Trauma Informed Therapy
Have you experienced a super distressing event(s) that destroyed your sense of security and/or sense of self?
Have you ever found yourself disconnecting from your body or emotions? Do you feel overwhelming emotions that take you out of your character and your family & friends get the most of it?? Do certain things or situations cause you to have anxiety or panic attacks? Do you have an overwhelming fear of something or someone?
It can feel hella stressful and painful when you are trying to live life after experiencing something traumatizing. It can not only drain you emotionally, but mentally and physically as well. After experiencing trauma it can feel like your world has been turned upside down. The life you once had just doesn’t seem the same, things that once brought you comfort can seem terrifying and any sense of security you once had can feel like it suddenly disappeared. You try to bury the memories deep in the back of your mind, but somehow you can’t seem to shake it, no matter how hard you try. Little things that you would have never thought about before may act like triggers that cause you to constantly think about or replay what happened.
You may experience an influx of emotions that can be hard to identify, let alone deal with, and that can negatively affect your relationships with friends, family, your lovers, your coworkers, and yourself.
If you don’t feel comfortable talking about what happened it can be hard to smile and socialize like nothing happened. So instead you withdraw and isolate yourself. You don’t answer text messages or phone calls, not because you don’t want to maintain your relationships but because your trauma seems to be the only thing you can focus on. Or it can be the opposite, you try to stay busy. So busy that you don’t have the time to catch up with yourself, let alone anyone else. (if this was your coping skill, then it is also likely the RONA hit you a little harder than most.)These events can spiral into depression, anxiety, and PTSD. As much as you don’t want it to, trauma can feel like it’s taken over your life.
FAQs
You may still have questions about addressing trauma in therapy.
Where does trauma come from?
Trauma can be caused by different experiences or people in your life that caused you harm, whether it’s mentally, physically, or emotionally.
How does trauma affect relationships?
Trauma can cause you to withdraw from your loved ones, especially if you don’t feel like you can confide in them about what happened.Some people find it easier to isolate themselves from their loved one rather than speak to them, even if you’re not talking about your trauma.This lack of communication can cause tension or distance, and you may find that you’re not close as you used to be.
Will trauma ever go away?
You may never forget what happened, but you can heal from your trauma so it no longer causes you anxiety or sadness. The goal isn’t to completely erase the memories of what happened but to help you stop them from living your best life.
What trauma do I have?
We won’t know what kind of trauma you have until we have time to sit together and do a full assessment. Some of the common types of truama we deal with are sexual trauma, childhood trauma, racial trauma, and the trauma that comes with being a BLack woman in a world that doesn’t like Black folk or appreciate women.
JUST BECAUSE YOU’VE EXPERIENCED TRAUMA…
…doesn’t mean you will never find peace.
YOU CAN!
We are trauma trained at AnnodRight. Despite who your therapist is at Annodright, we are ALL trauma-informed and trained! As challenging as it may be to deal with trauma, with the help of AnnodRight therapists and counselors you can heal and move forward with your life. Our caring, compassionate team wants to do whatever we can to help you in your healing process. We combine our hopeful, optimistic approach with our education and experience to help you find the peace that you deserve. Regardless of how long you’ve been dealing with your trauma, we’re hopeful that we can help you overcome it.
We have all our specialties.
Because we have an understanding of how systems of oppression in America breed trauma, especially in Black and POC communities, we knew we all needed to have some training on dealing with trauma.
We universally use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a part of our approach. This type of therapy helps you become aware of the challenges you’re facing, where they stem from, and how to respond and manage them.
Most of our clinicians have training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which is helpful in overcoming traumatic experiences. Unlike other approaches, EMDR doesn’t require you to talk as much about your trauma, but rather allow your brain to naturally heal from the traumatic memories you have.
After learning more about you during the consultation and in the initial session, we will be able to create a unique care plan for you that may include a little of all or even none of the above. We are well trained in a variety of modalities and consult with you to make sure we are using an approach that makes sense.
The one thing you must do to get the most out of your sessions is to believe that things can and will get better. Once you commit to facing your trauma, with the help of our counselors we can help you improve your coping mechanisms and equip you with the skills you need to heal.
It’s hard to cope with trauma
Despite what you may have heard or been told, trauma isn’t limited to physical harm. A traumatic event can be anything that causes you extreme distress. For some it’s a one time event like a violent attack, for others it can be ongoing like battling an illness or suffering from domestic abuse. It can also be something you may have overlooked or haven’t even considered like a childhood experience. These things are considered traumatic because of the effect it had or is having on your life.
While your experience is unique to you, many people suffer from trauma. In fact, 70% of adults in the US have experienced some type of traumatic event during their life. Many clients who we’ve treated for trauma at AnnodRight find that it’s centered around colorism, texturism, and sexuality - three things that we specialize in.
Believe it or not the things you were told and the way you were treated because of your skin tone or hair texture can be traumatic. And regardless if it happened a week ago or when you were a child it can leave a negative impact on your life.
Trauma is different for everyone including how it shows up in your life.
It’s not uncommon to feel disconnected or numb, to feel extreme anxiety and fear, or guilt and shame because you feel it’s your fault it happened. These emotions can take over and prevent you from concentrating, going after your goals, or simply living life peacefully.
The good news is that despite the chaos you may feel now you can heal from your trauma.
Popular Blog Posts About Trauma
BLOG
Schedule your discovery call now
2020 has been a year already and we have not even touched September at the time of this writing. For me personally, I started this year in frustration and grief about my body. I started off healing from a surgery without noting the toll it would take on my mental health to not be able to move the way I wanted to move and to be in a different consistent pain.
Looking back, this sounds like a foreshadowing of the year ahead.