Trauma Therapy, What To Expect?

[Muted]

My T said there wasn't anything that officially makes you a trauma t and that all t's deal with trauma to some degree, but some have more specialized training than others.

 

[recoveringfromptsd]

I don't think that's true, I don't think there is anything like a certified trauma therapist. I think she made my point, a lot of therapist take on trauma stuff, and not having a lot of trauma experience and training there sort of winging it. My regular T while we have talked about trauma stuff as it relates to her keeping with my head straight (she is sort of like a stage coach driver, when the horses vere too much to one side, he/she raines them in to keep straight), but she specifically referred me to the local rape crisis/recovery center for abuse therapy. And there is a big difference, right of the bat is the approach is different, and trauma assess and function assessment comes first. I saw my trauma T 3 times before we ever got into trauma stuff.

 

[Lola Nocheprieta]

"Regular" therapy deals with a lot of stuff, stress from work, relationships, etc., and while that may be informed by the past trauma, it is essentially focused on the here-and-now. In my experience "trauma-focused therapy" (TF-T) goes back to the past and approaches the trauma head-on. It helps you deal with the past trauma directly so you can process it and it becomes less intense in the present.

When I was doing Prolonged Exposure we only spent about 5 minutes checking in about the past week, and then everything else was about either the homework or actively processing a particular memory.

It's been my experience that there are some excellent t out there, who do "deal with" the trauma their clients have been through, but that is not the same thing as TF-T, where it is the only thing you deal with.