Free yourself from the weight of the past.
Therapy To Process The Trauma
Exclusively Online Therapy & Telehealth throughout Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts and Indiana.
I help people who find that the past keeps repeating itself ranging from general mistakes, to relationships, to parenting despite the work they’ve already put in.
The past can sneak up on you and hit you like a freight train. However you can process that trauma so when it sneaks up you barely acknowledge it and little to no physical or emotional response.
Dealing with your past can potentially allow you to:
Trust your partner, without always second guessing them or yourself
Be assured that you are not repeating your parents patterns
Live more in the present moment, instead of the past
Recognize when the past was intruding on the present, catch it quickly and cope with it in ways that make you proud, rather than ashamed
Be able to leave the past in the past without it jumping into your present uninvited
According to American Psychological Association (n.d.) trauma is defined as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.” (para. 1)
Trauma in the therapy world can consist of two types: the large type of trauma that most people recognize which is defined in the paragraph above, as well as the smaller traumas, or what some people refer to as a “little t” trauma. The “little t” traumas can be everyday occurrences that are bad but not something that most would describe as “traumatic.” These “little t” traumas can be anything from watching a scary movie to being fired from a job to being scared while trick-or-treating, etc. While the world may tell you “it’s not that bad,” “suck it up,” “gosh you’re so dramatic,” etc these “little t” traumas can still be big for you and need to be treated like any other trauma.
Traumas, no matter how large or small, can affect you.
The longer you go without getting support the more you risk traumas stacking up on top of each other making them what can be called “compound trauma.” This type of trauma can make it more difficult to treat and take a little more time than processing a recent trauma. However, together we can work at getting through these past traumas to allow you to finally breathe and feel free from the chains that are weighing you down to your past.
1st Degree of Change Therapy offers online trauma therapy in Arizona, Florida and Massachusetts to enables you to understand and integrate their traumatic events, reducing intensity of trauma symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, and anxiety. By working through the emotions and memories associated with trauma in a safe and supportive environment, you can rebuild a sense of control and empowerment over their lives.
Schedule a free consultation today so we can talk about how things can change for you.
Let’s make change together
Trauma Therapy With Me Will Look Like:
Assess
In today’s world information is available instantaneously. Therefore, I recognize that a lot, not necessarily all, of people have at least looked up trauma or ptsd and tips to help with it. So instead of attempting to reinvent the wheel we’ll see what skill you already have as well as what does and doesn’t work for you.
Create A Game Plan
You can’t reach a target if the target was never put on the range. The same is true for trauma therapy - you can’t achieve goals in therapy unless you’ve set them. Together we’ll create large goals that will take a while, as well as small goals that will be achieved in a shorter amount of time. This way as you make small progress you’ll see it and be able to celebrate the awesome person that you are!
Sarcasm, Dark Humor & Work
“Sarcasm is my love language” is a quote I hear from clients frequently. And guess what? It’s mine too. When you’re dealing with the weight of the world it’s hard not to develop a dark humor or sarcasm. So let’s use it and have fun with it - trauma and ptsd therapy is hard enough without having to hide a part of yourself. We’ll have fun - but we’ll also work. It’s not always going to be easy but my goal is that everyone that I meet with will at least think it was work their time to come here.
Common Questions About Trauma & Trauma Therapy
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According to American Psychological Association (n.d.) trauma is defined as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.” (para. 1)
American Psychological Association (n.d.). Trauma. Retrieved July 30, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma#
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All PTSD is trauma however not all trauma is PTSD. PTSD is a response to trauma that creates difficulty in your life with symptoms such as flashbacks, hypervigilance, feeling on edge, avoiding certain situations to a clinically significant degree (meaning it’s causing issues in your life). Two people can experience the same trauma and one can develop PTSD and the other not. It’s all about how their brain processes the trauma.
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The evidenced-based therapy technique I use is called Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). We will talk more in-depth about this process during the consultation however to make a long story short - no you don’t need to go into great detail with this technique. I need to know a little bit about what is going on to make sure there’s progress being made and you’re not stuck somewhere in your subconscious - however a sentence or two max is typically all I ever need.