Trauma Therapy for Complex Trauma and PTSD
Experiencing trauma changes the way our brain and body responds to threat.
A simple way to think of it is like this:
A traumatizing event(s) occurs
The situation overwhelms your ability to manage or cope
The brain and body get "stuck" in a trauma response, changing the way we feel, behave, and understand the world
What is a Trauma Response?
What a "trauma response" looks like can vary from person to person, but the most common three are Fight, Flight, and Freeze.
Fight symptoms often include aggression, anger, and acting out. Everything feels like a new battle that has to be fought and won.
Flight symptoms often include persistent anxiety, feeling on edge, suspicious of others, and ready to run from any situation.
Freeze symptoms include feeling depressed, shut down, and numb to the world. This can also include experiences of dissociation and derealization -- feelings that make life feel not-quite-real.
When we are in danger, some of these responses can save our lives.
The problem is that when we get "stuck" in a trauma response, we are reacting to everything in our lives like it's a Level 10 threat. It can cause us to feel constantly hypervigilant, checked out of life, create issues in relationships, and challenges at work. In the case of PTSD, there can be additional symptoms including flashbacks, nightmares, and triggers when interacting with things that remind us of the traumatizing event.
For people with complex trauma or PTSD, it can feel like nothing they have tried in the past works. That's because typical talk therapy is not designed to treat the traumatized mind, and lacks the ability to address the way trauma not only impacts our thinking, but the way our body feels, and the way we see the world.
This is why trauma therapists (like myself) engage in extensive additional training, practice, and consultation to be able to treat trauma effectively. Modalities such as Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Psychotherapy, Parts Work, and even newer frameworks such as the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), are all designed to support clients process the deeper issues trauma presents-- ultimately helping clients get "un-stuck" from their old patterns and live calmer, more grounded, and more stable lives.
Online Trauma Counseling in Arizona
This is where I write a little blurb about me, my practice and where I'm located, so Google knows how to find my webpage and show it to people who are looking for help.
My name is Alessia Kosta and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker that practices individual therapy in the state of Arizona. While I offer counseling services in Scottsdale, Arizona, I am a fully online therapist offering teletherapy across the state of Arizona. This helps me keep services flexible, easy, and accessible.
While my training is extensive, some of the highlights most useful to clients include being a trained EMDR therapist, a trained NARM therapist, and trained in utilizing somatic psychotherapy to support clients in mind-body healing for the treatment of childhood trauma, complex trauma, and PTSD.