Trauma Therapy & PTSD Treatment
Trauma Therapy & PTSD Treatment
Trauma is a serious public health issue. It can be caused by any situation that is emotionally or physically threatening and it disproportionately impacts women. Trauma could result from a singular event, such as an assault or natural disaster. On the other hand, it can come from something habitual. Such as intimate partner violence or sexual abuse. It can also accumulate via thousands of microaggressions that are demeaning, threatening, or leave you feeling unsafe. Sort of like death by a thousand papercuts.
Other potential causes of trauma include:
Severe injury or illness (or the real threat of it, like the pandemic)
Complications from surgery
Traumatic birth
Sexual assault
Being the victim of a crime
Surviving a serious accident
Child neglect or endangerment
Verbal abuse and threats
Physical abuse, including discipline that hurts or frightens you
Sexual abuse or molestation
Experiencing a hate crime or threat of violence
Losing someone to suicide
Systemic oppression like racism, transphobia, fatphobia, heterosexism, ableism, sexism, etc.
What is Trauma?
Trauma can also develop from witnessing something terrible, as with many first responders, parents who care for a child in the NICU, or children who see violence in the home.
PTSD Treatment is Not Only For After War
Many people associate trauma with the effects of war on veterans. War is terrible and does traumatize deeply. However, what people don’t realize is that interpersonal trauma (like sexual assault, abuse, or intimate partner violence) is more likely to cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) than war. Rather than an anonymous enemy who you know is trying to do you harm, interpersonal trauma occurs in isolation, often at the hands of a person who should have been caring for you and survivors are often blamed or blame themselves.
Blame
Survivors of interpersonal trauma are often blamed by others, or in fact, blame themselves for their suffering. Well Woman Psychology works with clients to empower them to realize the impact of interpersonal trauma, which is all too common. Many of them have said to me that they shamed themselves for having post-traumatic stress. Sometimes they dismissed their own experiences as “not as bad as what others have gone through,” when in reality, trauma can be caused by so many different things and it’s all harmful and experienced differently. Trauma is trauma.
Trauma Therapy for Intergenerational Trauma
Trauma that goes back generations in a family can create patterns of toxic relationships. If there was no one to teach each new generation about healthy emotion management and relationship skills, an unhealthy family culture develops. How would you know how to manage emotions and relationships in an appropriate way if your parents couldn’t teach you because they were developed in unhealthy, abusive relationships? And so on, and so on.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can break the legacy of trauma in your own family. It is never too late to learn how to heal. You can learn how to manage emotions and relationships in a healthy way with the help of a trauma therapist, giving subsequent generations a gift you were never so fortunate to have.
Sexual Assault
IMPORTANT NOTE: sexual assault includes any unwanted sexual contact. This is different from sexual contact that you regret after the fact. If you did not consent to engage in the sexual contact, then it is assault. This is true even if you are married to the perpetrator of it. It is also true if you began engaging in sexual contact and then changed your mind, withdrawing consent. It’s sexual assault even if you didn’t say explicitly say ‘no’, were wearing revealing clothing or were intoxicated. People should always ask for consent first, but even if they don’t, if someone is not actively participating in sexual activity, then that means STOP. There are no excuses for proceeding with a person who has not consented or who cannot consent due to intoxication.
If you couldn’t say ‘no’, it may be that you had a traumatic freeze response. This could be because either:
Saying no in the past was very dangerous
Your body wisely recognized in the moment that keeping quiet was the safest option
What is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)?
As a trauma psychologist, I see people suffer from PTSD when something has blocked the natural healing process that should happen after a trauma (if nothing interferes with this process). If the healing process is blocked that is when it becomes most important to search out options for women’s trauma therapy treatment.
PTSD Symptoms
Following a traumatic event, we all have similar responses and symptoms. Which include:
Anxiety
Emotional and physical upset
Shock
Feeling on edge
Difficulty sleeping
Nightmares
Fear of the trauma happening again
These responses fade when we are able to reach safety, get support, and soothe ourselves. If those initial responses do not fade within a month, something has interfered with the healing process. That is what we call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Things that most commonly interfere with recovery in trauma therapy and PTSD treatment:
Continuation of the trauma (such as ongoing abuse)
The threat of continued trauma (for example, you have to work with someone who sexually assaulted you and you don’t know if they will try again)
Being blamed for the trauma
Blaming yourself for the trauma
Not receiving adequate support
Avoidance of facing the trauma
It takes a lot of courage to face your trauma, but healing is possible. Even if the trauma happened decades ago, it is never too late to move past it with the support of a Los Angeles trauma therapist.
Types of PTSD Treatments
There are many types of evidence-based trauma and PTSD treatments that are used at Well Woman Psychology. No matter what, I will always use an anti-oppression and intersectional lens as part of your trauma therapy sessions.
I have found the following to be effective treatments in different situations:
Prolonged Exposure (PE)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR)
CBT for Insomnia
Mindfulness-based interventions
Sex therapy interventions when needed
At Well Woman Psychology we will figure out which strategies best suit your needs together.
Ready to start trauma therapy & PTSD treatment?
As a trauma psychologist near Los Angeles, I understand how hard it can be to reach out to support after you have experienced trauma. Well Woman Psychology is here to support you every step of the way. No matter what caused you to need trauma therapy or PTSD treatment. While reaching out for support can be hard following these next steps can make it easier.
Contact us for a consultation at Well Woman Psychology
Meet with your trauma psychologist
Start getting the support you need to start recovering
Other Services We Offer in Los Aneles, CA
At Well Woman Psychology I am dedicated to helping support you and whatever struggles you face as a woman. That is why I provide therapy for body image issues, sex therapy, EMDR therapy, and individual relationship therapy. As a therapist for women, I provide services to support your women’s health such as therapy for miscarriage, infertility, pregnancy, and new moms. All of my online therapy services are offered throughout the states of California, Illinois, New York, and Washington.