Trauma & PTSD

Trauma affects people in a wide variety of ways. If you have gone through a traumatic experience, you may be struggling with upsetting emotions, frightening memories, or a sense of constant danger that won’t go away. Or you may feel numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people. Traumatic events can be one-time events, such as natural disasters, plane crashes, car accidents, assault, robbery, or the death of a loved one. Or they can be repeated or long-term events such as repeated abuse or an individual held captive for a long period. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is often linked to long-term trauma, but can also be the result of one-time traumatic events.

The fallout from traumatic events can cause devastating emotional, mental and physical symptoms. Emotionally, you may become anxious, depressed, fearful, withdrawn and can experience panic attacks. Mentally, you may experience concentration and memory problems, flashbacks, nightmares, amnesia, and intense feelings of guilt. Physically, you may experience eating and sleeping pattern changes, physical exhaustion, and unexplained chronic pain. Counseling can help you not only to learn to manage the symptoms, but also to resolve the ongoing feelings and emotions that hinder you from moving forward with life after the traumatic event.

Counseling for Trauma

Counselor Rick A. Combs uses a combination of talk therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to treat trauma and PTSD. This combination of methods ensures that you experience not only symptom reduction but also healing in the relationships that have been affected by the trauma. CBT is one of the most effective treatments for trauma and PTSD. The goal of this approach to trauma counseling is to eliminate symptoms and bring back a sense of wholeness and balance to your life.

Trauma therapy begins with an in-depth discussion of your current symptoms. We will discuss your physical and emotional symptoms as well as how the trauma is affecting your work, school and relationships. In your first trauma therapy session Rick will carefully listen and evaluate your symptoms, needs and concerns and, with your input, develop a plan for treatment that will provide you with the best path to trauma recovery.

Counseling for trauma and PTSD will help you to identify the unhelpful thoughts that are keeping you stuck in feelings of fear, depression and anxiety. You will learn techniques that will help you to control your thoughts and reduce automatic negative thoughts and problematic memories. Through weekly sessions, Trauma Counseling can help you to recover your life.