Trauma & PTSD Therapy in Tampa
What is Trauma?
Trauma is a lightning strike. It shatters your sense of safety, leaving you feeling helpless in a threatening world.
Trauma can leave you numb, disconnected, unable to trust others, and it can damage your sense of self. Many trauma survivors feel they are bad, damaged, and shameful. Many even feel responsible for what happened to them.
The effect of trauma is not always permanent or disabling. For many, the distress lasts several weeks or months and resolves naturally. But for others, the impact of trauma does not subside, and some develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
With PTSD, intense and disturbing changes in thoughts, feelings, and memories persist long after the traumatic event occurred. The flashbacks and nightmares, the constant hypervigilance, and the need to avoid reminders of what happened interfere with functioning in many areas of your life.
But even if you never develop PTSD, trauma can leave you changed.
If you have experienced trauma, you are not alone.
70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives (NCMW, 2013), and 7.7 million have been diagnosed with PTSD. (ADAA, 2020)
Counseling Can Help
My Trauma and PTSD Therapy
The right trauma counselor for you is one you can trust and connect with.
I’ll rely on you to tell me what’s going on inside, and you’ll need to trust me enough to do so.
I’ll answer your questions honestly and thoroughly. I’ll respect your hesitation and will never push you when you’re not ready.
Your safety is my primary concern.
Preparation for trauma work is crucial.
Working through trauma can be frightening and re-traumatizing. Before we ever discuss what happened to you, we’ll lay a safe and secure foundation for the healing work to come.
We’ll strengthen your coping skills and implement a self-care plan.
We’ll reinforce your boundaries where needed.
We’ll practice tools to self-sooth and return to the present when triggered or distressed.
Only once you are confident in your ability to address your trauma will we move forward, and when we do, you’ll set the pace.
My Approach to Treating Trauma
Two of the most powerful techniques I use when addressing trauma are EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
EMDR
The damage from trauma occurs when the memories become trapped in a primitive area of the brain, along with the sensations, emotions, and hurtful beliefs that arose when the incident occurred.
EMDR activates the brain's natural capacity to process these memories, releasing them to flow through to the “higher order” area of the brain that regulates emotion.
EMDR “deactivates” traumatic memories, relieves the body of stored traumatic injury, and diminishes the negative beliefs arising from the event.
CBT
CBT focuses on the way in which your beliefs about yourself, others, and the world around you influence your emotions and behaviors.
It encourages the challenging of negative beliefs to relieve the emotional distress and self-defeating behavior they create.
When applied to trauma, CBT helps you reconceptualize your traumatic experience and revise your ideas about yourself and your ability to cope.