Have you spent years trying to forget one or more traumas that have occurred in your past, but the pain of the memories keeps resurfacing and affecting your daily life?
Maybe you have thought that need PTSD treatment for a while but have been afraid of what you may have to feel to heal. Perhaps you find yourself frequently triggered by people or things and have arranged your life to avoid anything that might make you remember. Do you have frequent nightmares and find yourself afraid to go to sleep? Does the very thought of the memory of the event cause your body to react in fear? Have you been thinking of getting trauma counseling for years but find yourself unable to make the call out of fear that you will reexperience memories and sensations that you would just like to forget?
If you are reading this page, then you or someone you know have reached a point of asking for help. You may have tried everything you can think of but still cannot shake the haunting memories. You desperately want to feel at peace and move forward in your life, but circumstances keep reminding you of what you would like to forget.
The rest of the world only now seems to be understanding what Trauma Therapists have known for a long time.
Trauma informed care has become a new buzzword in the medical industry and illustrates our new understanding that everyone experiences trauma in their lives, and that it affects every layer of human functioning, i.e., physical, social, emotional, mental, occupational and energetic areas. Perhaps you have tried counseling in the past and have found it helpful, but you still find yourself struggling with past memories of abuse. The problem may be is that many therapists have not been trained in techniques that address trauma specifically. If we do not have a good working understanding of the underpinnings of trauma, we are missing a big piece of our clients’ lives!
The best definition I have heard of trauma is “the energetic intensity of an event was greater than one’s capacity to cope at the time of the event, and so a disruption was created in the mind/body system.” This disruption effects a very old portion of our neurology that does not even primarily operate in our brain! You may have heard the idea that our gut is now considered our second brain. Well, it is true. The Vagus Nerve, which sits right below the diaphragm, is responsible our traumatic responses. Trauma operates at the same level we get the term “fight or flight”. Highly effective PTSD treatments such as EFT and Poly Vagal Therapy can target trauma where it lives.
Oftentimes people think of traumatic events as being one-time disruptive events, like being in fire fight while at war, a major car accident or a rape. While this is true, it is not the whole truth. A good way to think of trauma is to think of both Capital “T” trauma and lower-case “t” trauma. Capital “T” traumas are what people normal think of trauma, like mentioned above, singular horrible events. Lower-case “t” traumas are a collection of little disruptions that build up over time. For example, this could include living in a violent neighborhood all one’s childhood or living in an abusive home. Imagine experiencing the threat of violence every day. While actual violent events may be rare, living in a space where something bad might happen every day can be considered a small “t” trauma.
Take a breath😊
When working with a knowledgeable PTSD counselor, you can learn skills to gently and steadily downregulate and integrate these disruptive memories. It is possible to view these past events as stories in a book that you can choose to read or choose not read, rather than the disjointed mess of sensations, thoughts and images they appear as now.
Effective PTSD Treatment can retrain your nervous system and help you stay focused on the present moment of your life rather than regretting the past and being fearful of the future.
We now understand that when a traumatic event occurs, it fragments our memory system. The images, smells, sounds, sensations, thoughts and emotions that normally integrate with memory become shattered. The separated aspects of memory keep our nervous system in a perpetual fight or flight mode. One primary job of the Vagus Nerve is to keep us safe. With major capital “T” traumas, or many lower-case “t” traumas, the Vagus Nerve becomes fooled into thinking we are in perpetual danger. It is always on the lookout for events and situations that could cause us harm. Another word for this is anxiety. Eventually another aspect of the Vagus System takes pity on us and will kick us over into the freeze mode, like from “fight or flight to freeze”. Other words for this could be depression, dissociation or checking out. Without proper treatment, child or sexual abuse victims will often find themselves in this never-ending back and forth between anxiety and depression. Indeed, they are not really separate things, just different functions of our nervous system. Depression and Anxiety are the front and back of the same coin!
With new research and understanding in a field called in memory reconsolidation, we understand that a memory can actually be changed each time we access it. This can be good or bad depending upon the context the memory is accessed. This is why some treatments for PTSD can actually retraumatize a person. A properly trained trauma counselor, however, can micro target traumatic events and actually change how the memory is stored!
Why work with me?
I am trained in a number of trauma therapies including Emotional Freedom Techniques and Poly Vagal Therapies. I have extensive experiences working overseas with the United States Army serving soldiers and families and currently do a lot of work with combat veterans through the VA. I also specialize in helping clients heal from sexual and child abuse traumas that may have occurred throughout their lives. I have an ability, both innately and honed through years of practice, to safely and stably hold the space for a client to find the courage the demons from their past. I will respond intuitively and compassionately to your pain and it services, keeping you within your window of tolerance where healing best takes place.
You may still have some fears about addressing your traumas in therapy.
I don’t want to relive the memories I have been trying so hard to forget.
PTSD treatment is not about reliving your bad memories. Indeed, on some level you have been reliving them every day since they occurred. Yes, we will micro target your traumatic memories and there will be some pain to face.
If I don’t think about them, they will eventually go away.
I truly wish this was the case. Unfortunately, our research and understanding of trauma, and the fact that you have read this far, suggest the opposite. Traumatic memories do not go away, they drop into the background and vibrate. They are always trying to come home and be released. Left ignored, they can adversely affect every aspect of our lives.