and lack of acceptance of mental health issues within the mainstream, many people feel invalidated in their trauma. As a result, they might never seek treatment or even believe they are deserving of support. Or they might only be treating the symptoms, never getting to the root cause of their challenges.
But you don’t have to live like that any longer. We’re here for you. Trauma therapy can help you feel safe and ease your pain.
Trauma Therapy Can Empower You To Change Your Life
Just the thought of talking to a stranger about your trauma might cause you distress. The pain of your experience may automatically creep in when you least expect it. We understand that.
But therapy provides a non-judgmental, unbiased, validating, and safe space, allowing you to work on the root cause of your trauma. Exploring your thoughts, feelings, and experience in such a safe environment is transformative.
What You Can Expect In Trauma Therapy Sessions
When it comes to trauma therapy, timing and pacing are essential. Consider the analogy of swimming or scuba diving, when thinking about the tools and skills needed to process trauma safely.
If you only practice swimming while drowning, you will never become a confident swimmer. And before you can dive to the bottom of the ocean, you’d first need to know you have the ability and skills needed to safely resurface. The same is true with trauma counseling.
At The Sacramento Counselor Group, our counselors first focus on teaching you coping strategies and relaxation techniques and building your distress tolerance, energy levels, and self-regulation skills. We want you to feel safe and secure before we jump into exploring what has caused you so much pain.
Only then will we dive into your trauma together, examining your perspective and experience. And finally, to reexamine these events from a new perspective.
Methods And Tools We Use For Trauma Treatment
Feeling confident in self-care strategies, coping skills, and emotional regulation tools is one of the most critical components of trauma treatment. That is why we do not rush into the trauma narrative—your past story. Going too fast can often cause more harm than good.
Instead, we focus on building the foundational skills to successfully process your trauma, protect you from current or future trauma, and reduce daily stress levels.
Depending on your unique needs, we may utilize:
● Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) – TF-CBT allows you to be prepped for the trauma narrative by helping you build awareness of unrealistic thinking and your responses to your trauma. But, it requires the correct trauma narrative and may call for psychoeducation.
● Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) — is a psychotherapy approach that has gained recognition for its effectiveness in treating trauma-related disorders. This bilateral stimulation in EMDR sessions helps to facilitate the brain's natural healing process, enabling the individual to reprocess traumatic memories in a less distressing manner. Through EMDR, patients can experience a reduction in the intensity of traumatic memories, decreased emotional distress, and a greater sense of empowerment and control over their experiences. The therapy aims to help individuals integrate distressing memories into their life narrative, promoting healing and recovery from trauma.
● Mindfulness – helps direct your focus on the present moment and your surroundings, not the unhealthy thoughts that the trauma brings up.
● Relaxation Techniques – Will teach you how to physically relax your body to combat physical trauma responses. You will gain awareness by identifying where you are and what you need.
You may not be able to forget your experiences, but you can learn how to grow beyond them.
The reason why humans have memory is the same reason why we study history. It is to learn from the past, grow from it, and become better versions of ourselves.
You May Be Interested In Trauma Counseling But Have Some Concerns…
What if I can’t fix this? What if I will always feel and be the way I am?
You are not broken. You are not beyond repair. And you do not deserve what has happened to you or the after-effects of your traumatic experience.
Trauma can change how you perceive the world. The world is no longer safe. People are no longer safe. You no longer feel safe. But we are here to help you break free from this pattern of being, gain a stronger sense of self, and have a strength-based perception of the world.
How long will this take? I’m ready for it to be over.
As eager as you might be to finish, sessions will only move as quickly as it is safe. We will go at the pace that makes the most sense for you as an individual, and we will constantly keep you involved in your treatment.
The American Psychological Association (APA) found that 50% of people suffering from PTSD will feel better within 15-20 sessions. CBT can be effective within 10-20 sessions. (4)
Is trauma the same as PTSD?
The diagnosis of PTSD is related to specific criterias. The experience of trauma does not automatically mean you have PTSD. If you don't have PTSD, that does not mean your trauma is not a real experience. Diagnosis related to trauma experiences are vast.
Please be mindful when doing your own research; self-diagnosis can be a slippery slope. If you have questions please feel free to reach out to us.
Are You Ready To Let Go Of The Pain From Your Past?
Trauma therapy at The Sacramento Counselor Group can teach you effective methods to finally free yourself from the pain that has been with you for so long. To get started, our trauma specialists invite you to schedule a free, 15-minute phone consultation. Call (916) 707-1758 or visit the referral link on our website.
1- https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Trauma-infographic.pdf
2- https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/specific/ptsd_research_women.asp
4- https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/length-treatment
Learn more through our Blog:
