EMDR & TRAUMA THERAPY
SOMETIMES GENERAL TALK THERAPY JUST ISN'T ENOUGH.
LEARN HOW BODY BASED TRAUMA THERAPY CAN GIVE LASTING RESULTS.
TRAUMA THERAPY IS MORE THAN JUST TALKING.
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While you might feel relief after talking about your problems, it often does not resolve the root of the issue.
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Trauma therapy uses evidence-based approaches to regulate the nervous system by processing and releasing trauma stored in your body.
TRAUMA DYSREGULATES OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM.
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Our bodies stores traumatic and distressing experiences in order to protect us and keep us safe.
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Unfortunately, when our stress response and survival system are overactive, we experience symptoms that negatively impact our life, relationships, thinking and behaviours.
TRAUMA IS MORE THAN YOU THINK.
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We often think of trauma as abuse, war, accident, to name a few. These are known as "big t" traumas.
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There are also "little t" trauma. Some examples are bullying, rejection, losing a job, a break up, infidelity, financial worries, loss of a loved one, invalidation, inconsistency, criticism for emotions, lack of safety, protection and support
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We have all experienced "small t" traumas at some point in our life.
THERE'S ALSO ATTACHMENT TRAUMA.
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Attachment trauma begins when we are infants and later impacts the way we show up in relationships.
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Attachment trauma occurs when the bond between a child and caregiver is disrupted. This can mean inconsistent caregiving, lack of affection, inappropriate responses to a child's distress, and abusive behaviours.
STRESS AND TRAUMA CHANGE THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
This is why we can't just "get over" trauma. When our survival system is over active, we experience negative symptoms that impact our lives, relationships, behaviours and thinking.
We keep repeating the same behaviours, patterns, and thinking processes. We try to change it, but often find ourselves back at square one.
IF YOU FEEL STUCK IN YOUR OLD SURVIVAL STRATEGIES AND FEEL YOU'VE OUTGROWN THEM, IT MIGHT BE TIME TO CONSIDER TRAUMA THERAPY.
When we experience trauma, we get frozen in "trauma time". Our survival system stays in "this is happening to us"
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EMDR helps process traumatic memories, taking us from "it's happening" to "it happened"
When we process through a traumatic memory, we begin to regulate the nervous system, allowing our survival system to rest. This means we feel relief from those negative trauma symptoms.
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Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma May Include:
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Perfectionism
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Maladaptive coping strategies
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Lack in boundaries
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Avoiding intimacy and closeness
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Fear of abandonment and loneliness
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Unhealthy relationships
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Distracting or numbing
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Easily triggered
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Hypervigilance
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Self-sabotaging behaviour
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Expecting the worst
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Never feeling good enough
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limited sense of self and who you are
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Not feeling whole
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Feeling disconnected from yourself and everything around you
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We would like to acknowledge, with gratitude, we are operating on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw and Coast Salish peoples.
© 2022 by Sage Coastal Counselling
