From Pain to Peace: The Power of Effective Trauma Therapy
Trauma can take many forms, and its effects are not always immediately visible. Whether it’s the result of a single traumatic event or ongoing emotional and psychological abuse, trauma can have a profound impact on both the mind and body. Fortunately, recovery is possible, and with the right therapeutic support, individuals can heal and reclaim their lives. This blog is designed to help you understand trauma, recognize its signs, and explore the powerful therapies available at Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, that can guide you on your journey toward healing.
Trauma Therapy: Recommended Reading
Several key books have been instrumental in shaping our approach to trauma therapy and are highly recommended for those seeking to better understand their own experiences. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and Healing from Hidden Abuse by Shannon Thomas are invaluable resources for clients. These books explain how trauma is stored in the body and mind and provide insights into the often overlooked impacts of emotional and psychological abuse. They are frequently used in conjunction with therapy and can be purchased for your use using the links above.
For those interested in learning more about advanced trauma treatments, we also recommend Brainspotting by David Grand and Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma by Sebern Fisher. These books provide deeper insights into the therapies offered at Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, such as Brainspotting and Neurofeedback. While these resources are geared more toward clinicians and are much more difficult to read, they are available for purchase as well using the links provided.
Much of the information in this blog is informed by these books, along with other tremendous sources on the subject of trauma. At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we utilize innovative trauma treatments like Brainspotting and Neurofeedback, which go beyond traditional talk therapy to address the deep, lasting effects of trauma. In the following sections, we’ll explore how these therapies can help you on your path to recovery and why they play such a crucial role in trauma treatment.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is a deeply personal and often misunderstood experience. It can result from a wide range of life events, from sudden, catastrophic incidents to more subtle, long-term experiences. Trauma is not just about what happens to a person but about how the individual processes and internalizes the event. While some forms of trauma are obvious, like a car accident or physical assault, other types, such as emotional abuse or prolonged neglect, are harder to recognize but equally damaging.
Defining Trauma
At its core, trauma is the response to any distressing or overwhelming experience that the brain and body struggle to process. This can result in a range of emotional, psychological, and even physical symptoms. Trauma disrupts a person’s ability to feel safe, to trust others, or to fully engage with life. According to Bessel van der Kolk in The Body Keeps the Score, trauma is not only held in the mind but also in the body, leading to persistent physical symptoms like chronic pain, fatigue, and tension.
Trauma is generally divided into three categories:
• Acute Trauma: This results from a single, significant event, such as an accident, natural disaster, or a violent attack.
• Chronic Trauma: This is caused by prolonged exposure to distressing situations, such as ongoing emotional or physical abuse, bullying, or neglect.
• Complex Trauma: Complex trauma arises from repeated traumatic experiences, often in relationships where trust or safety is violated, such as childhood abuse or domestic violence.
Hidden Trauma: Emotional and Psychological Abuse
One of the most overlooked forms of trauma is emotional and psychological abuse, which can be just as damaging as physical harm. This type of trauma often goes unnoticed because it doesn’t leave visible scars, but its effects are deeply felt. In Healing from Hidden Abuse, Shannon Thomas explores how emotional abuse can cause long-term damage, leaving survivors struggling with feelings of worthlessness, anxiety, and difficulty trusting others.
Emotional trauma may result from situations like:
• Constant manipulation or control in a relationship.
• Gaslighting, where a person is made to doubt their reality.
• Ongoing criticism or belittling from a partner, parent, or authority figure.
• Neglect or abandonment, especially during childhood.
These experiences can undermine a person’s sense of self-worth and security, making it difficult to form healthy relationships or feel safe in the world. Hidden trauma is particularly insidious because it often isn’t recognized until the symptoms—such as anxiety, depression, or self-doubt—become overwhelming.
The Impact of Trauma on the Mind and Body
The effects of trauma are far-reaching, impacting both mental and physical health. As The Body Keeps the Score highlights, trauma can alter brain function, affecting areas responsible for memory, emotional regulation, and the fight-or-flight response. This is why trauma survivors often experience symptoms like hypervigilance, emotional numbness, flashbacks, and difficulty concentrating.
Trauma also affects the body, leading to physical symptoms that persist long after the traumatic event has passed. Common physical effects include:
• Chronic pain or tension in the muscles.
• Headaches or migraines.
• Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or nightmares.
• Gastrointestinal issues, such as nausea or irritable bowel syndrome.
These physical symptoms are the body’s way of holding onto trauma, reinforcing the idea that healing from trauma requires addressing both the mind and the body.
Recognizing Trauma
Recognizing trauma in yourself or others is often challenging, especially when the effects are subtle or have been internalized over a long period. While some people may clearly identify the traumatic events in their lives, others may not immediately connect their emotional or physical symptoms to the trauma they’ve experienced. Recognizing trauma is the first step toward healing, and understanding its symptoms can provide valuable insight into why you may be feeling disconnected, anxious, or overwhelmed.
Physical and Emotional Signs of Trauma
Trauma impacts both the body and the mind, often leaving survivors with a range of symptoms that may seem unrelated to the initial event. Trauma’s long reach into a person’s physical health is well-documented in The Body Keeps the Score, where Bessel van der Kolk describes how trauma can manifest physically as the body stores stress and unresolved pain. Some common signs of trauma include:
Emotional Symptoms:
• Anxiety or persistent worry, even in seemingly safe situations.
• Depression or feelings of hopelessness, sadness, or worthlessness.
• Irritability or sudden anger outbursts without clear cause.
• Emotional numbness or disconnection from others.
• Hypervigilance or feeling constantly on edge, as though something bad might happen.
Physical Symptoms:
• Chronic pain, tension, or stiffness in muscles, particularly in the neck, shoulders, or back.
• Digestive issues, such as nausea, upset stomach, or irritable bowel syndrome.
• Frequent headaches or migraines.
• Sleep disturbances, including insomnia, nightmares, or restless sleep.
These symptoms are the body’s response to unprocessed trauma and can persist long after the traumatic event has passed. Even if you can’t point to a single traumatic event, ongoing emotional or psychological abuse, neglect, or chronic stress can lead to these reactions in the body and mind.
Common Misconceptions About Trauma
One of the reasons trauma often goes unrecognized is due to the many misconceptions surrounding what qualifies as trauma. It’s common for people to downplay their experiences, believing that trauma only applies to severe, life-threatening events, but this is far from the truth.
Myth: Trauma Only Comes from Extreme Events
Many people believe that only events like war, natural disasters, or physical assault count as trauma. However, trauma can stem from more subtle, ongoing situations such as emotional abuse, bullying, or neglect. According to Healing from Hidden Abuse, emotional trauma often comes from long-term patterns of manipulation, control, and emotional neglect that are harder to recognize but just as damaging.
Myth: Trauma Always Shows Itself Immediately
Trauma doesn’t always manifest right away. Some people may not realize they’ve been traumatized until weeks, months, or even years later, when they begin experiencing symptoms like anxiety, depression, or physical pain. This is especially true for those who have experienced hidden or complex trauma, where the effects are cumulative and more difficult to pinpoint.
Myth: If You Don’t Have PTSD, You Don’t Have Trauma
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the most well-known responses to trauma, but not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD. Trauma responses can vary widely, from mild anxiety to chronic depression or physical health issues. Just because you don’t meet the criteria for PTSD doesn’t mean your experience wasn’t traumatic or worthy of treatment.
Recognizing Emotional and Psychological Abuse as Trauma
Emotional and psychological abuse are often overlooked as valid sources of trauma, but their effects can be profound. In Healing from Hidden Abuse, Shannon Thomas outlines the stages of psychological abuse and recovery, emphasizing how difficult it can be to recognize abuse when there are no visible scars. Some common signs of emotional abuse include:
• Constant belittling or criticism, which undermines self-esteem.
• Gaslighting, where the abuser manipulates you into questioning your own perceptions and reality.
• Emotional manipulation or control, making you feel guilty or responsible for the abuser’s actions.
• Withholding affection or love as a form of punishment.
• Feeling isolated from friends, family, or support systems due to the abuser’s influence.
Emotional trauma is especially damaging because it can be so subtle, yet it deeply affects your ability to trust, feel secure, or maintain healthy relationships. Survivors of emotional abuse often struggle with self-worth, anxiety, and the feeling that they are constantly “walking on eggshells.” Recognizing these patterns as trauma is essential for healing, and therapy is a critical step in breaking free from the cycle of abuse.
How Therapy Helps in Trauma Recovery
Healing from trauma can feel like an overwhelming journey, but therapy offers a safe and structured path to recovery. Trauma doesn’t just fade away on its own; it requires deliberate and thoughtful processing with the guidance of a trained professional. Therapy helps trauma survivors confront their experiences in a controlled and supportive environment, allowing them to process and integrate their traumatic memories into a healthier narrative. At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we offer a range of trauma-focused therapies, including Brainspotting and Neurofeedback, that provide innovative and effective solutions for trauma recovery.
The Role of Therapy in Healing Trauma
Therapy plays a crucial role in helping individuals make sense of their traumatic experiences. Trauma affects not only the mind but also the body, emotions, and relationships, making it essential to address trauma from multiple angles. Traditional talk therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), have proven effective in trauma treatment by helping individuals reframe negative thoughts, reduce emotional distress, and create new, healthier coping mechanisms.
For many, therapy offers:
• A Safe Space to Process Trauma: Therapy provides a safe, non-judgmental environment where individuals can openly explore their trauma and its effects.
• Guidance on Coping Strategies: A therapist helps individuals develop strategies to cope with the overwhelming emotions and physical responses that arise from trauma.
• Reframing and Integrating Traumatic Memories: Therapy helps survivors process their traumatic memories in a way that reduces their emotional charge, making it easier to move forward.
Brainspotting: Unlocking Deep Trauma
At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, one of the core therapies we offer is Brainspotting, a powerful technique that helps access trauma that is deeply stored in the brain. Brainspotting works by identifying specific points in the client’s visual field that are linked to emotional trauma, allowing the therapist to guide the client through reprocessing the traumatic experience.
Unlike traditional talk therapies, Brainspotting bypasses the conscious mind and taps into the brain’s deeper emotional centers, making it particularly effective for individuals who struggle to articulate their trauma. David Grand, the creator of Brainspotting, explains in his book Brainspotting that this therapy helps clients release trauma on a somatic level, meaning it helps the body let go of stored emotional pain.
How Brainspotting Works: During a session, the therapist helps the client locate a specific point in their visual field that triggers an emotional response related to their trauma. By maintaining focus on this point, the client’s brain is able to access and process the traumatic memory, releasing the emotional and physical tension associated with it.
Who Benefits from Brainspotting: Brainspotting is highly effective for individuals with complex trauma, developmental trauma, or those who struggle to talk about their traumatic experiences. It allows clients to process trauma that may not be easily reached through traditional therapies.
Brainspotting is an advanced method that is especially beneficial for those dealing with trauma from childhood abuse, neglect, or ongoing emotional abuse, as it allows them to heal without having to relive the details of the traumatic experience.
See if Brainspotting therapy is right for you. Contact us today.
Neurofeedback: Regulating the Brain’s Response to Trauma
Neurofeedback is another cutting-edge trauma therapy offered at Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, and it focuses on helping the brain retrain itself to respond more effectively to stress and trauma. Trauma disrupts normal brain functioning, often leaving individuals feeling stuck in a heightened state of anxiety or emotional dysregulation. Neurofeedback provides a way to restore balance by monitoring and adjusting brainwave activity in real time.
Sebern Fisher’s book Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma emphasizes how Neurofeedback helps trauma survivors regain control over their brain’s responses to stress. By using sensors to monitor brainwave activity, Neurofeedback helps clients recognize when their brain is stuck in a maladaptive pattern and teaches the brain to self-regulate. Over time, Neurofeedback strengthens the brain’s ability to manage emotions and reduce symptoms such as anxiety, hypervigilance, and emotional numbness.
How Neurofeedback Works: During a Neurofeedback session, sensors are placed on the scalp to monitor brainwave activity. The client engages in a task—such as watching a video or playing a simple game—while receiving real-time feedback on their brain’s activity. If the brain begins to drift into an unhealthy pattern, the feedback changes, encouraging the brain to shift into a healthier state.
Who Benefits from Neurofeedback: Neurofeedback is particularly helpful for individuals who experience long-term effects of trauma, such as chronic anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation. It is also effective for those dealing with developmental trauma, as it helps the brain learn to respond more adaptively to stress and emotional triggers.
Neurofeedback complements other forms of therapy by helping clients build resilience and regulate their emotional responses, making it easier to engage in deeper trauma processing during traditional therapy sessions.
See if Neurofeedback therapy is right for you. Contact us today.
How Brainspotting and Neurofeedback Work Together
The combination of Brainspotting and Neurofeedback offers a powerful approach to trauma recovery. Brainspotting allows clients to process deeply stored trauma, while Neurofeedback helps regulate the brain’s response to that trauma, creating a balanced and integrated healing process. At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we believe in a holistic approach to trauma treatment, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible care for both their emotional and physical recovery.
The Role of Body-Focused Therapies in Trauma Recovery
While traditional talk therapy is highly effective for processing trauma, it often addresses only part of the problem. Trauma is not just stored in the mind—it is also held within the body, affecting physical health, emotional regulation, and overall well-being. This is why body-focused therapies are a crucial component of trauma recovery. At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we integrate body-based approaches, such as Brainspotting and Neurofeedback, to help clients release trauma stored in the body and restore a sense of balance and safety.
The Mind-Body Connection in Trauma
Trauma affects not only how we think and feel, but also how we physically experience the world. As Bessel van der Kolk explains in The Body Keeps the Score, trauma alters the brain’s normal functioning, rewiring how the body processes stress, danger, and emotions. This can leave individuals in a constant state of hypervigilance or emotional numbness, making it difficult to fully relax or feel safe.
Fight-or-Flight Response: Trauma often causes the body to remain in a heightened state of readiness, known as the fight-or-flight response. This is the body’s natural reaction to danger, but for trauma survivors, it can become a chronic state, even when no real threat is present. Symptoms like muscle tension, headaches, and gastrointestinal issues are common results of this sustained stress response.
Somatic Symptoms of Trauma: The physical symptoms of trauma can include chronic pain, fatigue, and other health issues. These symptoms occur because the body holds onto trauma in the form of physical tension and stress. Without addressing these somatic (body-based) aspects of trauma, full recovery is difficult.
To truly heal from trauma, it is essential to engage with the body as well as the mind. Body-focused therapies help individuals release stored trauma from the body, allowing them to fully process and move past their experiences.
Mind-Body Integration
Body-focused therapies like Brainspotting and Neurofeedback are essential for trauma recovery because they address the physical aspects of trauma that are often overlooked in traditional talk therapy. By working with the body’s natural responses to stress and trauma, these therapies help clients release stored tension and regain a sense of physical and emotional balance.
Integrating the Mind and Body: Trauma recovery is most effective when it integrates both the mind and body. Body-focused therapies help clients process their trauma on a deeper level, allowing for more comprehensive healing.
Restoring a Sense of Safety: One of the most important outcomes of body-focused therapies is that they help trauma survivors feel safe in their own bodies again. By releasing stored trauma and regulating the body’s response to stress, these therapies create a foundation for long-term emotional and physical well-being.
At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we believe in a holistic approach to trauma recovery, which is why we offer advanced therapies like Brainspotting and Neurofeedback. These methods, combined with traditional talk therapy, provide a complete and effective way to address both the emotional and physical effects of trauma.
What to Look for in a Trauma Therapist
When choosing a therapist for trauma recovery, there are several important factors to consider:
• Experience with Trauma: A therapist should have experience working specifically with trauma survivors. This includes knowledge of how trauma affects the brain and body and the use of trauma-focused therapies like Brainspotting, Neurofeedback, or EMDR.
• Training in Trauma Therapy: Trauma therapy requires a different approach than general counseling because it involves addressing both the emotional and physical impacts of traumatic experiences. Having training in trauma therapy ensures that the therapist is equipped to handle the unique challenges that trauma survivors face, such as dissociation, hypervigilance, and emotional regulation difficulties.
• A Safe and Supportive Environment: You should feel comfortable, heard, and validated by your therapist. Trust is essential in trauma therapy, and it’s important to find a therapist who fosters a non-judgmental and safe space for you to explore your trauma.
• Empathy and Patience: Healing from trauma can be a slow and challenging process. A good trauma therapist will be patient, empathetic, and understanding, allowing you to move at your own pace without pressure.
Armstrong Family Counseling’s Approach
At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we understand the complexity of trauma and the unique needs of each client. Our therapists are trained in a range of trauma-focused therapies, including Brainspotting, Neurofeedback, EMDR, and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). This allows us to tailor treatment plans to the specific needs of each client, ensuring a comprehensive and personalized approach to healing.
Our therapists are committed to providing a safe, supportive, and compassionate environment. We know that trauma recovery can be a long and difficult journey, but we are here to walk with you every step of the way. Whether you are dealing with childhood trauma, psychological abuse, or complex trauma, we have the expertise to help you heal.
Why the Right Fit Matters
Trauma recovery requires vulnerability, trust, and a strong therapeutic relationship. Finding the right therapist is about more than just credentials; it’s about feeling comfortable and supported. The therapist-client relationship is key to the healing process, as it creates a space where you can safely explore your emotions, confront your trauma, and begin the process of rebuilding.
At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we strive to match each client with the therapist best suited to their needs and personality. We believe that the right fit between therapist and client is crucial for successful therapy, and we are dedicated to helping you find a therapist who will guide you toward healing.
Making Therapy Accessible
We understand that finding the right therapist is not only about fit, but also about accessibility. At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we are proud to accept Kansas Medicaid, also known as KanCare, ensuring that clients have access to quality trauma therapy regardless of their financial situation. We are committed to making therapy available to everyone who needs it, because we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to heal from trauma.
Conclusion
Healing from trauma is a deeply personal and often challenging journey, but it is one that is entirely possible with the right support and treatment. Trauma can affect every aspect of your life—your emotions, your body, and your relationships—but you don’t have to face it alone. At Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC, we understand the complexities of trauma and are here to guide you through the healing process.
Through advanced therapies like brainspotting and neurofeedback, combined with compassionate and trauma-informed care, we help clients confront their trauma in a safe and supportive environment. Whether you are dealing with childhood abuse, emotional neglect, PTSD, or complex trauma, our team is dedicated to providing the specialized care you need to heal and regain control of your life.
The process of trauma recovery requires patience, trust, and the right therapeutic approach. At Armstrong Family Counseling, we are committed to helping you find that approach, offering individualized treatment plans tailored to your unique experiences and needs. By addressing both the emotional and physical impacts of trauma, we aim to help you restore balance, find peace, and rebuild a healthy sense of self.
If you’re ready to take the first step toward healing, we are here for you. Trauma recovery is a journey, but with the right tools and support, it’s one you don’t have to take alone. Contact Armstrong Family Counseling, LLC today to learn more about how we can help you begin your path to recovery and a brighter future.
