Curious about how trauma works and what therapy for trauma looks like? In this post, we’ll dive into trauma-informed therapy. We’ll cover what trauma is, why trauma has long-term effects on people, and how trauma-informed therapy addresses these effects.
What Are Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care?
Trauma is a crisis that has long-term emotional, physical, and psychological effects. Trauma can be a single event, or it can occur from repeated exposure to a distressing situation.
With this definition of trauma, “trauma-informed care” has become increasingly popular. In trauma-informed care, medical practitioners recognize the impact of trauma on people and integrate that knowledge into their care. As a result, rather than asking people what’s wrong with them, trauma-informed care puts the focus on what happened to them.
In mental health care, trauma therapists like members of Dyad’s Psychology’s Providence, RI team will help people process traumatic experiences and allow the healing process to begin.
How Does Trauma Work?
It’s not obvious how trauma in the past can continue to impact people so strongly in the present. Here, we’ll briefly go over the “polyvagal theory” of trauma, which is how many trauma therapists understand trauma.
Trauma is rooted in the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is part of the nervous system that controls involuntary actions like the heartbeat and breathing. It exists to protect people from risk; it’s always asking, “Is this situation safe?”
The ANS includes the “vagus nerve.” The polyvagal theory of trauma—named after the vagus nerve—links trauma to activity of the ANS by theorizing that the ANS can be in various states. In the “freeze state,” the ANS protects people by causing them to shut down, which can manifest as depression, numbness, or dissociation. In the “fight or flight” state, the ANS causes anger or frustration (the fight response) or anxiety or panic (the flight response). These two states may occur when the ANS senses danger.
Alternatively, the “rest and digest state” is the state where people can relate to others. In this ANS state, people have the capacity to be grounded, joyful, and compassionate. However, this state requires the ANS to sense safety.
Thus, if the ANS is sensing danger, it will go into states that hinder people from experiencing mental well-being and forming deep connections to others. And if the danger reaches the level of trauma, the ANS may be stuck in a “freeze state” or a “fight or flight state.” As a result, trauma can continue to impact someone even after they return to safety.
In addition, if someone has experienced trauma, the ANS has learned that risks exist and is used to going into “freeze” or “fight or flight” states. As a result, the ANS might cause people to respond more intensely to situations or have trouble feeling safe in their relationships.
What Types of Trauma-Informed Therapy Are There?
Trauma-informed therapy can help change the ANS’s patterns. If you’re interested in trauma-informed therapy in Providence, Rhode Island, make sure you find a therapist with experience in treating trauma. It can also help to think about what type of trauma-informed therapy resonates most with you. Here are a few common options.
1. Trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Trauma-informed CBT was originally developed for children and adolescents, but has since been applied in other groups. In trauma-informed CBT, people can expect to learn more about common reactions to trauma and ways to cope with it. They will also be guided through gradual exposure to aspects of the trauma. This way, they won’t feel as much distress when they’re exposed to reminders of the trauma in daily life.
Most importantly, people will work on identifying thoughts and beliefs related to the trauma that don’t serve them well. For instance, if they blame themselves for a painful experience that really wasn’t their fault, they can learn to reframe the experience in ways that reduce their distress.
2. Trauma-informed expressive arts therapy
Expressive arts therapy is very useful for people who are drawn to self-expression through art or who prefer to explore their feelings in ways besides talking about them. It can include journalling, listening to music, dancing, sculpting, and more. Through guidance by a therapist, people can learn how they overcome difficulties and communicate their feelings through art.
Trauma-informed expressive arts therapy helps people heal from trauma in several ways. First, making art is empowering and can show people they have capabilities they didn’t know about. And as people discover this, they can become more confident when facing distressing situations and recover a sense of safety and well-being. Second, people can explore their traumatic experiences through art and learn about different narratives they can use to make sense of those experiences.
3. Somatic therapy
Somatic therapy was developed specifically for trauma and involves focusing how emotions appear in the body. This is in contrast to trauma-informed CBT, where people start by working to change patterns in the mind.
Often, after experiencing trauma, people distance themselves from their bodies. Through somatic therapy, people can reconnect with their bodies by learning to focus on specific aspects of their bodily experience. For instance, they might work through a traumatic memory while noticing their physical sensations. Often, reconnecting to the body can be a crucial step in healing.
Somatic therapy isn’t as widespread as other forms of therapy, but several trauma-informed therapists at Dyad Psychology offer it.
4. Trauma-informed acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of therapy that focuses on mindfulness and acceptance. It’s based on the idea that people’s distress often comes from avoidance—for example, from trying to avoid reminders of a past experience.
Trauma-informed ACT focuses on helping people accept distressing thoughts and feelings. This can empower people to respond more flexibly to situations in daily life. ACT also includes working with people to identify their values and come up with ways to live according to those values, which is a crucial aspect of building a meaningful life beyond trauma.
Conclusion
As a recap, trauma is a crisis that has long-term emotional, physical, and psychological effects. The polyvagal theory of trauma explains how trauma causes the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to get used to states that hinder mental well-being and connection to others. Trauma therapists have many options for treating trauma, including trauma-informed CBT, trauma-informed expressive arts therapy, somatic therapy, and trauma-informed ACT.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes the body react to trauma?
According to the polyvagal theory of trauma, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) can cause people to go into “freeze” states or “fight or flight” states when it detects a dangerous situation. In the event of trauma, the ANS may not return to a state that promotes mental well-being, or may easily return to these familiar states.
What is trauma-informed therapy?
Not every therapist is a trauma-informed therapist! Trauma-informed therapy will look at how trauma influences someone’s current ways of being. Trauma-informed therapists have many methods of promoting healing from traumatic experiences.
Which form of trauma-informed therapy is best?
There are many types of trauma therapists, and every individual is different! Our trauma-informed therapists in Providence, RI have experience with multiple methods of trauma-informed therapy. We also offer group therapy that might be right for people with trauma. Contact us for a consultation to help you determine the best option for you.