Therapy for Trauma and PTSD

Many people are exposed to traumatic events in their lifetimes. When these kinds of events happen, it's normal to have strong reactions. Often these include fear and anxiety, thoughts that pop in uninvited, like intrusive memories, and avoidance of situations or people that remind us of the experience. For a subset of people, however, these symptoms persist for a substantial period of time, and can greatly affect their ability to function in their daily lives. When this happens, trauma can become PTSD or traumatic stress.

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Treatment for trauma and therapy for PTSD can be similar, but often end up quite different. PTSD therapy is usually quite specific, and aims to help you recover from what's happened to you and make it feel less like you're reexperiencing the trauma in your daily life. Usually PTSD treatment would require a diagnosis of PTSD from a psychologist or medical doctor. The most common evidence-based PTSD treatments are Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Processing (CP), and Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy.

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Trauma-informed therapy is a little different in that it doesn't require the presence or the diagnosis of PTSD. Many people are affected by trauma without necessarily developing PTSD. For these people having a supportive environment where they can talk about and make new meaning of their experiences can be invaluable. Therapy might help you feel more safe, challenge some unhelpful beliefs you may have developed, or teach you to trust again.

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Colin is trained in PE, and Colin and Tina both offer excellent client-centred trauma-focussed care.