About PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.

It is natural to feel afraid, angry or numb during and after a traumatic situation. Fear is a part of the body’s fight, flight, freeze, fawn response, which helps us avoid or respond to potential danger. People may experience a range of reactions after trauma, and most people recover from initial symptoms over time. Those who continue to experience problems may be diagnosed with PTSD. Those who have experienced continuous or multiple traumatic events may be diagnosed with Complex PTSD (CPTSD).

Some common symptoms of PTSD are experiencing flashbacks, distressing dreams and thoughts, avoidance of reminders (internal and external), easily startled, feeling tense or on edge, difficulty concentrating or brain fog, difficulty sleeping, difficulty regulating emotions, trouble remembering parts of what happened, negative thoughts about yourself or the world, emotions such as fear/anger/guilt/shame, loss of interest in activities, isolation, difficulty experiencing positive emotions, and more.

Trauma is pervasive and impacts every area of your life. Many people do not even realize the impacts it is having. Trauma is like an infection in the body. If left untreated it will spread and cause other problems. There are different ways we can go about treating trauma. For teens we can use Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT) which incorporates learning about trauma, coping skills, and creating a narrative of the experiences. For adults I use CBT and narrative practices to do similar work. For both teens and adults I am also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) which used dual attention processing to target specific incidents and negative cognitions. EMDR is intense but highly effective. One EMDR session is comparable to eight talk therapy sessions.