Trauma Counseling

Trauma is vastly different from any other type of experience or event. Traumatic events or experiences are highly distressing and are categorized as traumatic when your life feels threatened, you feel trapped, or you're in great bodily danger. General examples include war, natural disasters, car or motorcycle accidents, abuse or neglect by a caregiver, or sexual assault. A person can experience one singular event, a series of repeated events (if the person is being traumatized at home or work), or a chronic trauma situation (people in war torn countries).

Reliving trauma repeatedly has profoundly negative effects on your ability to think clearly, connect with your loved ones, enjoy your favorite parts of life, and manage your mood. This can result in lost relationships, low motivation for work or school, and an inability to move your life in a direction that you feel happy with.

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Our Response to Trauma

Traumatic events or situations trigger an automatic response in our mind and body. We do not control which response is activated.

After a significant threat, the impact doesn’t just go away once our body calms down. This traumatic experience imprints on the brain as a warning or a reminder for next time. You maintain the memory (even if it's scattered) in a part of the brain (the amygdala) because you never want to go through that again. The brain stores it to remind you of the dangers of whatever situation you were in.

    • Fight: Body prepares to attack and use aggression to fight. 

    • Flight: Looking to escape or hide. 

    • Freeze: Body will tense up and become numb and stop moving.

    • Fawn: Putting on a fake charm or submitting to demands to reduce harm.

Processing Trauma

As you process these events (or look at it from various angles) you may experience vivid flashbacks of the event, like nightmares or unwanted thoughts. What’s unique about traumatic events is that our brain doesn’t filter out this event in order to forget it. Instead it logs the event in our brain as information to keep us safe, but it also records the physical and emotional experience of the trauma. This is why you might be triggered by certain smells, images, sounds, tastes, or touches, or may experience those sensations when you think about the event.

Trauma Disorders

Trauma disorders have a common theme of unprocessed trauma. The following are trauma disorders that C & T Counseling are experienced in providing services for: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), and adjustment disorder. 

PTSD is an extremely disruptive mental health disorder with negative outcomes if not treated. PTSD symptoms tend to be intense, unpredictable, and overwhelming. High rates of PTSD are present in first responders, sexual assault victims, active duty military and veterans, and refugee asylum seekers. 

    1. Intrusion

      • Intrusive thoughts of the traumatic event including nightmares or vivid flashbacks.

    2. Avoidance

      • Intentional avoidance of things that remind you of the trauma. You may isolate yourself. 

    3. Negativity

      • Mood is depressed and increasingly negative thoughts about the world (unsafe, cruel). You may be consistently irritated, rage or anger outbursts are frequent. 

    4. Hyperarousal

      • High startle response to sounds or other sensory stimuli. When startled you may experience rapid heartbeat, sweating, or shaking with inability to self-sooth. 

    1. Evidence-based treatments provided by a licensed counselor to include: 

      • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

      • Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)

      • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Trauma (CBT-T)

    2. Medication prescribed by your primary care doctor or psychiatrist:

      • Anti-depressant medications to improve mood 

      • Alpha and beta blockers for nightmare management and hyperarousal symptoms

    3. Neurofeedback / Biofeedback 

      • Technique used by professionals using monitoring technology and visual technology to teach individuals how to voluntarily control physiological processes such as heart rate, in order to self-soothe quickly when hyperarousal happens.

We have experienced trauma therapists at C & T Counseling who allow you to share your story freely without judgement. We take time to learn about your needs and collaborate with you to create an effective PTSD treatment plan.

Our team of licensed counselors are ready to help you move forward.

If you live in Georgia (Marietta or northwest of Atlanta), and would like to schedule an appointment, call us at:

(770) 955-4357

3417 Canton Road, Unit 302, Marietta, GA 30066

 

We also offer virtual appointments to anyone living in Georgia!