Trauma/PTSD.

Sometimes our experiences can be overwhelming. Even if we do not experience feeling overwhelmed at the time, memories of the event, or multiple events, can continue to come back to visit us in our disturbing dreams and “triggering” that occurs during the day in which the disturbing memories and reactions may emerge. Even when we successfully dealt with the traumatic experience, there can be lingering after-effects. Heightened anxiety, hypervigilance, irritability, mood swings and other behaviors and feelings can be very distressing. Most people who experience a disturbing event will try to put it behind them, not think about it, avoid things that might remind them and/or deflect any questions about the event. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is the most serious trauma-related psychological condition that may arise from a disturbing event. But there are many other forms of our response to a trauma that can be troubling. Sometimes, it takes more than a willful effort to put the event behind us or out of mind. In these cases, I have been trained in various techniques to help an individual who has sustained a trauma to recover from the consequences and reactions to the trauma and return to a fuller, more invigorated and less fearful life. The techniques that I bring to bear for an individual who has sustained a trauma are Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Brainspotting, two techniques that have been demonstrated to be the most effective treatments for PTSD. I also use mindfulness and cognitive processing therapy techniques when appropriate.