Therapy for Trauma

The aftermath of trauma ripples through your life long after the experience is over. It impacts your sense of Self, undermines your feelings of safety in the world, and can make it hard for you to connect with and trust others. It can be caused by a single event or on-going stressors. Sometimes the trauma is easily identified such as abuse, an accident, or loss. Other times, it’s harder to define, stemming from stressors such as a childhood where love felt conditional and needs consistently went unmet.

Even if the memories are no longer at the forefront, the unhealed effects of these overwhelming and unbearable experiences can disrupt your daily functioning.  In everyday life, this might look like:

• Overwhelming emotional reactions, other times feeling numb
• Difficulty trusting others
• Feeling overly insecure in relationships
• Feeling flooded by memories or nightmares
• Feeling the need to be in control at all times
• An inability to allow yourself to slow down and rest
• Self-destructive behaviors
• Difficulty knowing what you need or feeling you don’t deserve to have needs
• Difficulty saying “no” or having boundaries
• Sexual difficulties
• Core feelings of shame and guilt
• Low self-esteem, self-worth, and self-image
• Feelings of emptiness and a lack of aliveness in your life
• Feeling unsafe, on edge, or hyper-vigilant to potential danger
• the list goes on…

These intense responses can leave you feeling at war with yourself. Please know that no matter how long ago the trauma was, healing is possible. I have worked with courageous individuals who, in their adult years, were able to integrate younger wounds.