About Resilience Rising
Psychotherapy Treatment
Trauma-informed care can be crucial for individuals who have experienced trauma because it offers an approach that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma on physical, emotional, and mental health. Here are several reasons why someone should seek trauma-informed care:
- Understanding and Validation: Trauma-informed care acknowledges the experiences of trauma survivors and provides a safe space for them to share their stories without judgment. This understanding and validation can be empowering and healing for survivors.
- Holistic Approach: Trauma-informed care considers the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, and mental health. It recognizes that trauma can manifest in various ways and aims to address the whole person rather than focusing solely on symptoms.
- Safety and Trust: Trauma-informed care prioritizes creating a safe and trustworthy environment for individuals who have experienced trauma. This includes practices such as establishing clear boundaries, ensuring confidentiality, and respecting the individual's autonomy.
- Empowerment: Trauma-informed care empowers survivors by involving them in the decision-making process regarding their care. It emphasizes collaboration between the individual and their healthcare providers, allowing survivors to have agency in their healing journey.
- Reduced Re-traumatization: Traditional healthcare settings may inadvertently retraumatize individuals who have experienced trauma through insensitive or triggering practices. Trauma-informed care seeks to minimize the risk of re-traumatization by implementing trauma-sensitive approaches and practices.
- Improved Outcomes: Research suggests that trauma-informed care can lead to better treatment outcomes for trauma survivors. By addressing the underlying effects of trauma, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, individuals are more likely to experience long-term healing and recovery.
Overall, seeking trauma-informed care can provide trauma survivors with the support, understanding, and resources they need to heal and move forward in their lives.
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach primarily used for alleviating distress linked with traumatic memories and other distressing experiences. During EMDR sessions, individuals recall traumatic memories while simultaneously focusing on bilateral stimulation, such as side-to-side eye movements, taps, or auditory tones. Key features about EMDR:
- Helps stimulate the brain's information processing mechanisms, facilitating the reprocessing of traumatic memories and reducing their emotional impact.
- Process traumatic experiences more adaptively, leading to symptom reduction and improved emotional well-being.
- Utilized outside of trauma treatment to reduce anxiety, improve confidence, and alleviate psychosomatic symptoms.
Two years after it's creation, Shapiro researched the effectiveness of her treatment on 22 participants with PTSD from ages 11 to 53 years old. Patients had presented with symptoms ranging from intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, to flashbacks. The results showed significant reductions in PTSD symptoms after an average of three sessions of EMDR treatment. This study provided early evidence for the effectiveness of EMDR in trauma treatment (Shapiro, F. 1989).
Brainspotting
In Brainspotting, the therapist helps the client identify "brainspots," which is a specific point in their visual field that correlates with a traumatic memory, emotion, or physical sensation. This spot is often related to where the client's eyes naturally focus when they recall a distressing memory or experience intense emotions. Key features of Brainspotting:
- The therapist helps the client maintain their focus on that spot while exploring the associated thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations
- Access and process deeply held emotions and traumatic memories more effectively
- Facilitates the processing and integration of unresolved experiences.
Overall, Brainspotting offers a unique approach to therapy that can be highly effective for individuals struggling with trauma and other psychological challenges. In a study to compare the effective of Brainspotting to EMDR, trials found that Brainspotting had comparable efficacy and at times, even more tolerable for clients to engage in for treatment (D'Antoni, F., Matiz, A., Fabbro, F., & Crescentini, C. 2022).