Trauma Therapy in Wilmington, NC
Our counseling office in Wilmington, NC offers trauma therapy to help you process your pain and move forward with life. We know that confronting trauma and vocalizing difficult feelings isn’t easy. However, we also know that you’ll feel better once you do.
So, our trauma therapists will equip you with strategies for managing your trauma symptoms. They’ll help you process your pain and improve your sense of self-esteem and safety.
I Love It Here! Such Great People
I love it here! Such great people. They make you feel at ease the second you walk in the door. The instructors are so patience and helpful!!!
Kate Thompson Read All Reviews
Take on Your Trauma
Our counselors make it their mission to do everything they can to help you process your pain. So, if you’re struggling to overcome trauma or dealing with other negative symptoms related to a traumatic experience, we can help. With trauma therapy, you can heal and move forward to lead a happier and more fulfilling life.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a trauma and stress-related anxiety disorder. It often develops after exposure to a difficult, dangerous, or troubling event. Furthermore, people who are likely to suffer from PTSD include members of the military, rescue workers, and survivors of shootings, bombings, violence, and sexual assault. However, anyone can develop PTSD after a traumatizing event.
Trauma looks different to each individual. And it is possible to experience PTSD after more “everyday” experiences. For example, an “everyday” trauma may look like partner betrayal, car accidents, significant loss, natural disasters, and other incidents. Additionally, even friends and family of people with PTSD can develop the disorder from witnessing their pain.
When symptoms develop immediately after exposure and persist for up to a month, the condition may be called acute stress disorder. However, PTSD is diagnosed when the stress symptoms following exposure have persisted for over a month. Furthermore, delayed expression of PTSD can occur if symptoms arise six months or more following the onset of trauma.
Why do Some People Develop
PTSD & Others Don’t?
PTSD is caused by a complex mix of stressful experiences. This includes the amount and severity of trauma you’ve gone through in your life. Likewise, a family history of anxiety and depression can further the chances of developing PTSD. Additionally, some inherited features of your personality (often called temperament) can impact this. And, the way your brain regulates chemicals can affect the development of PTSD. This happens because PTSD and trauma responses are impacted by the hormones the body releases in response to stress.
Therefore, it’s really hard to say why some people develop PTSD, while others seem to quickly recover from trauma. Most importantly, though, is recognizing your own responses to trauma and responding appropriately.
Symptoms of PTSD
Each individual has a unique experience with PTSD. Additionally, every person has different symptoms. But, some of the most common symptoms of PTSD include:
- Intrusive thoughts – Having intrusive thoughts and memories about the traumatic event. For example, you may be grocery shopping and suddenly find yourself obsessing about a trauma so much that it becomes difficult to control your thoughts.
- Reliving the event – You may feel like the event is happening again or imagine the event over and over. This may happen due to a specific trigger or with no apparent cause.
- Frequent nightmares – These nightmares could be about the traumatic event itself or about an entirely different subject.
- Fear and anxiety – Often feeling an escalated sense of fear and anxiety, especially about a potential lack of safety and security. For instance, you may find yourself checking and rechecking locks or driving extremely slowly. Likewise, you may begin sitting in a certain position in a restaurant, planning escape routes, or other similar behaviors.
- Emotional disconnection – Emotional numbness and avoiding places, people, and activities that remind you of the trauma.
Trauma Therapy and PTSD Treatment in Wilmington, NC
How can you turn your trauma into your power? And what would it feel like to stand in your power and allow it to heal you? Most importantly, are you ready to stop allowing traumatic events to trigger you over and over? If so, you can ground yourself with a safety net to support you.
Our team can help you create that safety net in PTSD treatment. As a result, you will start to feel expansive and brave, rather than constricted with fear. At our Wilmington-based counseling office, we want to help you transform.
Further, we may use several different treatment approaches in PTSD treatment, including:
- Cognitive Processing Therapy
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy that helps people heal from PTSD and other trauma-related disorders. EMDR is an eight-phase treatment that utilizes the power of rapid eye movement. In fact, EMDR significantly accelerates patients’ intellectual and emotional processing of past trauma. In our opinion, the coolest thing about EMDR is how quickly you start to feel better.
On the other hand, traditional talk therapy approaches for trauma can take months or even years to effect change. However, clients who use EMDR often feel better within as few as three sessions. But, if you’re asking yourself, “What does eye movement have to do with anything?” you’re not alone. Therefore, the process may feel a little strange at first, but we know the results are well worth feeling a little silly during EMDR treatment.
Begin Trauma Therapy and PTSD Treatment in Wilmington, NC
Reliving trauma and experiencing symptoms of PTSD can hold you back from living life wholeheartedly. Working with a trauma therapist at our Wilmington, NC-based counseling practice can help you move forward and heal. If you are ready to take the steps toward healing from trauma and PTSD, follow these steps.
- Reach out to our office at (910) 202-4326.
- Start sessions with one of our experienced trauma therapists.
- Find internal peace and feel lighter.
Other Services at Evolution Wellness
Here at Evolution in Wilmington, NC, we care about providing high-quality counseling services. While we have true trauma therapy experts, trauma therapy isn’t all we offer. Our therapists provide family therapy services along with individual therapy services. Among our individual services are anxiety and depression treatment, LGBTIA affirming counseling, substance abuse counseling, and EMDR. In regard to families, we offer couples therapy, premarital counseling, counseling for divorce, intimacy & sex therapy, therapy for women, and therapy for teens. For more information about our practice, check out our blog or contact us.
