therapy for trauma
Trauma can mean different things to different people.
There are many ways that men experience and re-experience traumatic incidents. Trauma can be defined as a negative event or series of events that have caused psychological injury and which still have an effect on you.
While most people think of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) when they consider trauma, trauma can include a variety of experiences that feel intrusive or overwhelming. You may have experienced a single traumatic incident like a wildfire or an auto accident or a long series of incidents like witnessing violence in combat or being bullied as a kid.
With trauma, the brain does not recover from the painful experience.
Our brains are often good at processing challenging experiences and turning them into useful memories. Think of something unpleasant you experienced recently. As time passes it usually won’t be as upsetting but you will probably learn from it. Your brain processes the challenging feelings and creates a helpful memory.
With trauma, the brain doesn’t get to process what happened effectively. The painful memory of what may have occurred many years ago still seems vivid and scary. Men who experience trauma often describe the intrusive nature of their experiences: anxiety and panic, depression, overwhelm, challenging physical symptoms, and nightmares that can be triggered by what goes on around them.
Trauma can have a significant impact on your life and relationships. There are a number of therapies that are effective for treating trauma and helping you to live a life with less struggle and overwhelm.
Types of Trauma I Work With
Trauma takes many forms. Some men come in with a clear diagnosis: PTSD or complex PTSD (C-PTSD), and are looking for a therapist experienced in treating it. Others have a strong sense that past experiences are affecting them today, even without a formal diagnosis.
Common experiences include: adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including abuse and neglect, combat or military trauma, accidents or medical trauma, sexual trauma, or witnessing violence.
Trauma doesn't stay in the past, it shows up in the present as anxiety, difficulty in relationships, emotional reactivity, numbness, or a persistent sense that something is off. Wherever you're starting from, effective treatment is available.
How I Treat Trauma
I use two evidence-based approaches that are specifically designed for trauma treatment:
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps your brain complete the processing that didn't happen at the time of the traumatic experience. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help traumatic memories lose their emotional charge so they become something that happened, rather than something that's still happening.
IFS (Internal Family Systems) works with the internal parts of yourself that developed in response to trauma, the parts that feel the traumatic experience years later, as well as parts that try to protect, avoid, or stay on guard. IFS is particularly effective for complex trauma and for trauma that has shaped how you relate to yourself and others over time.
These approaches work well together. We use whichever combination makes the most sense for you, and we move at a pace that feels manageable. If trauma and anxiety are connected for you, which is common, we address both.
get started today
I see clients in person in San Francisco and online throughout California, including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento. Schedule a free 20-minute video consultation to learn about therapy services and see if we might be a good fit to work together.