Dealing with trauma is complicated. On one hand, you have difficulty even understanding the trauma you’ve gone through. On the other hand, you feel like you understand it all too well and wish it never happened from the get-go. It can truly be one of the most difficult and frightening things anyone could ever deal with.
Realistically speaking, trauma is something that is best dealt with at the hands of a professional. Through the following types of therapy, one can get the right care they need to understand, accept, and handle past trauma.
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1. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
Unlike your typical talk-based therapy, EMDR involves eye movements and/or tapping while focusing on a trauma-related image. The intent of this type of therapy is to assist the brain with processing and healing from trauma as naturally as possible without forcing emotions, thoughts, or behaviors to change.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
A CBT treatment program is quite common and successful for those dealing with trauma or anxiety. The purpose of a program like this is to recognize one’s poor thought processes and find ways to change those modes of thinking.
As a result of cognitive changes made through CBT, the client can then work towards making positive behavioral changes and how they generally respond to traumatic thoughts or the symptoms their body experiences due to the trauma/anxiety.
3. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
This form of cognitive behavioral therapy is focused on healing the trauma of children and teens specifically. Some of the key components of this type of therapy include cognitive coping, relaxation, and trauma narration. This type of therapy also generally includes the parents or families of the client to help with the healing process.
4. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
After dealing with a traumatic situation, one’s view of themselves, others, or the world around them can certainly shift for the worst. In Cognitive Processing Therapy, the goal is to help the client work through their negative or irrational thoughts and instead replace those with more rational, positive beliefs, thus, making handling the trauma easier and less debilitating.
5. Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
Prolonged Exposure Therapy is a type of CBT. What makes this type of therapy unique is that it mainly focuses on changing behavioral aspects. The point is to get the client to become less sensitive to the trauma they’ve dealt with and become less fearful towards the symptoms they face as a result.
Some examples of things one might do in Prolonged Exposure Therapy include describing their traumatic event in detail, frequently coming in contact with aspects or people associated with the trauma they’ve experienced, and creating uncomfortable physical sensations related to the trauma that aren’t actually harmful to the body.
Conclusion
Healing from past trauma is no walk in the part. The good news is, therapy has been proven to be quite effective for those who struggle with trauma. With different forms of therapy options out there for those dealing with trauma, there are multiple options for professional help for them to turn to.
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