EMDR and Trauma Therapies

Trauma does not always announce itself. Sometimes it looks like anxiety that will not settle, relationships that keep following the same painful pattern, or a body that stays tense even when there is nothing immediately wrong. If you have been carrying something heavy for a long time without fully understanding where it came from, trauma therapy offers a way to start making sense of it.

Our approach is based in mindfulness, somatic and body-based practices, grounding techniques, and guided relaxation and hypnosis, as well as EMDR, which is an evidence based practice for treating both acute and complex trauma. These are not separate methods applied one at a time, but a coordinated clinical framework based in the understanding that trauma is held in the body as much as the mind. It may trigger a lot of anxiety even thinking about working on trauma. Our clinicians are well-trained in trauma and will work at your pace, while being attuned to your comfort level throughout the treatment. A first consultation is simply a conversation. Book a free phone consultation or contact our team to take the first step toward getting support.

Trauma Takes Many Forms, and So Does the Path Through It

The word “trauma” derives from the ancient Greek word for “injury” or “wound”.  It is often used interchangeably to refer to an event or events, as well as the physical or emotional response to the events.  The most typical associations with the word trauma are events such as sexual abuse, assault or rape, domestic violence, physical attack, natural disasters, and medical trauma, witnessing traumatic events happening to others, among others. There are many evidence-based treatments available for PTSD, including Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD and EMDR.   At The Smith Counseling Group, we offer EMDR as a front-line treatment for acute trauma, while also employing other mindfulness and somatic based therapies, as needed.

The term trauma also encompasses events that occur earlier in life, including early childhood neglect, emotional, or psychological abuse.  This type of trauma is known as “developmental trauma” or “complex trauma” (C-PTSD). Complex trauma is the result of prolonged and repeated traumatic experiences during a vulnerable window of development when a child is helpless, dependent on others and coping skills are not fully developed. Complex trauma involves prolonged experiences of physical and emotional harm and/or abandonment and neglect. In almost all cases of complex trauma, there is a fundamental betrayal of trust by caretakers.

Generational trauma is a relatively new term used to describe a long-standing process by which the psychological and emotional impacts of oppression, genocide, or racism are passed down from people who lived through the event to their future generations.  This may be a major contributor to many of the health disparities we see in individuals of color. Trauma may also result from workplace bullying or harassment, or from being in an environment where one experiences prolonged stress without the capacity to change one’s circumstances.  The fact that the word “trauma” has so many different definitions and connotations may be confusing, but the impact of trauma on our lives, relationships, and mental and physical health is indisputable.  Our clinicians at The Smith Counseling Group work with the full range of traumatic experiences, including experiences that do not fit neatly into a category.

What Treatment Actually Looks Like Session to Session

Trauma therapy at our practice will not follow a rigid protocol. The early stages of treatment will focus primarily on building trust with your provider while creating scaffolding for internal resources and developing a sense of safety that is necessary for deeper processing work. It is foundational clinical work that determines how effectively the processing phases will go. As treatment progresses, sessions move toward the traumatic material itself, using body awareness, guided relaxation, EMDR, and somatic approaches to help you process experiences that are still show up in your every day life as physical or emotional symptoms.

The closing phases of treatment focus on integrating the new learning with one’s sense of self and identity. Now, with the deeper understanding of self and the development of new tools, one begins to experience their lives fully, without one foot anchored in a painful past. EMDR, in particular, is a fast-paced treatment oriented toward early symptom relief, so you should begin to notice changes within the first few weeks of treatment, even if the full arc of healing takes longer. Our psychotherapy services overview describes how our broader clinical approach works across presenting concerns.

How do I know if I may be experiencing long-term symptoms of developmental trauma or neglect?