Trauma therapy comes in various forms; some may be more successful than others but all help people heal from trauma.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) offers a supportive framework to address trauma and develop healthy coping skills. Patients are encouraged to create new narratives of survival and resilience through therapy sessions.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) may seem strange at first, but eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is becoming an increasingly popular therapy to treat trauma. Major global and national organizations including World Health Organization, American Psychiatric Association and Department of Veterans Affairs recognize EMDR as an established treatment option for trauma treatment. By tapping into your body’s own natural healing ability for processing distressful memories EMDR provides a proven alternative therapy option for PTSD as well as many other conditions.
Psychologe Francine Shapiro first developed EMDR after she noticed saccadic eye movements occurring naturally while walking through a park were helping reduce disturbing thoughts. By deliberately performing these eye movements while remembering an unpleasant memory, she found anxiety levels would drop significantly. It’s believed EMDR works by disrupting your working memory system to diminish emotional charge and vividness associated with images stored therein.
An EMDR session typically involves your therapist asking you to focus on an uncomfortable memory while they perform bilateral sensory stimulation, such as side-to-side eye movements, tapping on the hand or shoulder, auditory tones or vibrations – in order to help the memory “digest” and be stored more adaptively so as not to have such a devastating effect on you.
EMDR has been proven to be highly effective for treating a wide variety of psychological disorders and is extremely fast acting – studies have demonstrated this through repeated controlled studies that show 80-90% of participants can process one trauma within one to three sessions with this therapy method. C-PTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can develop among veterans who have experienced multiple traumas in different aspects of their lives and is also an ideal candidate for this type of therapy treatment.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS (Internal Family Systems Therapy) has experienced rapid growth over recent years. Pioneered by family therapist Richard Schwartz, this nonpathologising form of psychotherapy posits that each person possesses access to all their inner resources and emotional capital; its central principle states that we each contain an undamaged core Self that can be reached by healing protective or wounded parts of our minds.
IFS provides an alternative trauma therapy approach by understanding the multiple roles our parts have within ourselves, helping them coexist, and healing each. For instance, an anxious part may feel like they need to control everything, while exiled parts could experience exclusionary actions by others. IFS helps these parts heal and regain leadership; according to one study it was used successfully to reduce PTSD symptoms as well as improve functioning in terms of self-reliance, emotional regulation, and somatisation.
IFS stands out from traditional approaches by emphasizing relationships with inner parts rather than trying to “eliminate” them. It views these hurt parts as wounded children who need assurance they can find safety; once acknowledged as safe places they can then become sources of vitality, creativity, and connection.
IFS can also help treat anxiety disorders, depression, compulsive behaviors and phobias; physical health conditions like arthritis; it has even been used as an effective therapy for treating rheumatoid arthritis! According to SAMHSA (US government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), IFS has been included on their list of evidence-based programs and practices as a therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When combined with listening therapies from Unyte Health this forms an effective combination for holistic trauma healing.
Prolonged Exposure (PE)
Traumatic events become embedded in our brains as threat signals, prompting an immediate alarm response involving anxiety, flashbacks and physical symptoms. PE is an evidence-based treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Studies show it significantly decreases its symptoms.
Your loved one will participate in cognitive exposure sessions to recall trauma memories and explore their feelings and beliefs related to it. While cognitive exposure can be uncomfortable at times, therapists will always take your loved one’s comfort level into consideration and provide tools and support for managing distress during exposure so as not to overwhelm or push too far beyond their limits.
Next, they will move into in vivo or imaginal exposure, which involves engaging with activities, situations and objects that they have been avoiding due to trauma. Their therapist will assist them with creating a hierarchy of safe and effective activities; starting from manageable tasks before progressing toward more challenging ones over time. They can use an app called PE Coach for tracking purposes between sessions while their therapist carefully paces this part of treatment to ensure they don’t become uncomfortable or overwhelmed.
PE therapy is an intensive yet highly effective form of trauma therapy. PE can reduce both acute and chronic PTSD symptoms, as well as those related to sexual assault, military combat, childhood abuse, car accidents and other traumatic experiences. Many who receive this treatment find a significant decrease in their need for self-medication such as alcohol or drugs.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy aims to alter unhealthy ways of thinking, feeling and behaving to address mental health concerns and has proven itself as effective as some forms of medication for treating them. Furthermore, CBT may even help patients take both therapies together in order to effectively manage their symptoms.
Therapists employing cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) encourage their clients to pay close attention to situations which trigger unwanted or distressing thoughts, emotions or behaviors. By means of interactive question-and-answer sessions, CBT therapists teach clients to recognize any unhealthy beliefs or behaviors they use and to replace them with more healthy alternatives. CBT therapy also teaches practical self-help strategies which can instantly improve quality of life such as ways to cope with stressful or challenging events.
Cognitive behavioral therapy differs from other forms of psychotherapy in that it typically only lasts a short time and usually consists of individual sessions held regularly, such as once weekly. Therapists will give homework assignments and activities outside the session so their clients can practice their newfound skills; depending on the type of CBT therapy used it may even incorporate relaxation techniques designed to reduce stress or pain as part of treatment plans.
Trauma Focused-CBT or TF-CBT is an especially helpful form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This approach targets children and adolescents who have experienced sexual abuse, physical assault or other types of severe trauma in an effort to lessen its impact while encouraging healing via family therapy or other forms of intervention such as interpersonal therapy or EMDR.
Biofeedback
Biofeedback therapy is an alternative trauma therapy approach designed to help individuals gain control of bodily processes that happen automatically, like heart rate or muscle tension. Electrodes will be placed on your body that collect information that will then be sent directly to a monitor that displays results on screen. Your therapist will describe this data and then guide relaxation techniques so you can better regulate physiological responses.
Neurofeedback or clinical neurofeedback, is a more focused form of biofeedback used to alleviate trauma-based symptoms and enhance executive functioning directly by accessing brain activity directly. Using non-invasive surface electrodes attached to the scalp, real-time feedback allows clients to practice controlling their brainwave frequencies over time; helping them better cope and manage internal experiences.
Both forms of biofeedback can help increase awareness of physical sensations during an emotional episode. This can assist with better articulating somatic experiences from memories associated with trauma-inducing experiences, while strengthening your relationship with self and others during encounters that trigger PTSD-related thoughts and feelings.
One randomized controlled trial demonstrated that neurofeedback was just as effective for treating PTSD as CBT and mindfulness-based stress reduction combined. But biofeedback’s effectiveness remains less clear-cut; further research will need to be conducted before definitive conclusions can be reached on its use for treating this form of anxiety disorder. However, other authoritative reviews of treatments do not include biofeedback among their recommendations – yet the MHS encourages patients to discuss all potential options with their doctors regarding finding licensed therapists who will support them with finding appropriate support services in their local area.
