Trauma Recovery
Trauma can weigh heavy on one’s life.
Trauma looks different for different people. While an event might not be traumatic for one person, for someone else, the same event might be very traumatic. B. A. van der Kolk (1989) says,“Traumatization occurs when both internal and external resources are inadequate to cope with an external threat.”
We want to help bolster your resources, as some traumas can cause long-term distress.
Some causes of trauma include child abuse, being bullied, rape, the death of a loved one, and experiencing natural disasters or severe accidents, to name just a few
Remembrance of those traumatic events can intrude on a person’s life, keeping them on guard and in fear of something terrible happening. As a result, trauma’s emotional and physical impacts can be challenging to process.
Therapy, such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), can help individuals work through the traumatic experience, allowing them to see the event as in the past.
June* tried to hide her trauma.
By all accounts, June was successful. She had a good job, friends, and even a relationship, but she felt something was wrong. She worried that people would discover who she was.
June felt shame and guilt. She carried the weight of a secret she even kept from herself.
June couldn’t experience intimacy without extreme anxiety and sometimes even panic. At the same time, she feared being abandoned because underneath, her successful exterior was defective.
The fear she held inside convinced June to seek therapy.
Therapy helped relieve June’s suffering.
Through therapy with me, June realized (again) that she experienced abuse as a child. She had told her mom, but her mom didn’t believe her, so she didn’t trust herself or her reality. This lack of trust made her question herself, her mom, and anyone else. She kept everyone at arms-length, not getting close enough to be hurt – never fully experiencing the healing power of a relationship.
June received no judgment and eventually began to trust me. While approaching June’s problem with curiosity and compassion and without any pushing from me, she felt safe enough to reveal her secret.
After enough time had passed and she was comfortable with me, I suggested EMDR therapy. I explained to June that the memories of her trauma remained in her nervous system, and EMDR helped reprocess those old memories, allowing her to feel safe.
I explained that when people experience abuse, they lose their power – my job as her therapist was to empower June and help her see that she can make different choices for her life and body. While EMDR was difficult for June because it brought up painful memories, the process allowed June to look at her pain and suffering differently and more compassionately.
We even worked on physical symptoms that June experienced, and after EMDR, Juned experienced relief. For more information on EMDR, I recommend the following:
Like June – Therapy offers a solution to your trauma.
As seen with June, the trauma trapped inside the nervous system is sometimes hard to express, even though the consequences can impact every aspect of your life.
The first thing to learn is that your feelings are not your fault. Dealing with trauma is not easy, but together, we can identify the cause of your trauma. With EMDR, we can help you put those events where they belong – in the past. Then, you can feel free from those feelings that kept you trapped.
Don’t let past trauma keep you from living your life positively. Let’s work to help you reprocess what you feel.
It starts by contacting us today. We want to be your partner on this path to healing.
*Name and story do not reflect an actual client.