Feel trapped in overdrive – on edge, irritable, ready to snap?
Have distressing or adverse life events caused anxiety, depression, or disconnection?
Do you experience poor concentration or confusion, or feel easily overwhelmed?
Do you need professional help coming to terms with the loss of a loved one?
Do you suffer from trauma related scars, nightmares, or flashbacks?
Do you experience migraine, chronic, or phantom pain?
Do you avoid situations or reminders of the traumatic event?
Are you suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, or depression?
You should know you are not alone.
A study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress revealed that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is perhaps more common than you think. Just over eight percent of people in our community will experience PTSD in their lifetimes, 4.7% within the past year, and 3.8% in the past six month period. When we include those who also suffer following significant trauma but don’t fit typical PTSD criteria, the statistics become as worrying as they are staggering.
According to a study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, the prevalence of PTSD is 8.3%, 4.7%, and 3.8% of the population, over a lifetime, the past year, and the past six month period. Add to this those who don’t fit the PTSD criteria yet face health challenges after enduring adverse life events and the numbers are huge.
This means that millions of Americans just like you are suffering from serious, life-altering signs and symptoms, and they need help to heal and recover.
And as overwhelming and complex as trauma can feel, recovery is possible. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) has been shown to be effective for issues like those mentioned above, and more.
As an article published in The Permanente Journal says, “EMDR therapy provides…an efficient approach to address psychological and physiologic symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences. ” (1)
This means that millions of Americans continue to suffer from the devastating after effects of traumatic experience.
Trauma can alter how the brain functions, and its signs and symptoms can vary from finding it difficult to trust and being constantly on guard, to sudden panic and intrusive, anxiety-ridden thoughts. Trauma, without question, can significantly lessen your quality of life.
And while the signs and symptoms can feel complex and at times overwhelming, feeling better is more than possible. In fact, with trauma therapy we expect you will begin feeling better as we implement our compassionate and client-focused evidence-based techniques and strategies together.
We’ve helped countless people to gain positive ground over their traumatic experiences in our safe, supportive environment. We offer a variety of therapeutic approaches to best support you and work with you as an equal collaborator in your treatment and healing.
So if these sound like you…
– I struggle with anxiety or depression
– I relive traumatic events with accompanying unwanted memories, vivid images, and physical signs like sweating, palpitations, and panic attacks
– I am hyper vigilant or easily frightened
– I feel edgy or irritable often
– I feel like the joy, love, and other positive emotions have been sucked from my life
– I’d like professional help to better understand and cope with previous trauma
– I want to live an easier, happier, more connected life
– You struggle with anxiety or depression
– You relive traumatic events with accompanying unwanted memories, vivid images, palpitations, panic attacks
– You are easily startled, feel on edge or are often irritable
– You have trouble experiencing joy, love or other positive emotions
– Chronic pain is negatively impacting on your life
– You’d like professional help to better cope with previous trauma
– You wish to create an easier, happier, more connected life
…Then trauma therapy or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) could be the right therapeutic approach for you.
Trauma therapy combines different approaches and techniques to help lessen, even eliminate, the painful mental and physical responses raised by the memory of traumatic events, and seeks to create new healthier patterns in your brain.
In trauma therapy, we work with you toward lessening, even extinguishing, the pain. It’s our goal to identify the source and triggers for your emotional and physical suffering, to discuss ways to deal with unhelpful and unhealthy thoughts, behaviors, and to teach you techniques to manage distress and enable you to move forward. If you would like me to show you how to take your next steps down the road of recovery, please contact me today for an appointment.
EMDR is a powerful psychotherapeutic approach that helps lessen, even eliminate, the painful mental and physical responses raised by the memory of traumatic events and seeks to create new healthier patterns in your brain.
In EMDR we work with you through eight critical phases to safely identify the distressing memory or memories and those situations that bring emotional and physical suffering, desensitize your body and brain to harmful responses, and aim for rapid and positive therapeutic change. We teach you techniques to manage stress on your own and enable optimal therapy.
Success with EMDR results in relief from emotional and mental distress, can adjust and redefine beliefs, and contributes to a relaxed and calmer mind and body. If you’d like me to show you how EMDR can help you find new peace, please contact me today for an appointment.