Trauma affects one out of every three people, and of those, it’s not uncommon for people to experience multiple traumatic events. If you have experienced trauma in your childhood or adulthood, it’s important to get the right type of trauma therapy to help you process those emotions and move forward.
But what are the different types of trauma therapy, and how do you know which one is best?
Trauma and Trauma Therapy
Trauma is defined as any traumatic event that:
- Happens to you
- Happens to someone close to you
- Happens in front of you
You might be looking for the right type of trauma therapy because of your experience in a natural disaster or because of your job as a first responder where you are exposed to other people’s trauma on a regular basis or even because of trauma that you witnessed happened to a parent or sibling.
Trauma therapy offers a specialized modality or form of treatment for people who have experienced trauma directly or indirectly. These types of treatments help you overcome your trauma and process it in a healthy way.
What Are the Different Types of Trauma Therapy?
If you have experienced trauma, you can participate in any level of therapy, but some will be more effective than others. The two main types of trauma therapy are EMDR and trauma-informed care.
EMDR
The World Health Organization and the Department of Veterans Affairs use EMDR to treat PTSD. Called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, EMDR is a type of trauma therapy that is quickly becoming the go-to for those who have PTSD.
With this type of care, you, as the client:
- Don’t have to talk about the details of your trauma, but instead, just think about them in detail
- Watch specific movements with your eyes to help your brain reprocess the memories
This is a simple process, all things considered, but one that has a profoundly positive impact on preventing triggers and PTSD.
During a traumatic event, those memories don’t get stored properly in the brain. This is, in a sense, like an open file on a computer that can never quite shut down. No matter what you try to do, that open file is taking up storage space and active memory, and it’s getting in the way of anything else you are trying to do.
This is much the same as what happens with traumatic memories. When they don’t get stored properly, they can interfere with all subsequent memory storage, and this is what leads to increased triggers over time due to the increased overlap between new memories and traumatic memories.
With EMDR, you can follow designated eye movements with the help of a therapist and these, while you recall the trauma, help the memory to be stored properly so that it doesn’t continue to stay open or cause problems with subsequent memories.
Many people prefer this to traditional psychotherapy not just because of its high success rate but because it doesn’t require them to sit and talk about an otherwise uncomfortable or traumatic event in great detail.
Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma-informed care is a form of therapy where the therapists and other healthcare professionals providing services have undergone unique training. This training applies to how they are to interact with you, and how the therapy process works.
With trauma-informed care you, as the client:
- Have more control over who your therapist is
- Have a say in what the environment looks like during therapy
This type of treatment gives you more control so that you can trust that nothing is being done without your consent and that you won’t suffer from retraumatization.
Retraumatization is what happens when someone tries to seek help or treatment, but that help or treatment causes another layer of trauma.
With trauma-informed care, the professionals with whom you work undergo training specifically designed to help them avoid retraumatization, and incorporating you into different aspects of your care plan supports this.
If, for example, you were the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, you might not feel comfortable with a male therapist or with a therapist who looks a certain way. In these cases, you can share that information beforehand, and considerations will be made to ensure you don’t end up working with someone who triggers you again.
Getting Care with East Coast Recovery
At East Coast Recovery, we offer a trauma treatment program near Boston. With our programs, you can undergo trauma-informed care and receive specialized guidance and support.
We understand the strong link between the right type of trauma-informed therapy and overcoming symptoms of PTSD. To that, we also incorporate other modalities and holistic, evidence-based practices to give you ongoing coping mechanisms and tools for self-care.
Let us help you plan your trauma therapy program today.
Call us today at (617) 744-7373 to get started.
