PTSD Therapy for Women

Are you reliving a distressing event over and over again?

Are you filled with panic, anxiety, and fear following a distressing event?  You’re on edge and feel you could lose control at any moment.  You experience intense emotions and can’t seem to control them.

It’s exhausting trying to avoid people, places, or things that remind you of your trauma.  You’re angry, isolated, sad, and scared.  You feel that no one understands.  How could they?

Maybe you blame yourself for what happened despite others being adamant that it wasn’t your fault.  You may carry guilt and shame about what happened and feel like a shell of who you once were.

You can’t even find relief when you are sleeping. You wake up with a racing heart, drenched in sweat from recurring nightmares.  You don’t see a way out and you’re hopeless about the future.

You deserve to move past your past

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) describes symptoms that may occur in individuals who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, sexual assault, or any other distressing event.

While it is usually associated with veterans who’ve experienced combat, most people will experience trauma in their lifetime, whether it’s a car accident, abuse or neglect, the sudden death of a loved one, a violent criminal act, or a natural disaster.  While many people can recover from trauma over time with the love and support of family and friends and bounce back with resiliency, others may develop post-traumatic stress.

In these circumstances, the support, guidance, and assistance of a therapist are fundamental to healing from trauma.

The DSM-5 classifies symptoms of PTSD into four categories:

Intrusive Symptoms

• Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories of the trauma

• Recurrent distressing dreams

• Dissociative reactions (flashbacks)

• Psychological distress to internal or external cues that resemble an aspect of the trauma

• Physiological reactions to internal or external cues that resemble an aspect of the trauma

Avoidance Symptoms

• Avoiding distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings about the trauma

• Avoiding external reminders (people, places, conversations, activities, objects, situations) that create distress about the trauma

• Negative changes in thinking and mood

• Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma

• Persistent and exaggerated negative beliefs about oneself (“I’m not good enough”)

• Persistent, distorted thoughts about the cause or consequences of the trauma (blaming oneself or others)

• Persistent negative emotional state (fear, horror, anger, guilt, shame)

• Diminished interest or participation in significant activities

• Feelings of detachment

• Persistent inability to experience positive emotions

• Changes in physical and emotional reactions

• Irritable behavior and angry outbursts

• Reckless or self-destructive behavior

Hypervigilance Symptoms

• Exaggerated startle

• Inability to concentrate

• Sleep disturbance

Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

• Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images that are intrusive and unwanted, typically cause distress and may be time-consuming

• Attempts to ignore, suppress, or neutralize such thoughts, urges, or images

• Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that one feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly

• Compulsions aimed at preventing or reducing distress, or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these compulsions are not connected in a realistic way with what they are desired to neutralize or prevent, or are excessive and may be time-consuming

(American Psychiatric Association, 2013)

Trauma can leave physical and emotional scars that need to be healed. Unresolved trauma can get “stuck” in our nervous system and lead to other subsequent issues such as drug use, eating disorders, sleep disorders, and mood disorders.

We use a combination of approaches to treat PTSD.  Of those is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, which have been extensively researched and proven to be effective for getting trauma “unstuck” and reducing distress, reformulating negative beliefs, and reducing physiological arousal associated with traumatic experiences. We also use Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy to help you heal from the past, find calm in the present and navigate the future with peace and clarity. We’re committed to making quality care accessible for women by offering convenient online therapy throughout the state of Michigan, including online EMDR and IFS.