Do you struggle with a lot of thoughts about the past weighing on your mind? Does it feel like it’s hard to maintain meaningful relationships or get through the work day without feeling exhausted? Does your body feel on edge, like you want to crawl out of your skin and extra aware of what’s going on around you? You may be struggling with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Luckily, there are many holistic approaches within trauma therapy in Niantic, CT for treating PTSD.
What trauma is for client’s in New London, CT
Different experiences can affect people in different ways. Your response to a tough experience may be different from your friends, and that’s okay. Trauma impacts people differently and there are a variety of PTSD symptoms that anyone can feel. PTSD can look like struggling to cope strong emotions or feeling frustrated easily. PTSD comes alongside with depression and anxiety symptoms, including panic attacks, worry and struggling with completing tasks. Rapid mood changes are common for those who struggle with PTSD due to triggers and situational events.
To get started, book your phone consult for trauma therapy below!
Common traumatic experiences that can lead to PTSD
There are many things that can be detrimental and traumatic for a person. War combat is a very common experience that can lead to PTSD that many are aware of. Medical trauma is another impactful experience, such as struggling with a medical condition. This can include not receiving proper treatment or a diagnosis to help with the process of healing. Growing up with divorced parents can be impactful, struggles with parental relationships and consistency. Other childhood trauma experiences can be physical and emotional abuse and neglect. This can look like a parent getting physical with their child or being emotionally unavailable for their child’s needs. This can lead to struggles with self-expression, expressing needs and emotions. A parent being incarcerated can cause trauma, and also being involved with DCF and in foster or group homes.
Other types of trauma experiences in Niantic CT
Experiencing any type of sexual assult or abuse, as a child or adult, as well as domestic violence can also cause trauma reponses. Any type of discrimination can be traumatizing. This can include racial, gender identiifcaiton, sexual orientation, ableism, cultural and demographic discrimintation. Having the experience of bullying or community violence, such as gang involvement is another experience that can cause trauma. Losing a loved one no matter the time or age is also an experience that can be very impactful. This is why trauma therapy in Niantic, CT can be helpful.
Anxiety symptoms within PTSD in Waterford, CT
There are many different ways anxiety can manifest and present in those struggling with trauma symptoms and experiences. There are times when people who have suffered trauma become triggered by something that brings back feelings or flashbacks from previous trauma. This may cause the feeling of not being safe in one’s body and a heightened nervous system. Sometimes this can lead to dissociation, which is feeling out of body, disoriented to yourself or your surroundings. Another symptom of trauma related to the nervous system is feeling on edge, or hypervigilant. This can feel like watching your back all the time and feeling like you have to be on guard, especially when triggered. This may cause different trauma responses within the mind, body and nervous system, named fight, flight, freeze or fawn. Trauma therapy in Niantic, CT can help with this.
Different types of stress responses
There are four trauma responses that happen in the mind and body when triggered. Fight or flight are more commonly known, but there are two more. Freeze and fawn are also trauma responses as well. Fight is in reference to typically verbal and physical aggression when triggered. Flight is in relation to avoiding conflict or anxiety about a situation and “running away”. A freeze response is pausing, remaining hypervigilant about the situation, dissociating and normally then choosing to fight or flight. Finally, fawn is people pleasing and can manifest into codependent behaviors in order to survive.
Trauma lingering through day to day life in East Lyme, CT
You may have certain experiences or events weighing on your mind, or feel like your life is playing on a loop. Maybe the same things keep happening over and over again. This can impact your life personally, in relationships, with friends and family, at work and in school. The loop of trauma, triggers and symptoms can make it difficult to keep up with everyday life. It may feel like you are always steps behind everyone and playing mental olympics everyday. Along with this is struggling with memory recall and pieces of the past feeling fragmented. Trying to remember the past can be difficult, and short-term memory loss is also very real. Trauma impacts our perception and view of time.
Book your phone consult for treatment with one of our trauma therapists below!
What is Complex PTSD?
Complex PTSD differs from standard PTSD due to the amount and duration of a traumatic event. PTSD can be explained as a single event leading to struggles with processing the event and causing triggers. Complex PTSD has to do with multiple traumatic events happening over a longer period of time. This can potentially have a larger effect and cause struggles in relationships with others. Complex PTSD looks like experiencing childhood trauma that repeats over and over throughout the duration of growing up. This can be physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect, and also sexual abuse. Sometimes growing up with a parent who struggles with mental health or substance use can cause trauma and struggles. Consistency in the home and life can be affected in this scenario. These experiences in turn can affect how we relate to others as adults, or our attachment style. Trauma therapy in Niantic, CT can help work through these struggles.
Attachment styles related to childhood and trauma in Niantic, CT
How we develop and grow in our childhood is deeply based within our environment. Parenting style, consistency of structure and routine in the home, and the presence of parents and caregivers affect attachment. Certain experiences can cause an impact and the development of attachment for a person that blends into relationships in adulthood. The four attachment styles are secure, anxious, avoidant and disorganized. Anxious attachment tends to stem from some type of abandonment leading to a high need of validation from partners. This can go hand-in-hand with an ambivalent attachment style, struggling with trusting others. Avoidant attachment is known as being fear based. This person may struggle with getting close to others and feeling the need to be distant. This looks like struggles with trusting others and being emotionally unavailable.
Other attachment styles someone may obtain when experiencing trauma
Disorganized attachment is a combination of both anxious and avoidant. People with this attachment style tend to want to be nourished and validated, but struggle to receive this. They can then avoid this need at all costs. There is a need to be loved but a struggle in getting there in a relationship. Finally, a secure attachment is one who is able to form healthy and trusting relationships with others. They are able to accept intimacy and love, and also can regulate and spend time independently.
Common symptoms of PTSD in New London County, CT
There are many symptoms that can manifest when having PTSD. Depression and anxiety come along with PTSD and can come in cycles. These symptoms may include panic attacks, feeling on edge, irritation and frustration, struggling to complete tasks or feel pleasure. These symptoms may come on in a more situational way, when something happens that can be triggering. There may be struggles with self-esteem or feeling a sense of self and self-worth when struggling with trauma. Trauma can have such a big impact on someone which can cause them to be unsure of who they are. Also making it uncomfortable to be in the mind and body. Due to trauma causing unsafe feelings in the body, there are different behaviors that can manifest from trauma. This can include feeling impulsive and making risky decisions, such as driving fast, shoplifting and acting before thinking. Struggling with self-harm and suicidal thoughts can also manifest when experiencing trauma. Struggles around disordered eating and substance use in relation to PTSD are used as ways to cope with difficult feelings. Although there are many symptoms that go with PTSD, there are many different types of treatment that can help.
To get started, book your phone consult for trauma therapy below!
Creative arts treatment for PTSD in Niantic, CT
There are many different ways to treat PTSD. One way that can be very helpful is the use of creative arts. Creative arts, such as painting, drawing, making music, movement in any form can be helpful to connect to oneself. This also provides opportunities to self-sooth and use as coping skills when experiencing symptoms like anxiety and depression. Creating can provide a sense of accomplishment and bring calmness to the mind and body. At Wisdom Within Counseling, our counselors use many different creative arts approaches in the therapeutic space with clients.
Somatic coping skills for PTSD
With trauma brings struggles with regulating the body and also lack of connection with the mind and body. Our bodies react well to sensory tools when trying to regulate after becoming triggered. This can include engaging all five senses. The exercise, 5-4-3-2-1 provides an opportunity to use the senses to ground and regulate. This includes naming five things you can see, four things you can touch. As well as three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste. Other sensory coping skills can include using fidgets when feeling upset, angry or anxious. This can include fidget spinners, pop-its, anxiety rings and stress balls. Temperature also helps to regulate the nervous system. When feeling triggered, try taking a nice hot shower or drinking an ice cold glass of water. This can help bring the body down from a place of panic. This leads to activating the mind-body connection.
Holistic treatment for PTSD in Niantic, CT
Trauma causes struggles in the mind-body connection. It can feel unsafe to connect with ourselves and even feel certain body parts. In the process of healing from trauma, it is important to learn how to feel safe in our bodies. This can be done through mindfulness and meditation, as well as yoga. Mindfulness and meditation can allow the body and nervous system to relax and connect. This can provide a clear headspace. Meditating can be difficult at first for those who have experienced trauma, and using guided meditations is always important. Along with meditation, yoga therapy can also be helpful when healing from trauma. Yoga therapy provides a safe space to build a connection with one’s body while processing difficult feelings. Trauma lives in the body, and we have physical reactions before we notice a mental struggle. It is important to heal and nourish the body when one has trauma, and yoga therapy provides that. These types of treatments are used at Wisdom Within Counseling to aid clients in trauma therapy in Niantic, CT.
What towns in Connecticut does our team of creative therapists support in person for counseling?
Wisdom Within Counseling serves the following towns in Southeastern Connecticut. Bozrah, East Lyme, Franklin, Griswold, Groton (town and separate central city), Ledyard, Lyme, Lisbon, Montville, New London (central city), North Stonington, Norwich, Preston, Salem, Sprague, Stonington, and Waterford.
As well, in middlesex county, our creative therapists help the following towns. Centerbrook, Chester, Clinton, Cobalt, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Higganum, Ivoryton, Killingworth, Middle Haddam, Middlefield, Middletown, Moodus, Old Saybrook, Portland, Rockfall, and Westbrook, Connecticut.
In New Haven county, our team of marriage and family therapists support families in the following towns. We offer video and phone counseling to New Fairfield, Newtown, Norwalk, Old Greenwich, Redding, Redding Center, Redding Ridge, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Georgetown, Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Cos Cob, Danbury, Monroe, New Canaan, Greenwich, Hawleyville, Ridgefield, Riverside, Sandy Hook, Shelton, Sherman, Southport, Stamford, Stratford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport, and Wilton, Connecticut. As well, we offer phone and video counseling in Florida. We also help Connecticut families in Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Meriden, Middlebury, Milford, Naugatuck, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Northford, Orange, Oxford, Prospect, Rye, Seymour, Southbury, Wallingford, Waterbury, West Haven, Wolcott, and Woodbridge.
Creative therapies at Wisdom Within Counseling for people struggling with PTSD in Niantic, CT
At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of therapists love supporting people of all ages struggling with PTSD, anxiety and depression. Through trauma therapy in Niantic, CT, we offer art, yoga music, holistic and creative therapies to provide lifelong coping tools.
