Trauma

Trauma naturally causes fear and anxiety, symptoms that may improve or linger and worsen. If you’re unable to get over the emotional fallout after a traumatic event, you can depend on gentle care from Tamara Elassal, LPC, NCC, and the psychiatry and mental health therapists at Mind Meadow. They practice trauma-informed care and have extensive training in many therapies that help people overcome trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Take the first step toward healing by scheduling an in-person or telemedicine appointment today. Call the office in Fairfax, Virginia, or use the online booking feature.

What is trauma?

Trauma refers to a life-threatening, frightening, or emotionally damaging experience. Psychological trauma is the impact of the traumatic event on your mind, emotions, and behaviors. 

The events that most often cause trauma include:

• Sexual assault
• Physical abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Childhood neglect
• Military duty
• Gun violence
• Domestic violence
• Car crashes and other accidents
• Robbery or household invasion
• Natural disasters (floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes)

You might experience one trauma or live through many traumatic events, like ongoing bullying or childhood abuse.

What symptoms occur after trauma?

After experiencing trauma, you may have a wide range of symptoms, including:

• Fear
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Flashbacks
• Nightmares
• Irritability
• Anger
• Insomnia
• Social isolation
• Unpredictable changes in feelings and mood
• Hypersensitivity (highly sensitive and reactive to sudden sounds and smells)
• Avoidance (staying away from people, places, and events that remind you of the trauma)

Your symptoms may improve in a few weeks. Your provider diagnoses post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) if your symptoms last longer than a month after the trauma.

What is trauma-informed care?

The Mind Meadow therapists always take a trauma-informed approach to care. While this approach includes treating psychological trauma and PTSD, it also extends to people who are seeking therapy for other mental health disorders.

Trauma-informed care means that Mind Meadow therapists are always sensitive to a person’s history. Their therapists carefully avoid making statements or asking questions that may re-traumatize patients.

Your brain pushes traumatic memories into your subconscious. As a result, patients aren’t always aware of the connection between past trauma and their current life and mental health challenges. 

Making patients suddenly face the trauma before they’re prepared to manage their intense emotions leads to undesirable and sometimes dangerous reactions.

That doesn’t mean trauma goes unrecognized or untreated. Instead, trauma-informed care means that therapists work slowly and gently, building the patient’s strengths and resilience and determining when they’re prepared to face their traumatic experience in a safe, supportive, therapeutic environment.

How is trauma treated?

The skilled Mind Meadow therapists use several types of talk therapy to help patients deal with the past and overcome their current symptoms. Effective therapies for trauma include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), among others.

Each therapy uses a different technique to help you face memories, process the trauma, and manage anxiety, depression, and intense emotions.

Call Mind Meadow or book online today to get in-person or telemedicine therapy for overcoming trauma.