Trauma & PTSD

Trauma is a result of exposure to an incident, or series of events, which you perceive as highly distressing, frightening or life-threatening. The lasting effects of trauma can leave you feeling overwhelmed, on edge, confused, anxious and having intrusive thoughts or images.

Although it is completely normal to feel this way immediately after a traumatic event occurs, if the feelings persist over many months or years, you may be suffering from what is known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

What is Trauma?

Trauma is the result of experiencing a distressing or life-threatening event that the brain has been unable to process at the time. As a result, the traumatic memory remains frozen in the brain and unprocessed. These memories are then easily activated by triggers in the present, which can make it feel as though you are reliving the trauma.

Traumatic events are often unpredictable and can include abuse, neglect, assault, accidents, illnesses or combat.

Types of Trauma

There are three main types of trauma categorised by how long the person was exposed to the trauma for and who it relates to. They are:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Complex-Trauma or Complex-PTSD
Secondary or Vicarious trauma

What is PTSD?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is when the symptoms of trauma continue for over three months

PTSD occurs when you experience a frightening or life-threatening event which impacts your perceived sense of safety. The brain and the body go into a ‘fight, flight or shutdown’ response, which restricts the brain’s ability to process the event.

The memory from the event is not processed properly and therefore can be easily reactivated by triggers from certain sights, smells, sounds or body sensations. When the memory is reactivated it can feel like the event is happening in the here and now and can continue to be retraumatising to you.

What is Complex PTSD or Complex Trauma?

Complex trauma is different to single event trauma as it is the result of repeated exposure to traumatic experiences over time. This is often related to trauma experiences endured throughout childhood which have gone on over many months or years.

Complex trauma is often pervasive and may have been inflicted by more than one person. It can impede a child’s development and particularly affect areas of development relating to short-term memory and emotional regulation.

Due to these experiences, adults who have experienced childhood trauma are primed to deal with a constant level of stress. A person with complex trauma may struggle to appropriately respond to situations which may appear non-threatening to others.

In some cases complex trauma can also develop from experiences as an adult. This is usually when someone has been subjected to repeated trauma later in their life, such as through domestic violence.

What is Secondary or Vicarious Trauma?

In some cases, secondary or vicarious trauma can occur from hearing details of someone else’s trauma. This is common in healthcare professionals who may hear details of traumatic events as part of their work.

Although the traumatic event did not happen to them first-hand, bearing witness to the details empathically can cause symptoms of trauma as though it is happening to them. They may experience symptoms such as hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, and avoidance.

Causes of Trauma & PTSD

Potential causes of trauma include:

Being part of an accident like a car crash
Physical abuse
Rape or sexual assault
Childhood sexual abuse
Military conflicts
Being part of a war zone
Life-threatening events like domestic violence
Loss of a loved of a one

Symptoms & Signs of Trauma

Everyone’s response to trauma will be different and may vary due to:

Differing personality types
The way they deal with strong emotions
How much support they have
What they have been exposed to in the past
What coping strategies they have
What sense they take from the traumatic event.

Common symptoms of trauma

Disturbed sleep including nightmares
Flashbacks to the event
Feeling triggered by reminders of the event
Low self-worth
Suicidal thoughts
Irritability
Being on high alert
Anxiety
Depression
Excessive use of drugs and alcohol
Numbing
Anger
Helplessness
Avoiding thinking or talking about the event
Feeling detached from family and friends
Difficulty concentrating

There is no right or wrong way to respond to trauma but if symptoms are interfering with your life you may need to seek support.

How to Deal with Trauma: Self Help

There are some self-help strategies that may be helpful in managing the symptoms of trauma:

Practice self-care: Taking care of your physical and emotional needs is crucial in managing trauma. Make sure you are getting enough sleep and exercise, and are taking time for relaxation and self-care activities.
Practice grounding techniques: Grounding techniques can help you stay connected to the present moment. Try using your senses to ground you, such as eating strong-flavoured sweets or having a calming scent you can smell.
Connect with others: Try to talk to someone about how you are feeling.
Practice relaxation techniques: Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, and yoga, can all be beneficial.
Engage in positive activities: Doing things that you enjoy and find meaningful can help improve your mood and sense of well-being. Try to engage in activities that bring you joy and a sense of accomplishment.

Trauma Therapy & PTSD Treatments

If you have experienced trauma, it is important to seek help from a mental health professional if it has lasted longer than four weeks or if it’s impacting your functioning. Common treatments include:

Eye Movement Densensitisation Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

EMDR is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD and other types of trauma. It uses bilateral stimulation (left and right eye movements, taps or sounds) which helps to reprocess the memory. Repeated sets of eye movements, taps, or sounds help the memory to feel less emotionally painful so that it can be stored in the brain more neutrally as something that just happened in the past. EMDR is suitable for any type of trauma.

EMDR Therapy

Trauma-informed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT is another evidence-based therapy for all types of trauma. It works by considering how thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are all linked. The therapy helps target unhealthy thought patterns which may be maintaining certain emotional and behavioural responses like avoidance. Thoughts are challenged using a technique called ‘cognitive restructuring’. This helps to change problematic meanings of traumatic experiences. Once healthier thought patterns have been formed, more positive feelings and behaviours start to emerge.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Benefits of trauma therapy

Reduced avoidance and fear

One of the main benefits of trauma therapy is that people start to feel less scared by the events that happened to them. Once the memories have been processed, an individual will often find that they are able to confront situations that they may have once found fearful and avoided.

Increase in coping

The first phase of trauma therapy is to help provide the individual with more ways of coping. This helps with emotion regulation so the person can feel more confident that they can cope with situations day to day.

Building new insights

Therapy can help people find new insights that they were not able to come to before, changing problematic thought patterns into more positive ones.

Developing trust

Often when someone has been traumatised, it can be hard to trust others and even their own judgement. Therapy can help to rebuild the bonds of trust by giving new perspectives and learning.

Why Choose Turning Tides for PTSD Counselling & Trauma Therapy?

At Turning Tides, our team of psychologists are highly trained and have many years of experience working with common mental health conditions such as trauma.

Our psychologists can help you to understand your trauma, exploring some of the different factors that have brought you to where you are today. Based on these individual factors, they will teach you strategies to effectively manage your trauma and allow you to move forwards in your life.

We offer regular face-to-face appointments at our modern and comfortable clinic in Hoult’s Yard, Newcastle or we can offer online therapy via Zoom if you live further afield or have a preference for online sessions.

Our Fees

We have tried to keep our pricing as simple as possible. We charge £120 for a 60-minute appointment, regardless of whether this is an assessment or therapy session. Our fees are the same for face-to-face appointments and online appointments as you will receive the same high standard of care from our psychologists, regardless of how it is delivered.

Get in touch today

A psychologist will then be in touch to arrange a free 15-minute no-obligation call, where we can discuss your requirements in more detail and you can get a feel for whether Turning Tides is the right psychology practice for you.

If we’re not right for you, we’ll try and signpost you to somewhere that is.

Please note – Turning Tides is not a crisis service, and if you feel you need urgent support or are experiencing a mental health crisis then it is important that you contact your GP if they are available, or attend A&E.