Trauma Therapy

Learn How You Can Finally Put Trauma in Its Proper Place … the Past

It is an unfortunate fact that most of us suffer, at one time or another, some deeply upsetting or traumatic experiences.

Traumatic experiences can range from significant rejections (such as a major job loss or relationship breakup) to emotional neglect, or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse experienced in childhood, to witnessing or being the victim of a crime, serious accident, or some type of man-made or natural disaster.

In fact, any experience that leaves you feeling vulnerable, helpless, overwhelmed, and alone, or shatters your sense of safety and well-being, can be traumatizing.

And regardless of their cause, traumatic experiences can be extremely debilitating, both for your relationships and for your life.

You may be overly aggressive or defensive in your relationships, or wrestle with painful memories, disturbing emotions, or a sense of danger that you just cannot seem to overcome. Or, alternatively, you may feel numb, emotionally detached, or incapable of connecting with or trusting others.

Actually, if you are like many of the clients I help every day, there is a good chance that whatever anxiety and stress, panic attacks, depression, or relationship difficulties you are struggling with are caused (at least in part) by the defense mechanisms you have developed to protect yourself from remembering or re-experiencing some sort of traumatic experience from your past.

You may have tried to repress your feelings, protect yourself by retreating from others, numb the pain with alcohol, food, drugs, or other addictive or compulsive behaviors, or you may be trying to simply push through the pain in order to keep moving forward in life as best you can.

But nothing seems to work, at least not for long.

To make matters worse, even therapy has not always helped.

However there is still hope!

You CAN feel accomplished, successful, and create the rewarding, loving, and joyous relationships and life you desire.

How?

Trauma Counseling and Therapy that Actually Works

If you have been in therapy before and wondered why, although it has helped to some extent, the issues you are experiencing have not fully resolved, it is likely because the type of therapy you have pursued is not the best at treating trauma.

There are two basic approaches to counseling and psychotherapy, which I refer to as “top down” and “bottom up” approaches.

What do I mean by this?

Many therapists employ “top down” approaches, such as psychodynamic psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The theory underlying these types of treatments is that by changing your thoughts, those cognitive changes then filter down to change your feelings and emotions.

While these types of treatment approaches can be extremely helpful in resolving a wide variety of issues, they are not particularly effective when it comes to overcoming trauma.

Why?

Because trauma has little to do with cognition.

Intellectually comprehending that the past is the past and talking through our traumatic experiences does not fully address our responses to trauma, which are rooted below our conscious level of awareness.

Basically, when we experience a traumatic event, our brains become “re-wired” and we start perceiving and interpreting the world as a dangerous place in order to prepare and protect ourselves from further danger.

In other words, trauma results in a fundamental reorganization of the way our brains and minds interpret our perceptions.

Trauma changes not only how we think and what we think about, but also our very capacity to think.

Being traumatized means continuing to organize your life as if the trauma were still going on – unchanged and immutable – as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past.

Accordingly, for real change to take place, not only our brains but also our bodies need to learn that the danger has passed and to live in the reality of the present.

Trauma treatment needs to address every aspect of traumatic stress: the conscious and the unconscious … the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of our beings.

This is why “bottom up” approaches to psychotherapy, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Image Transformation Therapy (ImTT), are so effective at helping people work through and resolve trauma and abuse.

“Bottom up” approaches such as EMDR and ImTT allow you to work and heal at the physical level with your body, as well as at the level of the unconscious mind, which is the key to obtaining rapid and thorough results, as described in Bessel Van Der Kolk’s New York Times best selling book “The Body Keeps the Score.”

Can I Really Help You Overcome Trauma and Create the Change You Seek?

To be fair, there are never any “money back” guarantees in psychotherapy. Each person’s history, needs and personality make up is unique. I always anticipate that a potential new client will need to evaluate whether or not you feel I am a “good fit” for working with you.

What I can say is that I have been trained in EMDR and have been using it with most of my clients since 2005, and that over the years I have very successfully treated hundreds of people like you. In fact, it has been rare that EMDR has not proven itself to be highly effective.

But more than this, I can also help you experience immediate relief through an approach known as Image Transformation Therapy (ImTT).

While EMDR is typically much faster and more effective than other forms of trauma therapy, Image Transformation Therapy can help you “dump out” very powerful, negative emotions (pain, depression, anxiety, panic, fear, and other overwhelming feelings) and feel a whole lot better even in your very first session!

I realize this may sound too good to be true. I felt the same way when I first heard about this approach, and am still often amazed by how well it works. However, I have been using Image Transformation Therapy for over seven years, and it truly does work that quickly almost every time.

But do not just take my word for it. I invite you to attend two or three sessions with me and make your mind up for yourself!

Of course, none of this is to say all of your problems will be solved after just two or three sessions. However, you will feel encouraged at the rapid relief you will notice from one or more of your current symptoms.

And once we have alleviated the worst symptoms you are experiencing – those things that are preventing you from functioning well – then we can transition to understanding, working through, and resolving the underlying triggers and issues that are keeping you from creating the rewarding relationships and life you desire.

Remember, you CAN learn to quickly cope with and resolve the symptoms of trauma.

I have helped hundreds of clients do just this, and I can help you, too.

Are you ready to get started, regain a sense of calm and control, and finally put trauma in its proper place, the past, so you can move forward, experience meaningful connections, and create a life you truly love?

To learn more about how the trauma counseling services I provide can help you, I encourage you to contact me today, while you’re thinking about it, and schedule a free initial consultation. I can be reached by phone at 650-680-7124 or by email at claire@gclaireroberts.com. I look forward to speaking with you and helping in any way I can!