PTSD and Trauma Disorders
Therapy for PTSD and Trauma Disorders
Get the mental health treatment you deserve in person or from the comfort of your own home.
Mental health treatment should begin where you are and with your needs. We believe that mental health starts with your thoughts, but it doesn’t end there. Mental health should include how you feel, how your body feels, and everything that’s happening around you. That’s why we take a completely holistic approach.
That’s why we focus on what’s going on in your life through tailored, 1:1 individual therapy that you can do right from the comfort of your own home or in person. It’s designed for you, by you.
You don’t have to figure out all the answers by yourself. You can and should have the life you want.
Think you may have experienced trauma?
Trauma can look like a lot of different things. If you believe that you’ve experienced trauma, take an assessment to find out more.
Trauma disorders can start in many different ways.
Trauma disorders can stem from major and significant terrible events, but can also start from a set of enduring conditions that were hard or difficult.
Trauma disorders are a collection of behaviors and beliefs designed to help protect us from strong emotional responses, dangers in our environment, and defenses designed to make sense of what has happened.
Trauma disorders can happen to anyone, regardless of age, sex, gender, or social class.
Mental Health Treatment on Your Terms
Manage Your Symptoms
The symptoms of trauma can cause significant distress in our lives and relationships. The things that we have used to keep ourselves safe stop being helpful, but become part of us. Learn how to identify and challenge those symptoms.
Explore Your Past
Many people have an idea of how their trauma history started, but sometimes things can be more complicated. Sometimes, our life before these events can lay the ground for these experiences to take root and become a significant part of our past.
Regain Your Control
You are not your symptoms. You symptoms developed out of a need to protect and preserve in our lives. Learn how to identify and challenge these beliefs and behaviors and begin living the life that you had envisioned for your present life and the future.
Common Sources
Trauma disorders are related to difficult life experiences where danger or the thought of danger existed. It can also be formed from repeated exposure to life-threatening events, such as experienced by first responders. However, a history of some mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression can increase a person’s chance of developing a trauma disorder.
Serious accidents
Physical or sexual assault
Abuse, including childhood or domestic abuse
Exposure to traumatic events at work, including remote exposure
Serious health problems, such as being admitted to intensive care
Childbirth experiences, such as losing a baby
The death of someone close to you
War and conflict
Torture
PTSD and trauma disorders can cause changes in the way the brain processes potential threats and increase rates of suicide.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Flashbacks – Reliving the events, including physical symptoms
Recurring memories or dreams related to the event
Staying away from people, places, and things that remind you of the event
Avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the trauma
Being easily startled or “jumpy”
Feeling tense, on guard, or on edge
Difficulty concentrating
Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
Feeling irritable, angry, or having aggressive outbursts
Trouble remembering the details of the event
Negative beliefs about self or others, including blame, fear, anger, guilt, or shame
Feeling alone or isolated
Acute Stress Disorder (ASD)
Symptoms of PTSD that occur within the first month after the trauma
Symptoms resolve within the first month
Adjustment Disorder
Symptoms of PTSD that occur within the first three months after a change
Symptoms do not last longer than six months
Changes that cause increased stress and adjustment disorder may be positive things that someone is looking forward to: weddings, going away to college, changing jobs or getting a promotion
Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED)
Typically seen in young children who have experienced a traumatic event or separation from primary caregivers
Being “too” familiar with others – no “Stranger Danger”
Being overly friendly, talkative, or physical (hugging, sitting on lap) with people that are strangers or that are not familiar
Willingness or desire to leave a safe place or person to go with a stranger or to somewhere new without an adult
No interest in checking in with a trusted adult before leaving with someone new or to go to a new place
Difficulty recognizing dangerous people, places, or situations
Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)
Typically seen in young children who have experienced a traumatic event or separation from primary caregivers
Unexplained withdrawal, fear, sadness, or irritability
Not seeking comfort or showing little or no response when comfort is given
Failure or refusal to smile
Watching others closely but not engaging in social interactions
Failure to reach out when picked up
No interest in playing games with others
Not seeking out support or assistance when needed
Is Therapy Right for Me?
Our approach is focused on finding solutions to your experiences.
We use an integrated approach that is tailored to your needs, including maximizing any resources that you may already have. Using an integrated approach of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), we can begin to explore how your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are connected and influence each other while breaking any cycles that aren’t working for you anymore.
Through our work together, we can isolate triggers and begin to reconstruct their influence on your life, build better habits and communication skills, and learn new and more helpful ways of managing symptoms while reducing their impact on your life.
Ready to find out more and begin your journey of healing?
Questions? We’ve got answers!
A lot of people experience trauma and are fine. What’s wrong with me?
There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with you. You’re right, many people experience really challenging experiences and do not develop trauma disorders, but this is based on a lot of different things. Traumatic events can impact everyone differently. There is a connection to it’s development for individuals who have a history of anxiety and/or depression, but there may also be a connection to the support and attention that individuals receive after the traumatic event.
There’s no ‘cure’ for PTSD and trauma disorders. Will this be a waste of my time?
As with most mental health concerns, there is no identified cause as of yet to cure a mental health issue in the ways that many physical health issues can be cured, but that doesn’t mean that things have to be hopeless. The idea behind therapy for mental health, especially trauma, is to learn new beliefs about self and others and ways to have a more positive impact on your environment. It’s about learning new ways to protect yourself that aren’t based on past experiences and to have a more meaningful and purposeful life.
What if I don’t believe I have a trauma history but some of those symptoms seem to be present in my life?
That’s ok, too. Even if you don’t have a personal trauma history, treatment can focus on the symptoms that you are experiencing and, through our work together, can identify times in your life when those behaviors, thoughts, or emotions have served you to determine potential causes of them. We can also work on how to improve those to be more relatable to your current life and ways in which you can learn to manage any “old stuff” that may come up.
Life can be hard, but getting set up doesn’t have to be.
Types of Trauma Disorders
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Acute stress disorder (ASD)
Adjustment disorders
Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)
Disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED)
Unclassified and unspecified trauma disorders
Find out if your insurance will cover treatment
Most insurance companies cover mental health services. Finding out if your insurance will cover your treatment is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Fill out a simple form and let us do the checking for you.