This is a very difficult question to answer, because everyone is different, everyone’s story is different, and everyone’s trauma is “stuck” in a unique way. But clients have a right to know how long things might take. So to show I’m not avoiding the question altogether, I’ll talk about it a little bit. First of … Continue reading How long does trauma therapy take?
Category: Trauma and PTSD
(Need to contact me or get information about therapy right now? Scroll to the bottom of the page.) Somatic approaches to counseling and therapy pay attention explicitly to the physical reactions that accompany psychological issues or symptoms. They take into account current information about the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and how it works. (The ANS … Continue reading What is a Somatic Approach to Therapy?
[Looking for support in Colorado Springs now? Email me at jeff.farmer.therapy@gmail.com or call 719-377-4577 for an appointment.] We hear a fair amount about sexual abuse of girls. It happens more than most people think, and it does terrible damage. But we don’t hear much about the sexual abuse of boys. Let’s hear a little bit. … Continue reading The sexual abuse of boys
What is EMDR? EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a treatment modality that was originally developed to treat trauma/PTSD. It has an 8-phase protocol that is used to work with the underlying causes of PTSD. By now, you should have read something about what causes PTSD or how treatment works. If … Continue reading EMDR
This page is adapted from the criteria for PTSD created by the American Psychiatric Association.
What should I expect from trauma therapy? How will I feel? Will it take long? How do I know if it's going well? These are natural questions about how trauma therapy works. Let's dive in. A thousand kinds of trauma Because trauma can come in many different forms--physical, psychological, sexual, short-term or long-term--trauma therapy will … Continue reading How Trauma Therapy Works
Trauma is an everyday occurrence in our world. Everyone experiences it at some point or another. Whether it’s something “normal” like an auto accident or surgery, or whether it’s something more unusual, like an attack, abuse, combat or seeing someone killed, it happens to a lot of people. But most people recover fairly well, and … Continue reading Trauma and Resiliency
Flashbacks. Avoiding public places. Hiding in the closet. Jumping at sounds. Nightmares. Waking up shaking or screaming. Yelling at loved ones for no reason. Feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, rage. These are some common symptoms of PTSD. (Childhood trauma can manifest itself a bit differently.) There may also be depression, numbness, lack of ability to … Continue reading PTSD is not (exactly) an illness
I've worked with a lot of people with addiction (and I've struggled with addiction myself). At some point I realized that among the people I knew well with addiction, the only ones who hadn't told me about awful things that happened to them as children were the ones who hadn't told me anything about their … Continue reading The impact of childhood trauma
What is complex childhood trauma? Childhood usually involves a few traumatic events: accidents or injuries, unintended separations, grief over minor losses, etc. Events such as these can have some long-term impacts, but often they don’t. However, some children experience things that are usually more serious: divorce, death of a parent, ongoing abuse or neglect, a … Continue reading Childhood Trauma