Trauma Focused Therapy

Introduction

Trauma-focused therapy, or trauma therapy, is a psychotherapy that enables clients to deal with the emotional consequences of a traumatic event. Trauma, here, can mean abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, bullying, severe injuries, and life-threatening events.

Experience of trauma can severely threaten interpersonal, academic, and occupational life, and jeopardize a person’s entire well-being. Trauma therapy seeks to recognize the wide impact trauma can have on life, and facilitate the journey toward health, healing, and well-being.

At the Nuview Treatment Center, we build on this approach to help clients process trauma and heal from the deep psychological and emotional wounds from traumatic events. With a compassionate, evidence-based approach, we facilitate clients on their journey to recovery and well-being.

What Is Trauma Focused Therapy?

Trauma-focused therapy is a transformative tool that seeks to understand the wide-ranging impacts of trauma, and how it leads to specific emotional and behavioral patterns. The aim of trauma therapy is to empower clients with skills and strategies to understand trauma, cope with trauma, process the intense memories and emotions associated with trauma, and journey toward a healthier life.

Trauma-focused therapy is based on 4 R’s:

• Realize the impact of trauma
• Recognize the signs of trauma in a person or a family, and also in other spaces.
• Respond to trauma by integrating policies and practices to help clients heal from trauma.
• Resist re-traumatization.

There is no one trauma-focused therapy. There are many types of trauma therapies, in fact.

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) – Actively challenges the perspectives toward trauma, and the thinking, emotional, and behavioral patterns associated with it.
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) – TF-CBT is specifically meant for children and adolescents. It works by challenging inaccurate beliefs and maladaptive behavioral patterns.
• Prolonged Exposure (PE) – PE exposes clients to the source of trauma under safe and supervised conditions. The idea is to expose the client to the fearful event until they are no longer afraid of it.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – EMDR involves a certain way of moving eyes (bilateral left-right stimulation) to process traumatic memories.
• Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy (FOT) – FOT allows clients to tap into their bodily sense of a traumatic event or experience, which then opens up a doorway to discover the different paths to healing.

What Are The Types Of Trauma?

Trauma can be acute, chronic, complex, and secondary.

• Acute trauma refers to a single traumatic event, like a sexual assault, accident, or a near-death event.
• Chronic trauma is when trauma is prolonged, like in the cases of bullying, sexual abuse, substance use disorders, or chronic illnesses.
• Complex trauma refers to the experience of multiple traumatic events, like childhood abuse, domestic abuse, and chronic illness, for example.
• Secondary trauma is also known as vicarious trauma. It is when a person can experience symptoms of trauma as a consequence of being in contact with someone who has directly experienced trauma.

What Are The Benefits of Trauma-Focused Therapy?

Trauma-focused therapy has many benefits, as trauma is painful and in many cases can inform life. It can lead to a cascade of other physical and psychological issues, so by focusing on healing trauma, the overall health of a person can be improved.

Some benefits of trauma therapy are:

• Reduced trauma-related symptoms
• Increased understanding of trauma, its impact, and even hereditary trauma
• Decreased fear and/or avoidance
• Helps adopt healthy coping skills
• Helps overcome substance use disorders
• Reduction in self-destructive behaviors, including self-injury and suicidal behaviors
• Improved quality of life

Techniques of Trauma-Focused Therapy

The techniques used in trauma-focused therapy generally depend on the type of therapy.

Psycho-Education –

Educates the client about trauma and the general reactions to trauma. It helps the client accept that their reactions to a traumatic event are valid and understandable.

Relaxation and Affective Regulation Skills –

These are coping skills that allow the client to learn how to relax in case of intense arousal experiences. They also help identify and regulate any unpleasant affective states.

Cognitive Restructuring Skills –

These skills enable the client to achieve healing from their trauma by recognizing negative thinking, emotional, and behavioral patterns associated with trauma and replacing them with healthier and more productive patterns.

Trauma Narrative –

Client is required to write down a narrative or an impact statement regarding their perspective on the traumatic event and how it impacts life. The idea is that creating a trauma narrative is very difficult at first, but by incorporating the previous skills, it will get easier as time goes on.

Imaginal Exposure –

An exposure technique where the client imagines the trauma and recounts it to their therapist. It helps in reducing fear and avoidance, as it is a more confrontational technique.

In Vivo Exposure –

Another exposure technique wherein the client approaches everyday events or conditions they may otherwise avoid given their traumatic experience. It occurs outside of the therapeutic setting but is safe and supervised. It helps in reducing fear and avoidance as well.

Focusing –

Clients are allowed to sense and feel their bodies’ reactions to a traumatic event or experience. This equips clients with the knowledge to heal from their trauma by accessing their own inner wisdom.  

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between CBT and TF-CBT?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) facilitates change by reshaping maladaptive thinking, emotional, and behavioral patterns into something healthy and productive. It is applicable to a wide range of mental health conditions and for all ages. TF-CBT uses CBT techniques but is focused on healing from trauma. It is also specifically meant for children and adolescents.

What type of therapy is best for trauma?

Trauma-focused therapy or trauma therapy is best for trauma. There are also different types of trauma therapies like CPT, TF-CBT, PE, and EMDR.

What is the focusing technique for trauma?

The focusing technique for trauma allows clients to connect with how their bodies feel about a traumatic experience, allowing them to act as an observer of this experience in a safe space.