Trauma Treatment
Are You Living With Unresolved Trauma Or PTSD?
Do intrusive thoughts, nightmares, or flashbacks cause you to re-experience traumatic events from your past?
Are you often hypervigilant or easily startled?
Do you avoid certain situations that might remind you of what happened?
A wide range of mental and emotional health concerns stem from unresolved trauma. Whether you survived something violent and dangerous or you sustained long-term neglect or abuse as a child, you may have developed trauma-related symptoms that, on the surface, appear related to other issues like anxiety and depression. For instance, if you are quick to fear or engage in worst-case-scenario thinking, it’s possible that an unprocessed event from your past is perpetuating a cycle of distress in your life.
If symptoms have become severe enough that they are affecting your work, relationships, and daily life, you may have developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is the result of acute, unresolved distress that remains “trapped” in the body, often presenting as physical symptoms like insomnia, trouble breathing, and muscle tension.
No matter your experience or the severity of symptoms, if you live with the adverse effects of trauma, you deserve to feel better. In treatment for trauma and PTSD at Mindful Mental and Behavioral Health PLLC, you can receive individualized care to help you function better and achieve a sense of peace.
What Is Trauma And Who Is Affected By It?
Trauma is something that will impact all of us at some point or another. Defined as any situation that causes us to feel threatened, unsafe, or underprepared, many different kinds of experiences fall under the category of trauma.
There are “Big T” Traumas, which are characterized as major, life-altering single-incident events in which our sense of security is severely compromised. Examples of Big T Traumas include assaults, attacks, significant injuries, military combat, domestic violence, and other physically harmful situations.
However, “little t” traumas tend to be more widespread, as they stem from ongoing or accumulating stressors that cause a trauma response. These traumas include any instance of childhood abuse and neglect, prolonged illness, the death of a loved one, or witnessing community violence. In these cases, our sense of physical safety is not always compromised, but our sense of emotional safety is.
Many Civilians Live With PTSD
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “PTSD affects 3.6 percent of the U.S. adult population—about 9 million individuals.” Of those meeting the criteria for PTSD, 37 percent experience severe symptoms.
Unfortunately, our society often perpetuates the expectation that we should simply “get over” a traumatic experience because it happened in the past. Furthermore, there remains an outdated notion that PTSD is a diagnosis that only applies to military veterans. Such misconceptions minimize symptoms of PTSD in the general population, preventing those who suffer from receiving meaningful treatment and care.
The body’s trauma response can become so ingrained that symptoms affect us when we’re awake and asleep. Without ever getting a break from the reminders of what happened, we are likely to feel drained and discouraged.
Yet, treatment with a therapist or Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) can be the gateway to overcoming symptoms of trauma for good. By receiving gentle counseling, trauma-informed therapy techniques, and psychiatric medication management services if appropriate, you can enhance your coping skills and feel better.
Treatment For Trauma And PTSD At Mindful Mental And Behavioral Health PLLC
Living with unresolved trauma, you may not get many opportunities to feel safe and supported. Our trauma treatment approach is designed to be gentle and effective so that you no longer experience the effects of PTSD. Working together, we can foster a sense of calm and presence in your life.
What To Expect
You can conveniently self-schedule a free consultation or an intake session with a trauma-informed therapist or PMHNP at our practice. The initial visit will provide you with an opportunity to assess if the provider can best meet your needs. If you are interested in continuing care, ongoing treatment sessions will be scheduled.
In early sessions, your trauma specialist will work with you to understand past trauma(s), presenting symptoms, and goals for therapy or treatment. As you gain a stronger awareness of the internal and external stimuli that trigger your trauma response, you will be able to better identify your window of tolerance and make adjustments as needed. With the coping skills you develop through ongoing counseling, you can establish a toolkit to draw from when distressed or recounting the trauma.
Medication Can Be Helpful For Addressing Trauma
Alongside proven coping and therapy techniques, treatment for trauma and PTSD at Mindful Mental and Behavioral Health PLLC may incorporate psychiatric medication management services with a PMHNP. Antidepressants have been shown to result in positive outcomes when treating symptoms of trauma and PTSD. However, your provider will take many factors into account—including family history and lifestyle—when determining the proper medications for you.
If you’ve lived with the lingering effects of trauma and PTSD long enough, you may not believe that relief is even possible. However, treatment can meaningfully address ongoing trauma-related symptoms, regardless of severity. Working together, you can feel safe and supported to be fully present in the moment instead of stuck in the past.
Still Unsure If Our Trauma Treatment Approach Will Work For You?
I thought PTSD was a condition that only affected war veterans.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder can occur in anyone who experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Examples of traumatic events that result in PTSD include serious accidents, assault or abuse, natural disasters, and other life-altering incidents. Treatment is essential if PTSD symptoms have developed—no matter what the core trauma is.
I’m not the first or only person to experience this kind of trauma—why do I seem to be more impacted than other people?
Our ability to tolerate distress comes from a wide range of unique factors, so our response may look very different from someone who survived the same trauma(s) we did. PTSD symptoms often vary from person to person.
Nevertheless, treatment can help you increase your resiliency. By working with a therapist or PMHNP who will tailor the counseling and/or medication management process to your specific needs and experience, you will be able to build your unique coping toolkit for overcoming symptoms related to trauma and PTSD.
My trauma happened so long ago—why are my symptoms just coming on now? Or why am I still experiencing symptoms all these years later?
When trauma occurs, your brain uses many resources to protect you from emotional, mental, and physical pain. Because of this, PTSD symptoms may be delayed for years as the initial stress response wears off. In these instances, specific triggers may cause people to become aware of suppressed memories years after the traumatic event. Alternatively, symptoms can occur at the time of the trauma and develop into long-term PTSD, with symptoms remaining present for years after the event.
No matter your experience or the severity of your symptoms, individualized therapy and/or psychiatric medication management can greatly enhance your ability to cope with PTSD. Our providers will work closely with you to identify your needs and treatment goals so that we target your unique experience of trauma.
Find Relief From Trauma-Related Symptoms
Trauma treatment through Mindful Mental and Behavioral Health PLLC is designed to target symptoms of trauma and PTSD using proven therapy techniques and/or psychiatric medication management. To get started with one of our therapists or PMHNPs, schedule a free consult now or call (207) 316–2609 if you have any questions.
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