Trauma is a word that describes an emotional response to a highly stressful situation. Every client is different in terms of how they respond to it, but one fact remains the same — trauma can interfere with your life in a number of ways. Fortunately, Novena Riojas, a licensed therapist at Envrio Coaching serving out of Hempstead, offers online therapy for people in New York.
How Trauma Occurs
Generally speaking, trauma arises when you're unable to cope with a situation or experience because it causes either physical or emotional distress. Some examples of common causes of trauma include:
- Losing a friend, family member, or pet
- A physical injury
- Struggling with a chronic/terminal illness
- Undergoing physical or sexual assault
- Suffering through abuse or negligence as a child
Signs of Trauma
People with trauma may experience anxiety or depression. You may experience anxiety every time you think of something associated with the event, and you might have distressing or unwanted memories of the situation that replay in your mind. In some cases, these memories are more pronounced and include flashbacks, which occur when you relive the event.
Other potential signs of trauma include:
- Having nightmares about the event
- Having memory lapses related to the event
- Feeling ongoing negative emotions, like blame, shame, or guilt
- Being jumpy or easily frightened
- Experiencing emotional or physical reactions when faced with circumstances that remind you of the event
- Practicing avoidance so you don’t have to think about the trauma
- Experiencing paranoia or always feeling on guard
- Having difficulty concentrating
- Suffering from insomnia
- Being irritable
How Therapy Can Help
There are two main types of therapy for trauma — eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
With EMDR, you will learn to reprocess a memory correctly, helping to relieve your distressing symptoms. When using this therapy, you deal with the memory or memories that congest your mind and hinder you from processing and healing.
Used alone or along with EMDR, CBT can help convert any negative thoughts or feelings into positive ones. As a result, you feel more in control over the feelings associated with the event. You'll also learn coping mechanisms through CBT to help control anxiety associated with the event or situation.
Start healing from trauma with support from Novena at Envrio Coaching in Hempstead, providing online therapy for those in New York.