Trauma Treatment

The DSM 5 characterizes trauma in many ways.

1. You can be directly exposed to trauma by experiencing events personally
2. You can witness traumatic events that happen to others
3. You can learn about an event that impacted a family member or friend and experience trauma thereafter
4. You can experience repeated exposure to trauma

No matter the way in which you experience it, trauma is any situation that threatens or violates safety. Some examples of trauma include:

• Mass shootings or violence
• Car accidents
• Natural disasters
• Sexual or physical assault

Children who grow up in a household with domestic abuse don’t need to be abused personally to experience trauma; just witnessing one parent hurt another and living in a regularly unsafe place can be detrimental to mental health. In fact, children who grow up with trauma are more likely to suffer damage to their brain development, leading to depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and chronic illness.

Individuals who learn of an assault on a loved one can suffer greatly from trauma, experiencing triggers themselves that beget depression or anxiety, even panic attacks.

Those at the center of mass violence, natural disasters, or car accidents can develop trauma that might not seem like a problem at first but, when left untreated, can become a problem.

Directly after that same experience, these feelings diminish as that fight or flight response turns off. But shock and denial kick in as your adrenaline burns off. After several hours or days, you might experience guilt, sadness, or anger. These feelings are meant to diminish with time. But if they don’t, they create a traumatic disorder that can result in depression, emotional numbness, sleep problems, concentration problems, panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares, anger, and addiction.

A child who is regularly exposed to unsafe living environments rife with domestic abuse or gang violence experiences this fight or flight response more often than is typical. This means resting adrenaline rates go up, leading to continual feelings of anxiety, problems with concentration, sleep and appetite issues, and poor mental health. The same is true of adults who experience trauma and don’t work to resolve it.

When this happens, it often results in long-term depression and anxiety. Coping with the symptoms is usually done with drugs and alcohol. But that only makes things worse.

Given the impact trauma has on mental health, trauma treatment is incredibly important. Without it, trauma finds a way of continuing to inhibit daily thought, function, and action.

Too often, people are unaware of the trauma they have experienced, especially from childhood. They might know that certain situations trigger them, making them upset, anxious, or depressed. So, they turn to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. Overcoming addiction can be hard, but not addressing underlying trauma makes it even harder. That is why trauma-informed therapy is so useful.

Prevail Recovery Center has locations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Knoxville, Tennessee, that provide evidence-based, trauma-informed therapy for mental health and addiction disorders. Contact us to learn more today.

Individuals need to build trust. This involves:

• Sharing, something that is often facilitated through trauma therapies in individual and group sessions;
• Staff availability, where those in rehab trust that the staff will be there for them when needed, beyond just a one-on-one trauma therapy session;
• Nonjudgmental interactions, where those who have signs of trauma are treated without judgment by staff, therapists, and group members no matter how their signs of trauma manifest;
• Positive relationship dynamics between staff who know how to treat trauma and those who are getting help
• Caring, something facilitated and demonstrated by trained staff who know how to treat trauma

Individuals who are working to overcome trauma also need choice. Choice is an instrumental aspect of trauma-centered care because trauma from childhood or adolescence often involves situations where the choice and control were removed. Regaining that control means having a choice in everything. Choice involves:

• Individual needs
• Participation
• Opportunities
• Focus of efforts

Treating trauma also involves a great deal of collaboration between trained therapists and those in need. Therapy for trauma needs to be built around empowerment. For many, that same issue with lack of control and no personal choice is repaired with empowerment. This involves:

• Comfort in sharing, where individuals feel comfortable sharing their examples of trauma, how they felt and how they feel now.
• Trigger management, where individuals can share their triggers in a judgment-free zone or learn to identify triggers. In both circumstances, trigger management adopts ways to manage internal reactions to environmental triggers when they arise.
• Trauma awareness and understanding are equally important elements when dealing with therapy for trauma.

Trauma-informed therapy doesn’t just help you overcome your drug or alcohol addiction; it enables you to find the proper medications (if necessary) for things like depression and anxiety while also providing a space to work through your issues. You get a safe space where you can talk about your experiences and learn what triggers you and how to cope with symptoms when they arise. You get a chance to rebuild trust in your life, communicate more efficiently, manage your symptoms, and take back control where you might otherwise have felt powerless.