The team at SL Psychotherapy and Wellness provides many mental health services for the local community, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. If you are showing signs of trauma, we want you to know you have access to help in-person in Kanata and Nepean in Ottawa, and online throughout Ontario.
What Are Typical Causes of Trauma?
Trauma occurs when we are affected by or witness something that is too distressing for our brains and bodies to process like a normal experience. It can happen to anyone at any time in their life. Many experiences can trigger trauma, including violence and abuse. The loss of a loved one can create traumatic grief, especially for someone who was present at the time of loss. Chronic illnesses that cause pain or a sense of helplessness can also cause trauma, as can accidents and acute injuries. Any of these might cause someone to relive the event over and over again or to hold trauma symptoms in their body/physiology.
Common ways trauma might be categorized include:
- Shock Trauma, which includes falls and other accidents
- Attachment/Developmental Trauma, resulting from early life relational trauma
- Betrayal Trauma, resulting from things like affairs and financial betrayals
- Sensory Trauma, more common in Neurodiverse folks
- Executive Function Trauma, which is disruption caused by trauma to executive functioning skills including planning and impulse control
How Can Trauma Affect People?
People have different responses to trauma that can manifest in behavioral changes or physical symptoms. People may start by withdrawing and isolating themselves from family, intimate partners, and friends. Some may act out with anger and violence. Some may resort to substance abuse to cover the pain. Changes in eating such as binge-eating or loss of appetite are common. Sleep issues are another common response, especially insomnia and night terrors. People may become forgetful and struggle to focus on activities that were once second nature. Trauma also triggers the body’s stress response, which may respond again each time a person feels as if they are reliving the event.
How Can Therapy Help?
When you seek therapy for trauma in Kanata and Nepean in Ottawa, ON, from our team, you are in good hands. You have non-judgmental support from a caring professional in a safe space. Whether you are getting online help or in-person consultation, you can talk about any unresolved feelings from the source of your trauma.
Types of trauma therapy that we offer:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be especially helpful for discovering when traumatic experiences have caused us to develop certain thought and behavior patterns that may not be serving us and replacing them with more helpful ones.
- Narrative Therapy can be helpful when we get stuck by helping to shift your perspective and reframe the experience through storytelling allowing for more empathy and compassion for yourself.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) EMDR is a means of using bilateral stimulation to help the brain process a traumatic memory, so when something reminds you of it in the future, you won’t feel as if you are reliving it. This is a form of therapy that is a bottom-up approach, meaning it does not focus on talking through the content of your trauma
- Somatic Experiencing Therapy is a form of therapy that helps people to focus on how stress and trauma are influencing the body in real-time. Somatic Experiencing Therapy helps the body turn off its fight/flight/freeze response, so you won’t feel permanently stuck in survival mode. This form of therapy focuses on increasing bodily awareness and does not require telling the story of the trauma.
The SL Psychotherapy and Wellness team cares about your well-being. That is why we offer support online throughout Ontario and in person in Kanata and Nepean in Ottawa, ON. Call us at 613-762-8251 for more information and book an appointment.