Most people have heard the word trauma, and it's discussed more now than ever. You may hear people discuss their mental health or traumatic events online, but what does trauma mean exactly? Is it just any bad thing that happens to you?

While it's difficult to provide one succinct definition of trauma, it's generally seen as an emotional response to a serious or terrible event or situation. Trauma can manifest differently depending on the individual and how prolonged the traumatic event is.

Feelings like shock and denial are common in the initial aftermath of traumatic events, while over time, reactions can include complex emotions, flashbacks, and physical symptoms. These may be normal reactions, but when it becomes difficult to move on with your life in a healthy manner, a trauma therapist can help.

While most people experience traumatic events in their lives, not everyone has a trauma disorder. It's important to know what trauma disorders are, but it's also critical to remember that you may still benefit from trauma-informed care even if you don't have a trauma disorder.

Trauma therapy can help many individuals process negative emotions because of a trauma.

Still, it's useful to know about two of the most common trauma disorders and how they impact mental health.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a mental health issue that occurs after a terrifying or traumatic situation. Individuals with PTSD may have experienced or witnessed the traumatic event. Common symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares, mood dysregulation, anxiety, and physical symptoms like digestive problems.

Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C- PTSD)

C-PTSD is similar to PTSD. However, it generally refers to more ongoing trauma. There is some debate as to whether these two mental health disorders are different or if they just exist on a spectrum.

Generally, however, most therapists and psychologists agree that PTSD occurs after a short-term traumatic event, such as a car accident. On the other hand, PTSD usually occurs after experiencing repeated trauma such as abuse.

C-PTSD symptoms are very similar to PTSD symptoms but also include hypervigilance and avoidance.

There is no one official list of traumatic things or moments. In fact, what one person experiences as atraumatic may not be that upsetting to another person.

Traumatic events refer more to how a situation impacts an individual's life and their mental health. However, there are some situations and events that commonly lead to trauma responses. These include:

• Abuse
• Death of a loved one
• Divorce
• An injury
• Losing a job
• Sexual assault
• Racism
• Witnessing violence
• A car accident
• Homelessness
• Imprisonment

If you are experiencing something that negatively impacts your life, you deserve help. A trauma-informed therapist can assist you as you navigate the traumatic experience and connect you with resources and coping strategies.

While people with PTSD share certain symptoms in common, each person is an individual. As such, there isn't one specific type of PTSD treatment that works for everyone. Instead, there are a few different therapeutic options that tend to work best for PTSD based on long-term studies and evidence.

Let's review the most common types of therapy used for PTSD.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most common therapeutic approach in PTSD treatment. CBT helps the patient deal with negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to change these for the positive.

Cognitive behavioral therapy also has many offshoots that are similar but with more specialized approaches.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

Cognitive processing therapy is a kind of cognitive behavioral therapy that helps patients challenge unhelpful beliefs related to traumatic events. This is a short-term therapy done over 12 sessions and seeks to help the patient recontextualize the traumatic event or events to reduce negative impacts.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is another kind of cognitive behavioral therapy that helps patients address trauma-related thoughts and memories they may be avoiding.

The process takes about three months and helps the patient face the traumatic event in order to process through it, instead of just avoiding it.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is another derivative of cognitive behavioral therapy. With this approach, the therapist helps the patient disrupt negative behaviors and thought patterns that interfere with their life.

Cognitive therapy can be done in an individual or group therapy setting.

Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR therapy is another option that may work for some individuals with post traumatic stress disorder. This therapeutic approach is quite a bit different from CBT.

During EMDR, the therapist assists the patient in focusing on the traumatic event while at the same time experiencing eye movements. The goal is to create new pathways in the brain by replacing the traumatic associations with more positive, safe ones.

There are multiple different trauma therapies, or various approaches used in trauma-focused therapy to help patients heal from trauma.

As an experienced trauma therapist, Jeremy Magin will work with you to find which strategies are most effective for treating trauma. Everyone is different, so it's not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Some of the most common types of trauma therapies include CPT, EMDR, and PET. Let's review how a trauma therapist can use these approaches to help you recover from a traumatic event.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

Cognitive processing therapy is a type of trauma therapy that involves challenging your perception and perspective of why the trauma happened. This type of trauma therapy helps patients work through limiting or negative beliefs and thoughts that have arisen because of trauma.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is another kind of trauma therapy that seeks to improve mental health after traumatic events. The trauma therapist will use a pulse-like device to help release emotions and thoughts that are blocked because of the trauma.

Prolonged exposure therapy (PET)

With prolonged exposure therapy, the therapist helps the patient face the fears connected to the trauma. In this trauma treatment process, the traumatic experience becomes less scary.

Working with a trauma-informed therapist can have many positive results. Some of the potential benefits of receiving trauma therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or because of a traumatic event include:

• Learning to build trust in relationships and with others again.
• Improving emotional coping skills
• Limiting fear and avoidance
• Challenging problematic beliefs and thoughts

Request A Free 30-minute Consultation For Trauma Therapy

If you are struggling with a traumatic experience or feel that trauma is negatively impacting your life, Jeremy Magin is here to help. He provides trauma therapy in the Denver area, including both in-person and telehealth visits.

You can get started with a free 30-minute consultation. During this initial visit, you will discuss what you're looking to get out of therapy and what you're struggling with. From there, Jeremy Magin will make a treatment plan and partner with you throughout sessions so you feel comfortable.

Contact OneLife Counseling today to request your free appointment.