Trauma and Therapy

Trauma is defined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as "an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being."

The Center for Collaboration defines trauma as “An event is experienced as traumatic when it overwhelms our ability to cope” and creates a loss of control.

Help with Trauma | Trauma Treatment | Trauma Therapy in Burnsville MN

When Trauma Shows Up

When trauma occurs it can take over and replace the joys in life with sadness, fear, numbness, and grief. It can make it hard to find calm.  Trauma can strip away any security you have felt in the past and leave you feeling on edge. 

When trauma gets “stuck” it can replay (physically, mentally, emotionally) over and over.  Trauma can take over the present with the past.  Trauma can invite other emotional struggles, like anxiety and depression, to join it. 

Although it is different for each person, below, you will find more information about what trauma can look and feel like, and how InVision Therapy services can help.  

What trauma can look and feel like

  • Aches and pains in the body 

    Difficulty sleeping

    Hyperarousal 

    Sleep disturbance

    Intrusive thoughts

    Nightmares

    Changes to sexual interest

    Easily startled by noises and unexpected touch

    Constipation / diarrhea

    Depression

  • Anger 

    Irritability

    Flashbacks

    Disassociation

    Feeling detached from self, others, or life

    Shame

    Guilt

    Change in interest

    Being on high alert 

    Grief

  • Body sensations 

    Isolating

    Difficulty trusting

    Difficulty recalling events

    Challenges with concentration

    Numb

    Avoidance of people or places

    Compromised health

    Heightened emotions

    Anxiety, panic, or feeling of terror

Traumatic Events Addressed In Therapy

 

  • Bullying

  • Emotional, physical, sexual abuse/assault

  • Racism, discrimination, oppression

  • Community violence / terrorism

  • Natural disaster

  • Serious accident

  • Life threatening illness

  • War, combat, concentration camps

InVision Therapy Can Help With Trauma

We implement and practice tangible skills and strategies to settle the nervous system, and bring you to a place you are able to tolerate.

Throughout the entire process we focus on all aspects of where you are able to harness power, choice, and control.

We take care to avoid jumping into the trauma and creating a retraumatizing experience. Instead, we take small, tolerable, and manageable segments.  

We help your brain and body to match the response to the level of protection needed in the present.  

We  acknowledge, exploit, and build upon the strengths and resiliency you have demonstrated.  

We focus on ways to create new pathways in your brain to “unstick” trauma and any emotional struggles that have come along with it, to regain control and restore calm, hope, and joy.  

We utilize Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)