During therapy, I’ll employ specific methods tailored to your unique needs. The most common things treated in therapy for trauma are complex trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which comes from either severe, persistent trauma or short-term or single-event trauma, resulting in harmful and devastating symptoms.
Typical symptoms of PTSD include intrusive memories, nightmares, flashbacks, avoidance, negative thoughts, anxiety, panic attacks, and/or hypervigilance.
Complex trauma is caused by recurring or long-term traumas, most often originating in childhood. These can include verbal, mental, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, violence, being trapped, or held captive. Complex trauma can lead to emotional dysregulation, relationship issues, dissociation, sleep disturbance, hypervigilance, nervous system arousal, and difficulties with self-esteem and self-worth.
Signs that you may be dealing with complex trauma or PTSD include difficulty controlling emotions, low self-confidence, confusion about identity, disconnection from reality, guilt, self-blame, mistrust, hopelessness, relationship problems, avoidance of trauma reminders, reliving the trauma, hyper-alertness, numbness, depression, and decision-making difficulties.
Common situations that can lead to complex trauma or PTSD include:
- Domestic violence/childhood trauma: This occurs when you are harmed or threatened by someone you love or live with, such as a partner or family member. They can inflict physical, sexual, emotional, or mental harm, leading to feelings of depression, anxiety, numbness, fear, stress or feeling unloved, not worthy, and not safe.
- Relationship trauma: This happens when someone you care about or work with hurts you or disappoints you, such as a friend, lover, or coworker. They can harm you by lying, cheating, leaving, or manipulating you. This can lead to feelings of worthlessness, insecurity, loneliness, and can affect your emotions and thoughts. This can range from extreme domestic violence to persistent difficulties in work environments.
- Mind control/extreme coercion trauma: This is when you are controlled or brainwashed by a group or a leader that has significant power over you, such as a political cult, spiritual/religious cult, destructive controlling “self-help” cult, multi-level marketing groups or commercial cults, extreme religious structures. Often, they make you do things you don’t want to do, make you believe things that are not true, or make you cut off from your support group or family, isolate you, not let you leave without shunning, fear, or other tactics. This can cause numerous problems resulting in fear of intimacy and relationships, sexuality and money problems, guilt, fear, eating disorders, lack of decision-making confidence. The DSM-V has a specific diagnosis for this called “Unspecified Dissociative Disorder” - F44.89, defined as “Identity disturbance due to prolonged and intense coercive persuasion: Individuals who have been subjected to intense coercive persuasion (e.g., brainwashing, Thought Reform, indoctrination while captive, torture, long-term political imprisonment, recruitment by sects/cults or by terror organizations) may present with prolonged changes in, or conscious questioning of, their identity.”
- Other violence: This includes military violence, rape, assault, work violence, and multiple other circumstances.
We will curate a plan that specifically supports your unique needs. Please see the other pages related to EMDR and Soul Unity therapy for more information.