Trauma & PTSD
Any negative event in your life can be perceived as traumatic.
Suffering from an illness or injury.
An abusive relationship.
Loss of a loved one.
An accident, and so many other distressing experiences.
It feels like traumatic memories are always chasing you.
No matter where you go, the triggers are everywhere.
The crowd at the shopping mall can put you in panic mode.
The news on TV can make your heart begin to race.
A snippet of a song that you heard while driving the car brings you back to a place you don’t want to be.
Someone you saw at the grocery store takes you back to a certain time and place.
A specific smell or a piece of clothing can jar memories you thought were buried.
You don’t feel emotionally safe anywhere!
And when you come across these triggers…
You become on-edge, hypervigilant, and anxious.
You get angry, irritable, and frustrated.
You feel afraid, stressed, and tired.
You feel dizzy, nauseous, and sweaty.
This cascade of emotions is extremely painful and distressing.
You try so hard to disconnect or cope…
But the pain doesn’t go away. There’s the…
Avoidance…
Of certain places, situations, and people to help alleviate the anxiety, but this leads to further isolation and maintains the anxiety.
Emotional numbing…
Avoiding thoughts, feelings, and conversations that would trigger overwhelming emotions.
Self-doubt…
Sometimes you find yourself over-trusting and under-trusting others, contributing to boundary and self-worth issues.
Distractions…
You want to soothe yourself, so you do it with work, disordered eating behaviours, social media, etc.
And even though they bring you some temporary relief, the trauma keeps rearing its evil head. Does it feel like you’re going crazy?!
You want to move on, and you can…
Therapy will provide a safe space to process your trauma. Here’s how I can help:
Utilizing grounding strategies so that you can soothe yourself…
Here are a few ways to detach from this emotional pain:
Physical grounding uses five senses to deal with the distress (such as ‘54321 grounding,’ body scan)
Mental grounding (such as describing your environment in detail and visualizing a calm space)
Self-soothing grounding (such as saying kind statements and positive self-affirmations)
Connecting to uncomfortable emotions so that you can healthily regulate them…
Learning to identify the emotions, contextualize these emotions, understand the function of these emotions, and learn coping skills to reduce vulnerability to your emotions
Practicing mindfulness so that you can focus on the present…
Learning to focus on the present and observe your thoughts, emotions, and body sensations, nonjudgmentally, mindfully, and effectively. Make decisions that move you toward your goals.
Challenging the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that no longer serve you…
When you experience trauma, you often develop unhealthy ways of reacting in areas of safety, trust, self-esteem, and responsibility. For instance, in the therapy sessions, we will identify your negative thoughts about your view and sense of safety around yourself and others.
You CAN feel liberated and empowered!
You can reconnect with yourself, stop second-guessing yourself, acknowledge and validate your emotions, gain clarity through new perspectives, and prioritize and care for yourself.
It is extremely painful to deal with old traumatic memories that you have been suppressing. It may seem easier to avoid these memories, but it would mean further isolation, depression, pain, and psychological distress.
Live your life to the fullest. It’s time to let go of the pain of the past and make a change.
When you’re ready, reach out for a free consultation to see how I can help: (289) 207-7969 or (705) 471-2761.