Trauma Therapy and EMDR
The Journey from Trauma to Healing
Do you find that your past trauma haunts you? Whether it is at work in relationships or doing everyday things, you feel like your trauma is always hovering over you. It is robbing you of living the life you want to live. When joy seems to be around the corner, your trauma reminds you that you can’t experience it. Maybe, your trauma has caused you to go off into the deep end to try to numb it whether with substances or other addictive behaviors. Even people who you know are trustworthy experience you backing away because your body is registering fear.
Fortunately, trauma therapy—and EMDR in particular— can help heal your wounds so that you can move from merely surviving to a life of joyful thriving. If you’re ready to begin your journey of healing, then simply fill out the form to schedule your free 15-minute consultation with Clifton.
Schedule a free 15-min consultation to learn how Clifton can help you heal from trauma.
What is EMDR therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a type of psychotherapy that deals with trauma and the emotional responses associated with traumatic experiences. It is well researched and proven to help people suffering from trauma and other distressing life experiences such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders. When a traumatic event happens in one's life, they can still have a picture of the event that brings up emotions, body sensations, and negative beliefs associated with the traumatic event. This event can in turn be locked into one's body due to not being properly processed. In other words, this event is locked into their right brain where the amygdala is located that produces flight, fight, and freeze responses. The goal of EMDR therapy is to bring up the trauma so that it can be properly processed and so the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is resolved.
If you or a loved one have experienced trauma and are considering therapy, I’m here to help. I would love to share more about EMDR and my approach to trauma therapy on a free 15-minute consultation call.
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
When it comes to PTSD, there can be a lot of symptoms. Before I list some of the symptoms, it is important to say here that even if you do not have PTSD you can still benefit from trauma therapy. In other words, all trauma needs to be dealt with and can affect your life even if it doesn’t lead to PTSD symptoms. Below are some of the symptoms for PTSD.
Avoidance: Avoiding memories, thoughts, feelings, people, places, activities etc. closely associated with the traumatic event.
Recurring reminders: whether dreams, flashbacks, or intrusive memories of the traumatic event.
Mood and Cognition: Negative alterations in mood and thoughts due to traumatic event.
Reactivity: sleep disturbance, irritability/angry outburst, hypervigilance, problem with concentration associated with the trauma.
Duration: More than one month of disturbance.
Could my addiction be related to my trauma?
The quick answer is absolutely yes it can. Addiction doesn’t happen in vacuum as if one day you just decided you would become addicted to substances or porn and other unwanted sexual behaviors. Every person I have counseled always has some form of trauma that has played a role in cultivating the addiction in their life. Whether it is through EMDR or talk therapy, the trauma must be dealt with in order for healing to begin. The journey of trauma therapy is about teasing out your story together in a safe, healing process so you can go from surviving to thriving.
Get to know Clifton
My goal is to be a fellow traveler with those who struggle. Together we can understand how you got there and we can discover a path forward in order to achieve freedom from your struggle to a better life. Addiction takes a devastating toll on the struggler, the partner of the struggler, and the families. I know this firsthand, and would love to help you. Read more of Clifton’s story.