Trauma is a complex condition that creates a change in the way the brain works. A person may experience trauma for various reasons, and their reaction may differ from others. One thing that most people have in common is that some type of past event continues to create challenges and difficulties today.
Trauma-focused therapy aims to address that link. By better understanding the trauma and navigating it with psychotherapy, it may be possible to break the control and impact that past pain has on your daily life.
At The Ranch at Dove Tree, we follow principles of trauma-informed care. That means our treatment facility is meant to be a safe place for you to work through trauma to achieve a better future for yourself.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma occurs in several forms. It happens when there is a disconnect in the way the mind processes an intense, shocking, and severely challenging situation improperly, leaving it to continue to impact your daily emotions and mental health. Some examples of the types of trauma that exist include:
- Acute trauma: This happens after a single type of intense exposure. It may be an act of violence or the experience of living through a natural disaster. You may feel shock and denial, as well as intense fear, after the event.
- Chronic trauma: This form of trauma relates to a person being exposed to stressful and harmful situations over a long period of time. You may feel powerless and stuck where you are, unable to move forward. Examples include domestic violence, neglect as a child, or living in violent areas.
- Complex trauma: This type of trauma occurs with a mix of acute and chronic situations. These events are often very personal, and they occur over time. Abuse from a family member, for example, can lead to this. What makes it complex is that it is not just from one event but from various events.
In each of these situations, a person’s brain cannot process the experience properly. As a result, it continues to impact them for years to come.
Some people are at more risk for trauma than others, including:
- Child and youth
- Adults who are survivors
- First responders
- Recovery workers
- Women and girls at risk from intimate partners
- Victims of family violence
How Trauma-Focused Therapy Works
Trauma-focused therapy does not encourage you to relive those situations. Rather, it is meant to create a way for you to move through it, to allow your brain to properly heal from the experience as it should have.
This type of therapy is very specific to treating the trauma. Your goal may include:
- Learning what that trauma was
- Exploring why it happened and its effects on you
- Understanding why you feel the way you do, validating those feelings as authentic
- Working to manage the impact those events have on you, take
- Slowly moving away from the connection those past experiences have on your day-to-day life
Trauma therapy is always specific to your needs. That is, your therapist will work to understand what happened to you and lead you safely through analyzing and moving beyond that pain.
When Can Trauma-Focused Therapy Help You?
Trauma-focused therapy creates a calming environment that allows you to navigate beyond the pain of trauma. If you have a mental health disorder, and you believe trauma is behind it, this type of therapy can help. Examples include:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Generalized anxiety
- Specific phobias
- Depressive disorders
At its heart, trauma-focused therapy aims to provide hope. To help you process what happened so you can move forward in a healthy way.
How Can Trauma-Focused Therapy Help You
Trauma does not go away. It is some event that impacted you and will continue to be a part of your history. With trauma-focused therapy, we can create a new future. This therapist-led treatment plan will help you with:
- Finding ways to cope with what you are facing on a daily basis
- Provide you with a way to regain a sense of safety
- Offer strategies to guide inner peace
- Alleviate trauma-specific flashbacks and symptoms
- Provide you with a way to validate the way you feel and create a disconnect between that past pain and your daily life
That’s not an easy process to do. Yet, with treatment designed to address your needs, you’ll be able to navigate the process with confidence. We can help you.
Residential treatment programs, as well as intensive outpatient treatment, may offer you the guidance you need. We also offer guidance to those battling co-occurring disorders, often the result of using alcohol or drugs to manage symptoms. Trauma can lead to addiction.
Turn to Ranch at Dove Tree for Care Fitting to Your Needs
Set up a consultation with our team at The Ranch at Dove Tree to explore how we can help you navigate beyond trauma. If you feel that debilitating symptoms are controlled by your past experiences, we can help you take the next step. Contact us now for immediate help.
