Trauma Work

It’s hard to forget a traumatic event.

It doesn’t matter if the event happened last month or 20 years ago, once or daily throughout your childhood. Our nervous system remembers, and the brain remembers.

The slightest experience can trigger a feeling as if you are back in that traumatic moment, and it keeps occurring over and over.

When those feelings arise, your heart begins to race, you can’t catch your breath, and you feel easily startled and jumpy, waiting for the next event.

Shutting off your brain’s noise seems impossible.

You feel like you are stuck constantly in fight or flight mode and can become easily overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, and panic.

That trauma can cause you to have re-occurring nightmares to the point of fearing going to sleep only to be woken up in a pool of sweat by night terrors.

You need constant background noise to function. Therefore, you can’t sleep without a fan and the TV because the noise in your head doesn’t let up.

Not all traumas look the same.

Trauma takes so many different forms. We think of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as something commonly seen in combat veterans returning home from war. But PTSD can occur after a severe accident, an assault, a home fire, or a natural disaster.

Complex PTSD can occur in those exposed to multiple traumas over months, years, or decades.

Growing up in a chaotic or abusive household or being in a mentally or physically abusive relationship are examples of some of the complex traumas I have helped treat.

Overcoming the assault was not easy for Sarah*.

Sarah came to me seeking help working through an event from her past that continued to affect her over 20 years later. She felt so much shame after her assault that she told no one and tried to deal with it by just keeping busy, just keep moving.

Years passed, and she had put the event out of her mind. Then, she met someone who would later become her husband, began a family, and forged a thriving but demanding career.

On the surface, Sarah appeared to have it all. Little did she know how much that event had changed her life and nervous system.

Sarah began to notice at 50 years old with two now-grown children that her memories of past events were coming up again in her dreams and affecting her marriage, her relationships with coworkers, and her family.

John* felt the walls closing around him.

He reached out for help when, as an adult, those feelings started to surface. His events from the past were affecting his life in ways he did not comprehend. John struggled in his work setting, enraged by simple remarks from coworkers or any loud noise that made him panic. Crowded spaces overstimulated him, and he was in a constant state of fear outside the house.

John had been bullied and tormented in middle school and high school by classmates. He continued to fear criticism, loud voices, and yelling. And everything began to feel like screaming.

In his late teens, John started experimenting with drugs and alcohol to quiet the constant noise in his head. Now clean and sober for over five years, he couldn’t understand why these events from childhood were still affecting him. He thought these nightmares would stop when he took the drugs and alcohol out of the equation.

Time helps, but therapy heals.

*Both Sarah’s and John’s stories are composites of actual clients. I have helped them work through their painful memories from the past. Whether a single event caused your trauma or a series of many painful events over your lifetime, trauma work can help you heal from the painful reminders of the past.

In the cases of John and Sarah, they attempted to drown out their painful memories from the past by keeping so busy they didn’t have time to think. PTSD leads many down a dark path of substance abuse, impulsive or risky behaviors, and depression.

There is hope. Trying to forget about it or staying busy only works for so long – until it stops working.

Through evidence-based talk therapy practices like Trauma-Informed Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Internal Family Systems Therapy, or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, together we can help you heal from these painful memories and stop the nightmares or flashbacks.

Sometimes trauma work involves telling and re-experiencing your story while remaining in a calm body. I will teach you skills and grounding techniques that reduce the feelings of your heart beating out of your chest. You’ll develop an awareness of how your painful event has caused you to view the world through the lens of fear and panic. You’ll learn to identify triggering situations and messages and create a plan to cope with each one.

Let’s help you overcome your trauma.

While all of this sounds daunting and terrifying, I will support you every step of the way and go at your own pace.

Most importantly, I will respect your story and your experiences and help you learn that your trauma does not define you.

Contact me today, and let’s discuss how I can help you overcome the trauma that keeps interfering with your life.