Trauma-centered therapy is a specific approach to therapy that recognizes and emphasizes understanding how the traumatic experience affects a child's mental, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that allows people to recover from symptoms and emotional distress that result from disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that, by using EMDR therapy, people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy, which previously took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain takes a long time to heal.
EMDR therapy demonstrates that, in fact, the mind can heal from psychological trauma in the same way that the body recovers from physical trauma. . If a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it rots and causes pain. Once the blockage is removed, healing resumes.
EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain's information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or out of balance due to the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound worsens and can cause intense suffering. By using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in EMDR therapy training sessions, doctors help clients activate their natural healing processes.
Given the worldwide recognition as an effective treatment for trauma, it can easily be seen how EMDR therapy would be effective in treating the “everyday memories” that are the reason why people have low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness and all the myriad problems that lead them to receive therapy. For more information on trauma-based expressive art therapy and other techniques for working with youth, see Trauma-Informed Practices with Children and Adolescents, by William Steele and Cathy A. At CPT, your therapist will help you learn to challenge and change unhelpful beliefs about trauma that keep you “stuck”. This form of therapy can help you if you can't cope with the trauma you've suffered or if it's affecting your ability to function.
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief and Therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast, with Kati Morton, LMFT, shares how to heal from trauma. Essentially, every “symptom” of trauma was created by the individual's body as a solution to the traumatic event or situation. There are many evidence-based practices (EBP) to treat trauma and PTSD, which are interventions that have proven effective in working with specific populations, although not all recommended therapies are EBPs. Keep in mind that EMDR seems to work best for single-event trauma and may not be as effective for complex trauma or complex PTSD.
Expressive art therapy can use many different creative activities, such as art, movement, play, music and theater, to treat PTSD, acute stress disorder, and other trauma-related problems. Trauma-centered CBT therapy (TF-CBT) is a cognitive behavioral treatment primarily used for children and adolescents with trauma. Within psychotherapy, there are additional subsets that work better with certain types of trauma or problems more than others. The technique aims to help you relieve trauma faster than other treatments for PTSD by helping you “reprogram the way the brain stores traumatic memories” in one or three sessions.
Your therapist can help you understand how early childhood experiences, family dynamics, and current relationships that may be shaped by trauma affect your coping methods and your current beliefs about the world. If you feel distressed during treatment, your therapist will help you return to the present before moving on to another traumatic memory. Trauma therapy is a form of therapy that can help you deal with the emotional response caused by a traumatic event. .
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