Live Life Beyond Traumatic Experience
Live Life Beyond Traumatic Experience
When a traumatic event occurs, its effects can overshadow everything else in your life. Everything from responsibilities of daily life to interpersonal relationships to your job can be affected.
There is no way to predict how trauma will affect you.. Some people suffer the aftermath of a traumatic event immediately after it occurs, while others manage to repress negative emotions until they are all but overflowing.
It is important to seek interventions as early as possible to help mitigate long-term effects of trauma.
Interventions are available. There is a better existence within reach.
What Is Trauma?
Nearly everyone will have stressful life experiences. It is when the event–or a series of events–produces extreme feelings of helplessness, terror, or results in serious injury, or death that it is considered trauma. A traumatic event may be a serious car accident, sexual abuse or assault, or event that caused childhood trauma, such as watching a parent physically assault the other parent.
While trauma is often associated with a singular event, this is not always the case. Long term stress, such as a high-pressure career or prolonged exposure to emotional abuse from a parent or partner can be traumatic.
Trauma can cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) which may result in flashbacks, panic attacks, anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse.
The Role of Trauma Therapy in Addiction Recovery
The effects of trauma can distort thought patterns, self-perception, and a person’s sense of safety and security as well as a multitude of mental health conditions. To combat these negative thoughts and emotions, individuals will oftentimes turn to substances as a coping mechanism.
Subsequently, an addiction may occur.
Symptoms of trauma include hypervigilance, self-destructive or risk taking behaviors, trouble sleeping, flashback of the traumatic event or stressor, irritability, angry outbursts, excess guilt and shame, and being frightened or startled easily.
Not everyone who has experienced trauma will experience all of these signs and symptoms. The effects of trauma present differently in everyone.
In addiction recovery, working through the trauma that was the root of the addiction can help individuals process the events and learn coping skills to manage negative feelings and thoughts. Processing trauma allows the individual to make space for inner peace and mindfulness instead of turning to substances for comfort.
At the same time that underlying trauma is addressed, the individual will undergo therapies to help prevent relapse.
Recovering from trauma is a key piece in long-term healing and sobriety.
The Benefits of Working With a Trauma Therapist
Working with a trauma therapist has numerous benefits in addition to the treatment of substance abuse disorders. Trauma-informed care can help one restore a sense of safety, improve self-esteem, help the patient manage responsibilities of daily life, and improve overall well-being and quality of life.
With the help of a trauma treatment center, you can restore balance and peace in your life and learn to live your life in the present.
Our Levels of Care for Those Suffering from the Effects of Trauma
For those suffering from trauma, feelings of empowerment and autonomy are key to recovery. Our treatment programs are scheduled during the day so that patients can work towards healing without the restrictions of an inpatient environment.
With our outpatient programs, individuals are able to return home or to a sober living arrangement in the evenings and have the flexibility to report to their jobs and tend to family obligations and other responsibilities.
Our trauma therapy programs include:
Individualized Intensive Program (IIP)
IIP is ideal for patients transitioning from a higher level of treatment or an inpatient program. This program offers evidence-based modalities and an integrative approach, but patients still have the flexibility to balance their recovery with responsibilities at work, home, or school.
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
A PHP is an intensive level of outpatient care that’s ideal for patients transitioning from a residential treatment program or IIP. Patients still have the flexibility to tend to work, home, or school but benefit from a structured environment for treatment and care in our welcoming rehab center in Houston.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Our IOP is a good fit for patients who have completed IIP or inpatient treatment but may need more rigorous care than an outpatient program. This program can help patients who have taken the first step toward recovery on their own and need more long-term support, treatment, and accountability.
Outpatient Program (OP)
Mental health treatment programs provide evidence-based behavioral health therapy and psychiatry. A positive community of peer support, family therapy sessions, and a compassionate staff with an individualized, strategic plan. Patients learn skills like positive awareness, coping skills, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness in regular therapy sessions.
Effective Treatment for Trauma Survivors in Los Angeles & Houston
At The Heights Treatment, everyone in our care receives a custom-tailored treatment plan that works towards healing the whole person. Our evidence-based treatment programs include a combination of psychotherapy and talk therapy in both group settings and individual therapy sessions as well as adjunct therapies.
We believe in a holistic approach to trauma recovery so that body, mind, and spirit can heal.
Our therapies include:
FAQs About Trauma & Trauma Informed Therapy
We’ve answered some of your most common questions about trauma treatment.
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a psychotherapy used in many trauma recovery treatment plans. This modality involves movement of the eyes in a specific way while processing traumatic memories. The goal of EMDR therapy is to help the individual heal from traumatic events or other distress.
Can Trauma Cause a Dual Diagnosis?
The effects of trauma can be unbearable and leave the individual unable to cope with daily life In turn, the person may resort to abusing drugs and alcohol to “numb” the pain. This method of self-medication can quickly spiral out of control and result in an addiction.
When both an addiction and a mental health condition co-occur, this is known as a dual diagnosis.
What Happens in a Trauma Therapy Session?
What happens during a trauma therapy session depends on your specific situation and the type of therapy implemented. In some therapies, you will reprocess traumatic events. Other therapeutic modalities will involve self-expression. Others will incorporate self-talk.
No matter the type of therapy for trauma, you will work through the traumatic events and develop coping mechanisms to help you overcome the distress and duress experienced as a result of the trauma.
How Do You Feel After Your First Trauma Therapy Session?
Everyone feels different after trauma therapy. Some people feel an immediate sense of relief, even after their first therapy session. Other people feel a sense of sadness, anxiety, or depression as they recount distressing events. Both of these are completely normal responses to your first experience in trauma therapy.
Trauma therapy is not a one-time fix. It takes time to work through trauma and develop the coping skills necessary to return to a normal disposition.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of PTSD?
Both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (C-PTSD) are a result of experiencing extreme stress, but there are key differentiators in their root cause.
PTSD may be caused by a single traumatic event, while C-PTSD is a result of ongoing trauma that lasts for months or years. C-PTSD can be a result of chronic childhood abuse or neglect, an abusive romantic relationship, or a high-stress career surrounded by death and disease, such as that of a pediatric oncologist.
Both forms of PTSD require holistic, individualized treatment and the guidance of a trauma-informed therapist for the best chance at lifelong healing.
What Types of Trauma Therapy are Most Effective in the Treatment of PTSD?
There is no one singular treatment that is the best therapy for PTSD. Everyone responds to trauma differently, as well as responds to trauma therapies differently. Some people will find that talk therapy like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is most helpful while others will find adjunct therapies such as EMDR, Trauma-informed yoga, or Neurofeedback more helpful.
The best treatment for trauma is the one that works for you as an individual. At The Heights, your care team will create a treatment plan that fits your unique situation so that your therapies are as conducive to your recovery as possible.
The Heights Treatment: Traumatic Memories Don’t Have to Define Your Future.
Living with trauma can feel like you’re not living at all. Feeling stagnant in the aftermath of a traumatic event or after enduring long-term duress can leave you feeling emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually depleted. It can often seem as if there is no way out and no end in sight.
This doesn’t have to be your story.
Recovering from trauma and any co-occurring diagnosis as a consequence of that trauma takes time and emotional fortitude. With the help of the right mental health professionals, you can reap the benefits of trauma therapy and move forward with your life.
If you or a loved one are suffering from the effects of trauma, help is available. While the past may have been cruel, and the future is uncertain, you don’t have to live in either. Call and speak to a member of our team today to learn about trauma therapy so that you can center yourself in the present and relearn to enjoy your life.
