Trauma and PTSD therapy
Can't stop thinking about the past?
Do you replay the past over and over? Do you feel like you can’t stop thinking about something that happened to you?
do you feel stuck with a traumatic past or traumatic event?
Can you not move forward because the past is holding you back? Does it seem like an intense event changed you?
We Specialize in Treating trauma and PTSD
Do you have flashbacks or nightmares?
“I thought I had learned to live with the flashbacks (some big, some very subtle). I wasn’t living the way I saw other people were. In therapy I learned to face my fears and resolve the trauma that was holding me back. It feels amazing to not have flashbacks anymore.” – David, Aurora
are you always on edge?
“Because of my traumatic childhood I never felt safe in the world. I always had my guard up. I couldn’t relax the way other people could. I always looked for danger and was sensitive to the way other people could hurt or abandon me. My therapist showed me how trauma affected me, and how to talk about it in a way that was so freeing; I finally feel safe and grown up enough to handle problems.” – Allison, Denver
do you feel like you're stuck in reliving the past?
“I felt like I had a movie clip playing in my head over and over; I was reliving my trauma. I was also on high alert all the time. I was nervous about danger all the time, just waiting for things to get scary. My dreams were riffs on the event, over and over. I was so stuck in it. My friends gently suggested counseling and I was reluctant at first but it helped so much. I stopped reliving the past, now I’m much more calm and happy.” – Jessica, Denver
trauma therapy works
Whether in our Denver offices or online, trauma therapy works. Our therapists create custom treatment plans for your unique needs.
In therapy, you will learn practical and helpful tools to move past a traumatic event or traumatic period in your life.
Some examples are:
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) techniques such as uncovering faulty beliefs about trauma and your own actions during the event.
- Mindfulness skills to be present in the moment and be free from replaying the past.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an effective technique that is a good fit for some clients, using eye movements and adaptive processing to work through painful memories.
Therapy is an effective and long-lasting treatment for trauma and PTSD. Therapy after a traumatic event can even prevent you from developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Untreated PTSD tends to become chronic and can lead to drug and alcohol issues, chronic pain, depression and sleep problems.
signs and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Trauma can take many forms. Sometimes an event is traumatic for one person and not another. Common events that are traumatic include:
- Abuse (physical, emotional, verbal, sexual).
- Sexual Assault.
- Neglect.
- Car accidents.
- Domestic violence (being a victim or witnessing it).
- Illness and/or death in the family.
- Natural disasters.
- Major injuries.
You find yourself thinking often about something that happened in the past with no resolution or closure; the memories just play over and over again.
Upsetting memories come into your mind when you don’t want them to.
You may have a flashback where you feel as if the traumatic event is happening again in the present moment. You could see, hear, or feel the memory as if it’s more ‘real’ than a regular memory. Flashbacks can happen randomly, or be tied to a trigerring event.
If you’ve been traumatized, your brain has learned that the world can be a dangerous place. As a result it looks to danger to keep you safe. If you have PTSD, you may feel on edge all the time, overreact to a sudden noise or movement, or be unable to relax.
It’s common to have nightmares if you have PTSD. The nightmares may be constant or come and go. The dreams are sometimes a replay of traumatic events, or loosely resemble the event but feel very intense and scary.
You feel as if the trauma is following you in your life, no matter how much time has passed. You may find yourself in very similar situations to the traumatic event without a good explanation.
This is a common feeling in people who have experienced trauma. Sometimes it stems from a fear of being hurt by others, leading to avoidance of relationships. Sometimes they desperately want to connect but feel damaged on the inside or unworthy of love or acceptance.
People who experience trauma feel things more deeply than others; it’s like their emotions are more intense. They get their feelings hurt easily or may become frustrated and angry quicker than others.
Everyone has a varity of emotions, but with PTSD your ability to regulate your emotions may be compromised. This feels like having emotions or moods that are all over the place; PTSD sufferers often say that little things can set them off into a rage or a deep sadness.
This is a classic PTSD sign: avoiding people, places, and things that remind you of the trauma. While this may work in the short-term, in untreated PTSD these triggers tend to grow and your life may get smaller. The trauma is in control instead of you.
Feelings that persist and are associated with trauma include shame, worthlessness and defeated.
Don't Let Trauma Run Your Life
Trauma creates change you didn’t choose. Healing creates change you do choose.