Therapy for Trauma, PTSD, and Life Stress

Life Stress, Transitions, and Adjustment

We all experience stress in our lives, and sometimes stress can start to feel like our normal. Whether it's a high-demand job, a challenging school program, loss of a loved one, finding acceptance, a major life change, arguments with loved ones, or one of the many other stressful experiences we may encounter, we often feel overwhelmed, burnt out, and exhausted by stressful experiences. Stress can make it difficult to sleep, stick to our normal routines, and enjoy our hobbies. We might have unhelpful, negative, or untrue thoughts. It might be hard to concentrate on tasks, and you may even find yourself avoiding important tasks or activities. Stress can also make us lash out at others. All of these are common reactions to stress.

Therapy for Stress

I enjoy working with folks who are experiencing stress and transitions and are feeling overwhelmed and burned out as a result. I use a warm and validating approach to help my client identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts, navigate stressful experiences, develop lasting coping skills and routines, and reclaim their life from stress. I use a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) to treat older children, teens, and adults who are experiencing stress or burn out in their lives. We will work together to identify your treatment goals that will help reduce feelings of stress.

Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Sometimes, bad things happen to us or to those we love. You have tried to resume your normal life, but you (or your child/teen) don’t feel the same. You feel on-edge, down or depressed, and disconnected. You often find yourself thinking about the traumatic experience, or you try to avoid thinking about it and reminders of it. People have told you to “move on” or “get over it”, but you feel stuck with the experience.

A traumatic event involves exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, and is either experienced first-hand, witnessed, or heard about happening to someone else. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) happens when we have the following lasting symptoms after a traumatic experience: 

  • Repeated, intrusive, and upsetting memories about the trauma, such as dreams, flashbacks, and physiological reactions, such as heart pounding, sweating, feelings of panic

  • Avoidance of reminders of the trauma ("triggers"), including memories, thoughts, people, places, etc.

  • Negative or unhelpful changes in mood and thoughts, such as difficulties remembering the trauma; negative, unhelpful, or untrue beliefs about the trauma; persistent depressed or low mood; loss of interest in typical activities and interests

  • Changes in reactivity and behavior, such as being more "reactive," angry, or irritable, reckless behavior, higher startle response, trouble concentrating, and changes in sleep

Therapy for Trauma and PTSD

I am passionate about helping individuals overcome and heal from trauma. In addition to traditional CBT and DBT, I use two evidence-based treatments to treat clients with trauma trauma:

  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a version of CBT that is designed to treat trauma symptoms following traumatic experiences among children and teenagers. TF-CBT focuses on teaching relaxation skills and changing unhelpful and negative thoughts about the traumatic experience. Caregivers often participate and learn how to support and comfort their child/teen. TF-CBT typically takes about 12-16 sessions or about 3-4 months.

  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a type of CBT that was designed for teens and adults who experienced a traumatic event and have developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Clients learn to challenge negative and unhelpful beliefs about their traumatic experience. CPT is designed to be a brief treatment and typically lasts about 12 sessions or 3 months.

Where do I start?

Are you ready to start therapy for trauma, PTSD, or stress, or are you seeking therapy for your child/teen? Fill out this form to request an appointment. Contact me if you have more questions or want to discuss services.

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the leading psychotherapies and is used to treat a range of mental health concerns. CBT focuses on the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and actions/behaviors. Because changing feelings, such as sadness or anxiety, by themselves is often challenging, CBT focuses on how to change your thoughts and behaviors to change your feelings.

    During CBT, we will work together to identify unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and then create more helpful thoughts and behaviors. This can result in fewer uncomfortable feelings and an increase in desired feelings, such as happiness and joy. With practice over time, this can also reduce and even cure depression and other mental health concerns.

    Learn more about CBT here.

  • Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that focuses on helping youth and adults manage intense emotions, reduce self-destructive behaviors, and improve relationships. It was originally developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan to treat folks with borderline personality disorder, but it has since been adapted for many other conditions involving emotion regulation challenges, such as depression, anxiety, trauma-related disorders, and substance use concerns. 

    DBT helps people build the skills needed to tolerate distress, manage their emotions and behaviors, and interact more effectively with others. This approach combines principles of both acceptance and change. In practice, this means that people recognize their current circumstances and also work towards meaningful change. The term “dialectical” refers to the concept that two seemingly opposite ideas can both be true at the same time, such as “I am doing the best I can, and I can do better.” The dialectical perspective is especially important because many people with difficulties managing emotions can fall into an extreme way of thinking, like "people are all good or all bad." Extreme thinking patterns can cause emotions to intensify and become more difficult to cope with, which can in turn cause people to act in harmful ways to try to manage their emotions. In DBT, people learn to embrace both acceptance and change.

    DBT can be helpful in managing stress for folks who are having difficulties controlling emotions and behaviors during stressful experiences.

    Please note: I do not provide comprehensive DBT services (e.g., phone coaching).

    Check out my blog post on DBT.