Have you experienced a traumatic event? Are you suffering from lingering fear and anxiety? Do you feel like you no longer have any control over how you think, feel and behave?

Trauma response and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are mental health challenges that may occur in individuals who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as abuse, violence, or other significant adverse experience.

It is believed that PTSD affects nearly four percent of the U.S. adult population. While it is usually linked with veterans who’ve experienced combat, PTSD occurs in all people regardless of age, race, nationality or culture. In fact, women are twice as likely to experience PTSD than men. Some people who experience traumatic events do not have PTSD, but experience depression, anxiety and interpersonal stress.

What are the Symptoms of PTSD?

People with trauma or PTSD often experience intense thoughts and feelings related to their traumatic experiences. These can last for a long time after the initial event. Many people with PTSD also relive the event through flashbacks and nightmares.

People with trauma or PTSD often feel intense emotions such as fear, anger, sadness and a detachment from friends, family and community members. They often avoid people and situations that remind them of the traumatic event. Ordinary sounds or incidents such as a door banging or accidental touch in a crowd may cause a strong and uncontrollable reaction.

How Can Treatment Help?

There are a variety of treatments that can be used to treat trauma and PTSD. However, there are two specific techniques practiced at Bountiful Mind Counseling that are consistently gaining research-based evidence of their effectiveness in successfully treating trauma and PTSD.

• Cognitive Processing Therapy – This modality focuses on how a person perceives a traumatic event and processes it. A therapist can help their client work through stuck points, which are certain thoughts related to the trauma that prevent the person from recovering.
• EMDR – EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. This technique uses bilateral sensory input such as side-to-side eye movements to stimulate the brain to process difficult thoughts, memories and emotions.

If you or a loved one suffer with trauma or PTSD and would like to explore treatment options, please reach out to me. I have personally seen amazing transformation through therapy and want to offer the help you need to enjoy life again.