If You Have PTSD, You’ve Survived Something Frightening.
It’s Time To Take Charge Of Your Life Again and Feel Safe
Time doesn’t heal all wounds. Trauma therapy can help you take charge again after something bad has happened to you. You work hard to bounce back, move on and forget what you have been through. Your loved ones may think you are fine, or sense that something is wrong. But if you have survived something terrifying, the echo of what you’ve been through sometimes just keep repeating. You might try to ignore it, or to drown it out, but it bursts forth and disrupts your life. Even though you work courageously and diligently to get on with a happy, productive life, you keep hearing that echo. This echo that you are hearing might be one of the common signs of trauma: avoidance, distractibility, bursts of anxiety, anger or shame. Any of these might be signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and PTSD therapy can help.
When you try to talk about it with loved ones, it can be hard to explain what having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is like. This difficulty in finding the right words makes recovering from trauma feel lonely. It’s hard to explain things like how you feel startled or triggered by things that you think shouldn’t bother you. It’s hard to explain nightmares, flashbacks or mood swings that linger sometimes years later. You struggle to keep your reactions in check.
When it comes to the symptoms you experience, your loved ones may be very aware of the ways you struggle, or they may have absolutely no idea about the scars you are carrying with you. And that can feel invalidating or hurtful.
Specialized PTSD Therapy Can Help You Feel More In Control.
It’s not your fault. Sometimes in life, all it takes is one frightening event to shake your psychological well being. There are accidents, illnesses, natural disasters and acts of violence that can leave an emotional mark. So can war and crime. An early traumatic experience, childhood trauma, or a repetitive experiences like child abuse can effect how you see yourself and warp your sense of stability and perspective of normalcy. Traumatic events can create a painful impact, making you feel that you have little control over your feelings and how you respond to situations in life. You may be so overwhelmed with chaotic feelings that you don’t understand what’s happening to you on an internal level.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, happens when you’ve experienced a traumatic or life-changing event, and your mind and body keep experiencing it over and over. You might not even be aware that it’s happening; why you feel so unstable and out of control.
Do You Find Yourself Overreacting?
Perhaps small things easily stress you out, and you have to work to keep an even keel. Moodiness, waves of anxiety, or irritability buffet you about.
That’s common with PTSD and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
Maybe you struggle to keep your reactions hidden and wonder if there’s something wrong with you. You are not sure why you get so triggered. You just want to feel calm and grounded.
Maybe people have had to repeatedly remind you that everything is fine and told you to calm down. You might find yourself wishing you could let your guard down, react normally, and feel at peace.
You Are Not Alone. No Matter How Much It Feels That Way.
Psychological Trauma Is More Common Than You Think
About 7-8% of the US population suffers from PTSD. While some individuals looking for help know they have a history of trauma, others don’t make the connection. It’s estimated that 90% of people in therapy go undiagnosed and unaware of past traumas they’ve experienced.
Common symptoms that indicate you should consider PTSD Therapy are:
- You are particularly vulnerable to stress
- You suffer from chronic physical complaints like headaches, G.I. problems, sleep problems
- You overreact or under-react
- You struggle with chronic anger, anxiety, worry, shame or depression
There are many ways we can experience trauma. One single terrible event, such as a car accident or a difficult childbirth, can be enough to have a lasting impact. While you may reason that it was a “one-time thing” and you should be able to get over it, it’s still a traumatic experience and cannot be minimized. There are no set rules or timelines on how to handle it in a healthy manner.
It isn’t just severe experiences that leave their mark on our brains, bodies and nervous systems. Not receiving enough care, support, nurturing and guidance can leave us feeling constantly on alert.
That leads us to another important kind of trauma. Another way we can experience trauma is through a repeated event or life condition. Child abuse or neglect, living with an alcoholic parent or spouse, and even bullying are enough to turn a solid foundation into shaky ground. Rebuilding that foundation can get interrupted because you may not know what a solid foundation looks like. If that’s the case you may be suffering from what we call “complex trauma” or “C-PTSD”.
Whatever traumatic experience you’ve gone through, your PTSD symptoms are valid. The effects of trauma become lodged in our bodies and our brains. So, it’s understandable that your mind is firing on all cylinders. Working with someone who specializes in PTSD Therapy is critical to gaining the education you need to understand what’s happening, and the skills you need to change it.
Trauma Treatment: Indispensable Help For Healing And Moving Forward
While general “talk” therapy can be beneficial to helping us work through their our issues, working with a specialist, a therapist who’s skilled in trauma treatment is essential. Because trauma shapes our nervous system, the process of effective therapy is a little bit different. By design it is more effective when working with those of us who have lived through traumatic experiences.
How is Trauma therapy different? Trauma impacts the function of our nervous system. When we start talking about our experiences, our nervous system begins to relive the event all over again at a physiological level. We may then experience sweaty palms, a racing heartbeat, clenched jaws, tightened fists, and other stress reactions throughout our body. We might freeze up when talking. Many times during therapy, the patient freezes and is unable to move forward. Imagine a scratched vinyl record – the needle stays stuck in the area that is scratched, unable to move on, only playing the particular piece that’s scratched.
Effective Trauma Therapy = Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms.
What you get from me is support, guidance and 20 years of trauma treatment experience. Help is available. Together, we can build skills to help you feel calm, centered and grounded. I’ll work with you to soothe and stabilize your nervous system using proven P.T.S.D. regulation techniques. Step by step, I’ll help you escape threatening feelings and establish a place of safety. Once we’ve calmed your nervous system, we’ll be able to move on to the next stage of processing and resolving your experience. Through healthy trauma processing, it is possible to resolve traumatic experiences that haunt you. You will no longer confuse the present time with the past.
In my clinical career, I’ve seen PTSD therapy help my patients get to the roots of their trauma and heal them. For 20 years, I have worked with clients with PTSD and Complex PTSD. I have taught them how to understand their trauma, how it’s affected them, and helped them develop the skills they need to manage their condition. I’ve helped clients learn how to feel calm and grounded and safe.
Based on personal experiences, I understand how it feels to have something terrible happen to you and to feel unsafe. I know the importance of resolving those issues – truly putting them to rest-and I know that even the most upsetting experiences can be done forever.
“PTSD Therapy” Might Sound Scary.
You May Feel Hesitant to Seek Trauma Treatment…And Deprive Yourself Of The Relief You Want
Maybe you’ve been avoiding the healing process because you’re not sure where to start. While you may think you’re up against a mountain, all it takes is one step in the right direction. I can help guide and support you in taking your next steps toward healing – until you’re at a place where your past experiences stay in the past. Even if they do resurface, you they won’t have control over you.
You may be afraid of reliving the trauma. But it’s important to know that may not be necessary. Everyone’s journey to healing is different; there are ways of finding trauma resolution without having to relive those moments. We’ll work together to shape the timing, structure, and to create a plan for therapy that meets you where you are in your journey of healing. Even when processing old trauma, many of my clients have said the process is much easier than they ever imagined.
Maybe you’re not sure if you have the time or the money. PTSD therapy is an investment and you will always carry your new skills and renewed peace of mind. There is a lifelong cost to trying to bury trauma and many people pay this cost with unnecessary depression, anxiety, anger or chronic health issues.
The investment you make in your healing will benefit you, your loved ones and your children. You will have the education and will know what to do when past trauma creeps up on you. You will no longer feel threatened by something that occurred in the past. You’ll be able to process and move forward.
DOES ONLINE PTSD TREATMENT WORK? IS IT AS EFFECTIVE?
Many of my clients tell me they find it more helpful than in-person therapy. This might be the case for you. Online therapy allows you to be in your own environment. You can be in your own home and have things around you that help you feel calm. You also avoid a commute.
Other clients tell me they value getting out of their homes and coming to an appointment in my office. They like the experience of being in an office setting and find it comforting to see me sitting nearby. Most therapy modalities can be available and successful using online therapy. Part of the intake assessment we’ll do is spent determining whether in-person, online or hybrid appointments will be recommended for you.
With PTSD Therapy, You Can Feel Good and Safe. You Can Go From “Just Surviving” To Thriving
Take the first step towards freedom from trauma.
All it takes is that first step.
That’s what progress is all about. Taking it one step at a time- and you don’t have to do it alone. There are PTSD treatments that work, and I’m happy to discuss with you your PTSD treatment options
If you’ve been struggling with PTSD, I invite you to schedule an initial consultation. While this is a step you have to take yourself, I’ll be there to help you with the next steps. We can discuss PTSD therapy and my trauma treatment practice in the Bay Area.
NEW CLIENT? BOOK YOUR 90-MINUTE INTAKE HERE
On occasion, some clients are hesitant to commit to therapy because of a specific concern or question they have. If this is the case for you, and you would like to clear up something before setting up your 90-minute intake session, you may qualify for a free 15-minute phone consultation.