What Is The Best Treatment For Trauma?
Majority of people will experience trauma at some point in their life. If you’re reading this blog, you may have already encountered a traumatic experience and are looking for closure. When we experience trauma, this can result in debilitating symptoms that interfere with daily life. Fortunately, there are mental health experts out there who specialize in preventing many long-term effects associated with traumatic experiences.
What is a traumatic event?
A traumatic event is an occurrence within your life that causes physical, emotional, spiritual or psychological pain. When this happens, it can leave you feeling threatened and afraid. For many people who experience traumatic events, they may be in denial about how this situation truly impacted them. If a traumatic event has affected you or a loved one, regaining emotional and mental stability is one of the most important steps you can take. While a lot of individuals are subjected to traumatic events that change their life, many people do not realize the effects of that trauma until years later.
Examples of traumatic events include but are not limited to:
- Domestic or family violence
- Dating violence
- Community violence (shooting, mugging, burglary, assault, bullying)
- Sexual or physical abuse
- Natural disaster such as a hurricane, flood or fire
- A serious car accident
- A sudden unexpected or violent death involving someone close
- Serious injury
- Major surgery or life-threatening illness
- Political violence
What does unresolved trauma look like?
Unresolved trauma can follow you through life in ways that you may not recognize. As adults, it is easy to forget or alter your perception of the past. While you may think, “My childhood wasn’t that bad”, you may not realize that these old wounds are causing physical and psychological damage. Recognizing the signs of unresolved trauma isn’t always easy. Sometimes people who are struggling in life enter therapy without even realizing that their past trauma is the root of their disruptions.
15 Signs and Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma
It is important to understand that blocking out a traumatic event doesn’t mean that you’re free from harm. The effects of unresolved trauma can be negatively life changing. Unresolved trauma can affect your habits, relationships, family, decision making, and even cause physical pain or disease.
- Anxiety or panic attacks triggered by normal situations.
- The feeling of shame and worthlessness.
- Chronic or ongoing symptoms of depression.
- Avoiding people, places and things that remind you of the traumatic event.
- Flashbacks or nightmares.
- Developing an eating disorder.
- Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
- Feelings of extreme loneliness or detachment.
- Feeling hypervigilant, a constant feeling of being on guard.
- Suicidal thoughts or actions.
- Uncontrollable anger.
- Self harm.
- Inability to tolerate conflicts as you once could.
- Unexplained irrational fears of people, places or things.
If you identify with any of the signs of unresolved trauma above, it may be time to ask yourself if therapy sessions could be a good fit for you. At McNulty Counseling and Wellness, we offer a variety of psychological assistance from traditional therapy, to walk and talk therapy, virtual therapy and Acceptance and Resolution Therapy.
Does trauma ever go away?
Experiencing a traumatic event is never easy and can be life changing. The good news is that you can recover from these traumatic events and live a healthy, happy life. Those who have recovered from trauma are able to successfully live in the present without being overwhelmed by thoughts and feelings of the past. Trauma recovery does not result in a complete absence of those bad memories, but rather a sense of living joyfully with an event that is no longer has control of your emotions or life.
Benefits of Trauma Therapy
Finding a treatment center that can help you recover from a traumatic experience is an important step in regaining your life, no matter how long ago this event may have happened to you. There are many mental health treatment options to help you recover from trauma comfortably. Benefits of trauma therapy include:
- Improved daily functioning
- Focusing on the present instead of the past
- Turning negative emotions and outlooks into positives
- Eliminating or reducing symptoms of trauma or PTSD
- Developing new coping skills to avoid traumatic relapse
- The ability to think about the reality of the event and not feel trapped
There are many skills and healthy coping mechanisms within trauma therapy that can be applied to your daily life. Relationships with friends and family, your outlook on life, and dealing with new events are all positively affected by techniques learned in therapy.
Trauma Therapy in St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida
Most people experience trauma throughout their lifetime. These moments come to define your life. You may find ways to move forward, but sometimes you may find yourself stuck and haunted by the past. It is easy to grow tired of repeating your story, even in traditional talk therapy. This can become re-traumatizing to keep talking about the past. At McNulty Counseling and Wellness, we offer Accelerated Resolution Therapy to help rewire the way you store memories. Relief is immediate and is felt within one session for the majority of our clients. If you are ready to let go of your past traumas and get back to the life you deserve, our team is here to help you get there. Contact us here or call us at 727-344-9867 to begin Accelerated Resolution Therapy or Talk Therapy at our office in St. Petersburg or Tampa, Florida.
