Our therapists offer PTSD & trauma therapy in Orlando, FL

My go-to approach for helping people in PTSD/trauma therapy is cognitive therapy, which is often used along with exposure therapy. I find the best benefit in those therapies because they help you safely face both situations and memories that you find frightening so that you can learn to cope with them effectively.

I teach the following tools in PTSD/trauma therapy: breathing, validation, focusing on the five senses, cognitive challenging, mindfulness, and education on symptoms such as dissociation, arousal, and avoidance and their reasons.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in PTSD/trauma therapy when they are allowing themselves to be more vulnerable, connecting with the outside world, expressing their emotions instead of minimizing them, facing their fears, becoming more aware of what they are feeling, they state releasing tension and welcoming touch like hugs and embraces from people they trust, and they demonstrate less reacting and more reflecting.

Clients can supplement their time in PTSD/trauma therapy with yoga and meditation, journaling, remembering that their memories are memories and they are safe, talking with people they trust and not holding everything in, carrying an object that reminds them of the present, getting to know their triggers (smells, sounds, images, places, words), and most importantly being kind to themselves.

To prepare for their first PTSD/trauma therapy session, I suggest that the client read about trauma, explore different types of treatments, write down their symptoms and any triggers that they are aware of, write down their goals for therapy, write what coping strategies they are currently utilizing, and taking note of who their support system is. I also ask clients to be open-minded and patient, since the first session is usually for the therapist to start getting to know the client and the reasons why they are seeking therapy.