Trauma Therapy: What It Is and How You Can Benefit From It

Releasing trauma from the body is a crucial aspect of healing from traumatic experiences, and various therapeutic techniques can facilitate this process.

At Pinnacle Counseling Center, we recognize the importance of addressing the physical manifestations of trauma to promote holistic healing.

Here, we explore effective approaches to releasing trauma from the body, each tailored to support individuals on their journey towards recovery.

What Does Trauma Therapy Do?

Trauma therapy, also known as trauma-focused therapy, is a specialized form of therapy designed to help individuals overcome the psychological effects of traumatic experiences.

Here’s what trauma therapy aims to do:

1. Process Traumatic Experiences: Trauma therapy provides a safe environment for individuals to explore and process their traumatic experiences. This involves discussing and confronting memories, emotions, and reactions related to the trauma.
2. Reduce Symptoms: Traumatic experiences often lead to a range of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, flashbacks, nightmares, and avoidance behaviors. Trauma therapy helps individuals manage and reduce these symptoms by addressing their underlying causes.
3. Build Coping Skills: Trauma therapy equips individuals with coping skills to manage distressing thoughts, emotions, and triggers associated with their trauma. This may involve learning relaxation techniques, mindfulness exercises, and cognitive-behavioral strategies.
4. Restore Sense of Safety: Trauma can shatter a person’s sense of safety and trust. Trauma therapy aims to rebuild this sense of safety by providing a supportive therapeutic relationship and teaching individuals how to establish healthy boundaries.
5. Address Negative Beliefs: Trauma often leads to negative beliefs about oneself, others, and the world. Trauma therapy helps individuals challenge and reframe these negative beliefs, fostering a more positive and adaptive outlook.
6. Promote Emotional Regulation: Traumatic experiences can disrupt a person’s ability to regulate their emotions effectively. Trauma therapy teaches individuals skills to identify, tolerate, and manage intense emotions in healthy ways.
7. Facilitate Healing: Ultimately, the goal of trauma therapy is to facilitate healing and recovery from the impact of trauma. This involves empowering individuals to integrate their traumatic experiences into their life story in a way that allows them to move forward with greater resilience and strength.

Different therapeutic approaches may be used in trauma therapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and somatic experiencing, among others.

The specific approach chosen may depend on the individual’s needs, preferences, and the nature of their trauma.

What Are Some Signs of Trauma?

Signs of trauma can vary widely depending on the individual and the nature of the traumatic experience.

Here are some common signs and symptoms that may indicate someone has experienced trauma:

1. Emotional Distress: Persistent feelings of fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, or numbness. Mood swings and emotional volatility may also be present.
2. Flashbacks and Intrusive Memories: Reliving the traumatic event through intrusive memories, nightmares, or flashbacks. These experiences can be distressing and feel as though the trauma is happening again in the present moment.
3. Avoidance Behaviors: Avoiding reminders of the trauma, such as places, people, activities, or conversations that trigger distressing memories or emotions.
4. Hyperarousal: Heightened sensitivity to potential threats or danger, leading to hypervigilance, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and exaggerated startle responses.
5. Physical Symptoms: Physical manifestations of stress, such as headaches, stomachaches, muscle tension, fatigue, and sleep disturbances.
6. Dissociation: Feeling disconnected from oneself or the world around them. This may involve periods of spacing out, feeling detached from reality, or experiencing a sense of unreality (depersonalization) or detachment from one’s body (derealization).
7. Negative Self-Perception: Feelings of guilt, shame, worthlessness, or self-blame related to the traumatic event. A distorted self-image and beliefs about oneself as fundamentally flawed or damaged may also be present.
8. Difficulty Trusting Others: Struggles with trust and intimacy in relationships, as well as a heightened sense of vulnerability and suspicion towards others.
9. Social Withdrawal: Withdrawing from social activities, isolating oneself from others, and experiencing difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships.
10. Substance Abuse: Engaging in substance use or other unhealthy coping mechanisms as a way to numb emotional pain or escape from distressing thoughts and feelings.

It’s important to note that not everyone who experiences trauma will display all of these signs, and individuals may respond to trauma in unique ways.

Additionally, the symptoms of trauma can vary in severity and may fluctuate over time.

If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of trauma, seeking support from a mental health professional can be helpful in addressing and coping with the effects of trauma.

How Do You Release Trauma From the Body?

Releasing trauma from the body involves engaging in therapeutic techniques that address the physical manifestations of trauma and help the body process and release stored tension and stress.

Here are some approaches that may be helpful:

1. Somatic Experiencing (SE): Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented approach to trauma therapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine. It focuses on helping individuals renegotiate and discharge the trapped physical energy associated with traumatic experiences. SE therapists help clients develop awareness of bodily sensations, discharge excess energy through gentle movements or gestures, and regulate the nervous system’s response to stress.
2. Trauma-Informed Yoga: Trauma-informed yoga incorporates gentle movement, breathwork, and mindfulness practices to help individuals reconnect with their bodies in a safe and supportive environment. Yoga can help release tension, increase body awareness, and promote relaxation, facilitating the release of stored trauma from the body.
3. Mindfulness and Meditation: Mindfulness practices involve bringing non-judgmental awareness to present-moment experiences, including bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions. Meditation techniques such as body scans and loving-kindness meditation can help individuals cultivate greater awareness of their bodies and develop self-compassion, which can be instrumental in releasing trauma from the body.
4. Breathwork: Deep breathing exercises, such as diaphragmatic breathing or breath awareness, can help regulate the nervous system and reduce the physiological arousal associated with trauma. Breathwork techniques may help individuals release tension, increase relaxation, and promote a sense of safety in the body.
5. Massage Therapy: Massage therapy can help release tension held in the muscles and tissues of the body, promoting relaxation and reducing physical symptoms of stress and trauma. Techniques such as myofascial release, trigger point therapy, and craniosacral therapy may be particularly beneficial for addressing trauma-related tension and somatic symptoms.
6. Expressive Arts Therapies: Engaging in creative expression through art, music, dance, or writing can provide a non-verbal outlet for processing and releasing trauma from the body. Expressive arts therapies allow individuals to access and express emotions stored in the body in a safe and supportive way.
7. Trauma Release Exercises (TRE): TRE is a somatic therapy technique that involves a series of simple exercises designed to evoke a natural shaking or trembling response in the body. This shaking or trembling can help release tension and discharge stored trauma from the body’s muscular and nervous systems.

It’s important to work with a qualified therapist or practitioner when engaging in trauma release techniques, as processing trauma can sometimes evoke intense emotions and memories.

A trained professional can provide guidance, support, and a safe environment for healing and integration.

Conclusion

At Pinnacle Counseling Center, we understand that trauma resides not only in the mind but also in the body.

Through somatic therapies, mindfulness practices, and trauma-informed approaches, we provide comprehensive support to help individuals release stored tension and stress, promoting healing and restoration.

By integrating these techniques into our therapeutic offerings, we aim to empower individuals to reclaim agency over their bodies and minds as they embark on a path towards healing and resilience. Schedule a session with our team today.