Therapy provides people with a safe place to discuss challenges and work through problems with a trained professional whose job it is to help you learn strategies to cope with stressful situations, mental health issues, interpersonal conflict, and more.
Trauma-focused therapy is a more specific approach that focuses on understanding traumatic experiences in your past and how they are affecting your mental, physical, emotional, and behavioral well-being today. Ultimately trauma-focused therapy can help you understand and cope with past trauma, process emotions and memories associated with it, and develop strategies and tools to heal and move forward in a healthy way.
Finding the Right Trauma Therapist
Trauma can come in many forms, but some of the most common are exposure to violence (such as physical or sexual violence), death of a loved one, severe accident, serious illness or hospitalization, war, and natural disasters. While many therapists are trained to recognize some of the signs and symptoms of trauma in patients, not all are trained to deal with it effectively. When you’re seeking help to overcome past trauma, it’s important to find a place where therapists and the organization:
- Understand the impact of trauma
- Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in you and your family or loved ones
- Use proven therapies to work toward a path for recovery
- Integrate the knowledge of trauma-focused therapies into all policies and procedures
- Realize the potential for re-traumatization and avoid it
Benefits of Trauma-Focused Therapy
Traumatic experiences can profoundly affect you, sometimes in ways, you may not even be aware of. Often people who experience a traumatic event—even if it was much earlier in your life—experience things like:
- Shock or denial
- Fear and anxiety
- Confusion or difficulty focusing
- Guilt or self-blame
- Sadness and withdrawal from others
- Numbness
- Anger, irritability, or dramatic mood swings
Trauma-focused therapy can help you process these feelings and understand more about why you are feeling a certain way. It is a safe place to discuss what is going on in your life emotionally and physically. Your therapist will work to help you establish safety, identify things that could trigger anxiety or fear, develop skills for coping, and practice ways to process trauma in the future. Since everyone is impacted by trauma in different ways, the approach your therapist takes will depend on your own individual situation.
Trained Therapists to Help You
The therapists at Sunrise Solutions in Sandy are trained in trauma-focused interventions and can help you after experiencing a traumatic event. Call today to learn more about our trauma-focused services.