Trauma Therapy
Trauma Therapy: What is Trauma?
Trauma is any experience that emotionally overwhelms you and makes you feel unsafe. Sometimes trauma is a single event, such as a natural disaster or being assaulted. Other times, trauma happens over a longer period of time, such as abuse in childhood or domestic violence. The majority of people experience at least one traumatic event in their lives. Trauma can disturb your emotions, sense of self, and body.
The Impact of Trauma
If you have experienced trauma, it may impact how you deal with stress, conflict, and relationships. In addition, trauma tends to increase your chances of developing mental health conditions such has depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (PTSD). Even if a trauma survivor does not meet full criteria for a mental disorder, they may have trouble in work, relationships, and self-esteem because their traumatic experience(s) have made it hard to trust others or deal with rejection and uncertainty. Many trauma survivors struggle to have a stable sense of self-worth because these experiences, especially when they’re earlier in life, can lead to a scarcity mindset and a constant sense that something bad is bound to happen.
Why It’s Difficult to Get Help for Trauma
Trauma is not necessarily something that people are aware of. I’ve worked with many clients who were not aware that a past experience was impacting the way they function today. This is understandable and normal. If you think about it, trauma is not something that families talk about openly and we as a culture and society do not talk about traumatic experiences openly (though thankfully, that is changing). Trauma is often shrouded in secrecy because of the fear of judgment and shame. Or, there may be some denial of what happened because it’s very painful to be honest about a terrible experience and how it shaped a person’s life. Even when clients enter therapy with me to receive help for current concerns, they tend to minimize how they were affected by the past. Again, all of this is normal, human, and understandable. In my experience, trauma survivors also struggle with accepting that they are impacted by trauma. They often have thoughts such as:
“I should be over this by now.”
“I must be weak if this is affecting me as an adult.”
“Other people go through worse things so why should this bother me?”
Although these reactions are understandable, they reinforce the unhelpful idea that a person is weak for having mental health problems or needing to process a difficult experience.
How Trauma Therapy Can Help
In general, the impact of trauma is reduced when a person can discuss their experiences in a safe and supportive space. When survivors finally put into words what they’ve been through and how it has affected them, the difficult emotions that arise can be felt and released. The painful memories and experiences a person has been avoiding can be faced. When a person looks at their trauma experiences head-on and finds that they can survive facing them, it can affirm that the memories may not be as scary as they thought and strengthen their resolve to heal.
Types of Trauma Therapy
Some people feel better after discussing their traumatic experience and releasing difficult emotions. In my experience, however, this alone is not enough to help a person change and move forward in life. For individuals impacted by trauma, I may suggest a specific trauma therapy such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), or Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET). These therapies are structured approaches that increase safety and provide a roadmap for healing. They are evidence-based and their efficacy has been established with people of many different racial backgrounds.
EMDR
The premise of EMDR is that when a person can focus on their traumatic memory while engaging in some form of bilateral stimulation, the intensity and emotionality of the traumatic memory decreases over time. Bilateral stimulation refers to movements, tapping, or listening to audio. Eye movements are the most frequently used form of stimulation. An example of eye movements is following with your eyes a dot on your computer screen that moves back and forth. Another example of eye movements is watching your therapist move a marker back and forth. An example of bilateral stimulation using tapping, is the butterfly hug, which is crossing your arms and placing your hands on or near your collarbone and gently tapping back and forth with your hands. An example of audio bilateral stimulation is listening to beeps that play in one ear and then the other and then back and forth. In EMDR, the therapist and client work together to explore different times of stimulation and find a few that work well for the client.
CPT
Cognitive Processing Therapy is a version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that is structured to facilitate an examination of unhelpful beliefs that formed because of a traumatic experience. These unhelpful beliefs often keep a person stuck in depression, anxiety, substance use, and/or non-growth. The unhelpful beliefs tend to be reflected in unhealthy relationships and low self-regard. The goal of CPT is to help a person become aware of their beliefs and challenge them one by one. The person (not the therapist) gets to decide which beliefs they’ll keep, discard, or modify.
NET
Narrative Exposure Therapy (not to be confused with Narrative Therapy) has a person tell their whole life story. This allows a person to think about their lives as a series of chronological events, many of which did not necessarily have anything to do with their traumatic experiences. This perspective can facilitate the notion that a person is more than their trauma, which can be helpful to those whose identities have been dominated by their traumatic experience(s). In addition, in NET, a person narrates their traumatic events in detail. The therapist supports this narration by asking questions about their emotions, thoughts, and any sensory information they can recall. This is a helpful activity because when a person talks about trauma in the present moment and in a safe and supportive space, traumatic memories are reprocessed. When traumatic memories receive this treatment, they are less powerful, meaning they elicit less intense emotions, fewer negative thoughts, and lower anxiety and avoidance.
Trauma Therapy: Post-Traumatic Growth
We all know the term post-traumatic stress. Have you heard of its counterpart, post-traumatic growth? This refers to how a person grows, becomes resilient, and makes meaning from their challenging experiences. This is an important concept to weave into trauma therapy because the ultimate goal of good therapy isn’t just to reduce the problems associated with trauma but also to help a person grow in positive ways. Post-traumatic growth may take many forms. Some survivors clarify what a meaningful life looks like for them and actively work towards realizing that. Some may come to recognize their unique strengths and abilities and allow those to be sources of esteem and pride. Yet another example might be deliberately practicing an appreciation for the life they have now, including their positive relationships, opportunities, and joyful experiences. Post-traumatic growth doesn’t look the same for everyone but it’s an important focus that comes after reducing the pain of trauma.
Hi, I’m Chu Hui, aka Dr. Cha.
I provide trauma therapy online to people in California.
I have a lot of experience in trauma therapy and I know it’s difficult to reach out for help. I hope to make your next steps as easy as possible. When starting trauma therapy, it’s important to find a therapist who is a good fit for you. I encourage you to read more about me, and if I seem to be a good fit for you, start by booking a free consultation.
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”
