Healing Trauma
Is some traumatic experience from your past negatively impacting your well being, even if this trauma happened many years ago? If so, you may be experiencing symptoms of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). PTSD is a normal response to an abnormal and overwhelming experience. PTSD can result from all kinds of trauma, from a car accident, to physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
Do you relate to any of the following:
- Do you re-experience the trauma in intrusive images, feelings or nightmares?
- Do you find yourself on constant “red alert”, and at the same time feel detached from others and emotionally numb?
- Do you have difficulty falling and staying asleep?
- o you avoid people or experiences that may trigger the traumatic memories/feelings?
When you have been living with these symptoms, it can feel as if you will never feel normal again, however if you are willing to seek proper treatment, you will be able to overcome these symptoms, and move on with your life.
Treatment for PTSD
EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is the primary psychotherapeutic approach I take in helping my clients overcome their trauma symptoms. EMDR is an extensively researched method of psychotherapy that has been proven very effective in the treatment of PTSD. While the length of treatment for trauma can vary depending on the nature and severity of the problem, many of my clients have reported significant reduction in their symptoms during our first EMDR session.
EMDR works from the assumption that we all have an innate capacity to heal from emotionally painful events, but this capacity can become temporarily ineffective as a result of severe or chronic traumas. In short, traumatic events by their nature can overwhelm our ability to process the information. The traumatic experience, fear, overwhelm, and negative beliefs related to the trauma get “frozen” in an isolated part of our brain. EMDR helps “unfreeze” these memories, feelings and beliefs, so that they can be processed and transformed by the rest of our brain system.
Once our inate capacity to heal is unlocked, then freedom from the effects of the trauma is finally experienced.
For more information or to schedule an initial appointment, please contact Karen at:
Karenmotan [at] sbcglobal.net, or by calling (415) 460-9117.
