A Comprehensive Guide to PTSD Treatment and Trauma Therapy

Trauma is something that we don’t talk about enough. Most often individuals expect trauma to show up in veterans or someone who has experienced a traumatic event. But, did you know that, in some capacity, we have all experienced trauma? Whether it was a big traumatic event or something that has built up traction over time. Trauma is an experience that can leave us stuck, lost, and hurting. Especially when the long-term damage finally leads you to your breaking point. That is why it matters to have therapists who understand that trauma is a common occurrence. In fact, even being trauma-informed as a clinician can make a world of difference. 

At Repose Therapy in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, a massive cornerstone of our services is being trauma-informed, but we can go much deeper. Many of our clinicians are specialists in AEDP, Somatic Experiencing, and EMDR. Additionally, many of our therapists use yoga, dance, and art to target creativity and expression. Together, we possess a wealth of experience and knowledge that we would like to share with you so you can understand yourself better. 

Types of Trauma and How They Manifest 

Racial Trauma and Stress

While not a diagnosis, racial trauma, and stress are all too real. After the events of the past year with Asian Hate and Black Lives matter, on top of a pandemic and election year, people are reeling and reflecting on the events of the past year and how the collective impact of racial trauma has affected them and their families. Many individuals worldwide are recognizing the oppressive systems that exist and continue to hold back people of color everywhere. 

As trauma therapists at Repose Therapy, we understand that you may be uncertain about how therapy can help. We cannot solve systemic issues in therapy, but our therapists understand how the collective impact of chronic racial trauma may be weighing you down. Finding the space and time to share what you’re going through in a safe environment can be challenging. However, our therapists recognize and honor this. We honor black and brown bodies in our therapeutic space and will help you find healing and space, to be honest about what you have gone through.
One of the best ways we can do this is through guided awareness of racial trauma and racial stress. Together we can use holistic psychotherapy, dance, art, yoga, and more to help you understand how trauma impacts your mind and body. 

Sexual Trauma 

We recognize that many individuals have experienced sexual trauma in their past and that it has created a hold on their current life. Sexual trauma can show as PTSD, where we see a decline in mental health, or if previous mental health experiences exist, then symptoms end up worsening. It can also lead to a decreased sense of self-worth, identity confusion, and more. We are here to help guide you through this process and help you find your way back to yourself. We will move at your pace and if you need to take a step back we will not push you. You are absolutely in control of what your therapeutic journey looks like and the direction it takes. 

Childhood Sexual Abuse

Childhood sexual abuse can include both touching and non-touching behaviors. Non-touching behaviors can include voyeurism, exhibitionism, or exposing a child to pornography. Children of all ages, races, ethnicities and economic backgrounds may experience sexual abuse. Additionally, the effects of abuse include difficulty sleeping, social withdrawal, anger, anxiety, depression, and not wanting to be alone. These issues should be dealt with through therapy as early as possible. Childhood sexual abuse if left untreated or unprocessed may manifest into somatic symptoms, disordered attachment, fears around intimacy, and more in adulthood.

Vicarious Trauma and Secondary Trauma

Vicarious trauma is also known as secondary trauma. This type of trauma manifests when listening to or observing other people’s experiences. Sometimes people can take on the experiences of others and may develop trauma-related symptoms. Over time, this impacts the individual’s overall mental health. This is common in first responders such as EMTs, police,  firefighters, doctors, social workers, mental health therapists, and nurses.

Identity-Related Trauma

Identity and trauma have a very strong link between them. Essentially if you don’t fit the norm, you may experience trauma. Demeaning commentary, belittling, biased judgments, and prejudiced communication (be it at the individual or systemic level) can contribute to one feeling overwhelmed, which can, in turn, lead to an inability to adequately cope. This is a common occurrence with individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community and BIPOC/POC communities. Additionally, within this community, individuals who are adopted, multiracial, and unsure about how they identify themselves find themselves further struggling with how to fit in. In an image-driven and identity-focused world, this can be deeply distressing to our mental health. 

Intergenerational Trauma/Complex Trauma

Intergenerational trauma (sometimes referred to as trans- or multigenerational trauma) is defined as trauma that gets passed down from those who directly experience an incident to subsequent generations. Intergenerational trauma may begin with a traumatic event affecting one individual, traumatic events affecting multiple family members, or collective trauma affecting the larger community, cultural, racial, ethnic, or other groups/populations (historical trauma). The physical reception of these traumatic events then gets passed down through generations and manifests as intergenerational trauma. 

On the other hand, complex trauma occurs when an individual experiences a series of repeated traumatic exposures or events. Complex trauma early in life can damage multiple aspects of a child’s development. Complex trauma may involve entire families in incidents of poverty, violence, or addiction. Complex trauma may be something that you have lived through or even something that you are currently living through. 

Getting the right kind of support matters! Here is what we don’t treat.

At Repose Therapy, we offer PTSD treatment and trauma therapy in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for many issues, you may be dealing with. However, we do want to help individuals understand that as an online therapy practice, some populations are not best suited for our telehealth psychotherapy services. Therefore, please know that if you’re experiencing active suicidal ideation, were recently hospitalized, or are actively experiencing psychosis, then we recommend that you find other in-person services that can help you get the best support for you. If you’re unsure about whether or not we would be a good fit, feel free to schedule a consultation with our client concierge to learn more about our offerings and our therapists. If we are not a good fit for you, we will refer you to a professional who can help!

How Trauma Affects the Mind and Body

Traditional psychotherapy often ignores the bodily impact of trauma, but approaches like integrative or holistic psychotherapy often take into consideration how your mind and body connect. Consider this, when dealing with trauma or stress you may experience paleness, lethargy, fatigue, poor concentration, sleep issues, and a racing heartbeat. These are all physical manifestations of trauma. Often talk therapy focuses on the thoughts, behaviors, and feelings behind this, but we know that spirituality, physical, and mental experiences all tie in together. That’s why we offer dance therapy, art therapy, yoga, and other somatic approaches. We can tailor the therapeutic process in a way that makes sense for you and your specific needs. The goal is to help you connect to yourself so you can better understand what you’re experiencing at the moment.

The importance of diversity in our trauma approach

You may be wondering how your diversity impacts the way you have processed trauma. How your culture, race, ethnicity, and identity inform your healing. To this, we say, trauma is experienced differently by each and every individual. But what we know to be important is that crucial to healing is seeing yourself represented in the therapeutic space. Our clinicians come from a plethora of different backgrounds and represent the many faces of the clients that walk into our doors. Many of our clinicians identify as Black & Brown therapists, Queer Clinicians, bi-lingual clinicians, immigrant clinicians. We strive to offer a diverse and safe environment for the clients we serve. If you're interested in learning more about our online therapists, check out our therapist directory. 

Why do we strive to help you understand your PTSD and Trauma?

To anyone who has experienced trauma, you know that it can profoundly affect the way you experience life. We are resilient individuals who strive for better things. However, when our fight, flight, or freeze response is constantly being activated, we struggle to develop lasting connections. Additionally, the thought of reaching out for support seems impossible. At Repose Therapy, we value psycho-education in treatment. You need to understand why you respond the way you do to find a way forward in your healing. We recognize that knowledge is power and the more you understand yourself, the less power the past has over you.  

Our Approach to PTSD Treatment and Trauma Therapy in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey?

Repose’s approach to PTSD treatment and trauma therapy is to encourage you to tap into painful memories. We help to create an environment of safety and compassion in order to facilitate this painful but necessary work. The goal of trauma therapy is to become one with your body. It is important to know that we cannot escape what has happened to us. However, we can heal these wounds by bringing awareness, compassion, and wisdom as we navigate our lives. We offer a wide range of approaches to therapy. Some of these include EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and AEDP. 

EMDR

EMDR therapy uses rapid sets of eye movements to help you understand and reinterpret experiences you have had. EMDR therapy replicates a sleep pattern by alternating between eye movements and brief reports or processing of what you are noticing. This alternating process helps you update your memories to a healthier emotional presence. The goal is to focus on the individual’s present concerns and symptoms while processing emotionally charged experiences from one’s past. This may have a dominating effect on one’s current emotions, sensations, and thoughts and the goal of EMDR is to bring individuals to a more adaptive emotional experience. 

Somatic Experiencing 

Somatic experiencing encourages individuals to tune into their physical sensations. The goal is to provide an innate healing response. This helps to resolve trauma symptoms by gently discharging the high levels of nervous system arousal associated with trauma, and allows our bodies to return to a more manageable level of functioning.

 

AEDP

AEDP or Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy incorporates neuroscience, attachment theory, emotion theory, transformation studies, and body-focused approaches to help you process difficult emotions. In other words, AEDP helps you safely explore the depths of your emotions and enables you to better understand where any emotional difficulties may be coming from. The main goal of AEDP is to help you experience the healing powers of connection. AEDP strives to increase your capacity for meaningful connection in your relationships, by not only being able to give care to others but to be able to receive it as well.

What you should know about our trauma-informed team

Before starting PTSD treatment and trauma therapy, know that as a multidisciplinary team, we share a common goal to be trauma-informed. We know that trauma influences many of our lives, but we don’t always know how to label these experiences. Therefore, we understand how to be intentional about how we approach your treatment and healing process. Our trauma therapists are EMDR certified practitioners, therapists trained in somatic experiencing, internal family systems, AEDP, and several clinicians who have completed the certified trauma professional training. Our team of highly skilled clinicians has gone through rigorous training and supervision to make sure they can provide the best care for you. If you’re considering trauma therapy, we would be thrilled to help!

Ready to get started with PTSD Treatment and Trauma Therapy Today?

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION

We make it simple to find support. Conveniently self-schedule a 15-MINUTE CONSULTATION so we can understand your reasons for seeking therapy and provide you with the support you need. 

CHAT WITH OUR CLIENT CONCIERGE

During your consultation at Repose, your concierge will listen to you, ask questions, and discuss your options. Based on the information gathered, they will be able to recommend which of our EMPATHETIC trauma THERAPISTS would be best-suited to meet your unique needs.

 
MEET WITH YOUR REPOSE THERAPIST

It’s time to begin the collaborative work of trauma therapy with someone who supports and understands you. After the initial session with your therapist, your concierge will follow up to ensure you had a positive experience.