Trauma

Following are some commonly used evidence-based trauma focused therapy interventions. All are effective, but no one size fits all. The model a counselor chooses to use in your therapy sessions will vary according to the type of trauma you have experienced and the particular issues you are struggling with.

• Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT). Trauma focused cognitive behavior therapy focuses specifically on the impact of the traumatic event and the inaccurate beliefs surrounding it. The premise behind this is that the trauma related symptoms you are experiencing are the result of the negative thoughts and emotions connected to your memories of the trauma, rather than the experience itself. Your counselor will help you identify your anxiety pattern and learn how to resist it by reframing your thoughts and replacing them with healthier, more reasonable ones. He or she will have you examine the accuracy of your beliefs, question the evidence to support your conclusions, and consider more realistic perspectives. Typically, trauma focused cognitive behavior therapy is a short-term intervention where results can be achieved in just a few months. 

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). The focus of cognitive processing therapy is on reconstructing your thinking patterns. The counselor will help you learn how to identify and challenge the unrealistic thoughts you have about your traumatic experience, why it happened, and how it has made you view yourself, others, and the world. This method is particularly helpful if you are feeling guilt or shame about the distressing event. Sessions can be conducted one on one or in a group setting.

• Prolonged Exposure (PE). Prolonged exposure therapy involves gradually and safely exposing you to your trauma-related triggers until you lose your fear of them and no longer feel the need to avoid people, places, or things that remind you of the distressing event. Your counselor will guide and support you through the desensitization process by first having you think of a feared memory, and then when you are able to handle that, progress to actually recreating the trauma and/or visiting places that you dread.

• Eye Movement Desensitization Reprogramming (EMDR). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a guided intervention that focuses on the neurological impact of trauma and on restructuring communication pathways within the brain. It does this by coupling eye movements with incorrectly stored memories that feel frozen in time so as to diminish their intensity and frequency. The counselor will ask you to think of a traumatic memory and stay focused on it while simultaneously following a moving light or finger back and forth with your eyes. This bilateral stimulation of both brain hemispheres helps build bridges and unblock neural networks so your brain can get back into sync and recognize that the distressing event is in the past rather than still happening in the present.

• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Rational emotive behavior therapy is focused on altering trauma induced irrational beliefs by showing you that it’s not the external factors that are causing your distress, but rather how you interpret them. The counselor will help you identify and challenge your self-defeating thoughts, see how irrational and harmful they are, and show you how to replace them with more reasonable ones so you can manage your emotions and behaviors in a healthier, more realistic way.

• Post Induction Therapy. Traumatic events that take place in childhood can hamper your emotional development and keep you stuck at the age they happened. Post induction therapy is an intervention designed to treat issues of developmental immaturity and codependency resulting from childhood trauma and help you break through these emotional barriers so you can catch up with your actual age.

There are several different techniques that can be used across the board to meet the goals of the above listed trauma focused therapy interventions. Your counselor may incorporate one or more of them into the therapy model being used to treat your trauma related issues.

• Imaginal exposure. Imaginal therapy is an unmasking technique that helps you confront feared thoughts or memories about the trauma in a safe space instead of avoiding them. Your counselor will have you imagine the trauma event and describe your memory of it out loud to him or her, while applying the coping skills you have learned during therapy to decrease your dread. 

• In vivo exposure. In vivo exposure is similar to imaginal exposure, except it is done outside the therapy room. Your counselor will help you use the skills you have learned in therapy to gradually expose yourself to real life locations, situations, and objects that you have been avoiding due to the trauma associated with them.

• Narrative exposure. Narrative exposure involves creating a chronological narrative of your life that includes both the positive experiences as well as the traumatic ones. The counselor will actively listen and offer connection as well as positive feedback to help you reframe your overall perception of your life and memories.

• Written exposure. Written exposure is typically used as a supplement to other therapies, with your therapist having you write out an account describing your memory of the trauma you experienced.

• Impact statement. Impact statements are a technique commonly used in cognitive processing therapy. The counselor will have you write out a statement that explains why you believe the traumatic event occurred, and how it has impacted your life.

• Cognitive restructuring strategies. Cognitive restructuring is another method commonly used in CPT to help you change unhelpful thoughts into healthier, more beneficial ones.

• It can help you shift your focus from the past to the present.
• It can help you make sense of the distressing event and challenge and disconfirm negative beliefs such as shame or guilt that you may have developed about yourself as a result of it.
• It can help you understand the human response to trauma; why certain thoughts, feelings and behaviors occur; and reassure you that you are not alone in your experience.
• It validates your experience and provides acknowledgement of what you’ve been through and how far you’ve come.
• It can help you overcome the fears triggered by your traumatic memories.
• It equips you with the coping skills you need in order to function.
• It can help increase your confidence and resiliency.
• It can help you identify your triggers and be prepared to combat them.
• It can help improve the quality of your life.
• It can help improve your relationships and connections to other people.
• It can help build trust and restore a feeling of safety.
• It can help you develop a new perspective about the trauma.
• It can help reduce anxiety and depression.

Therapy provides a safe, confidential place where you can meet with a trained mental health professional who can help you overcome your fears and live life to the full. If you have questions, or would like to set up an appointment, please give us a call today.

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References: 

Gupta, Sanjana. “What Is Trauma Therapy?” Verywell Mind, Updated August 8, 2021, verywellmind.com/trauma-therapy-definition-types-techniques-and-efficacy-5191413.