Top 10 Myths About Trauma Therapy
Clarifying misconceptions about trauma therapy in Baltimore
What to know and what to trash: clarifying misconceptions about therapy
I am a Maryland based LCPC and Perinatal Mental Health-Certified psychotherapist. At my foundation, I’m a trauma therapist trained in Parts Work/IFS, Brainspotting and EMDR and I’d like to help you understand what to expect from trauma therapy in Baltimore.
I often work with self-reliant women who are struggling with the demands of family, career and relationships and support them to step out of survival mode and rediscover their capacity to have a nourishing, joyful life. I’ve witnessed how somatic tools better resource a client's nervous systems so they can reconnect to their sense of self and live more wholeheartedly. For me, being in our bodies and being able to be with what information comes from our bodies is at the heart of trauma work.
Folks I meet often are ambivalent, intimidated and scared of the prospect of trauma work. If we were overwhelmed, overpowered, disempowered and isolated by what happened to us in the past, we’ve likely developed protective systems designed to avoid feeling that way again. There may be many variables contributing to ambivalence and hesitation. In the following, I address some misconceptions about trauma therapy that may be getting in the way of you pursuing the healing you deserve.
1. Myth: Trauma Therapy Is Only for People with Severe Trauma
Research shows that the impact of complex trauma, attachment trauma, developmental trauma, emotional neglect, while sometimes more obtuse to define and understand can have greater negative impact on an individual’s sense of self, abilities to regulate and capacity to receive support from others. When the emotions and sensations feels exaggerated to the present event, it’s our surest way to know its about something being carried and unprocessed from the past.
Therapies like parts work, EMDR and Brainspotting can address a wide range of trauma types - starting from what information is available in the present. Sometimes what is a memory, cognition, symptom, feeling state - sometimes its the words of “I don’t know” and the disconnection from body and feeling. Two people can have the exact same experience and have completely different perceptions and impact on self (i.e., siblings!). Trauma is about the specific person, what they believe it means about them and how healing is block or stuck.
2. Myth: Trauma Therapy Takes Years to Work
Healing looks different for everyone! Some folks will have specific targets they can very effectively be addressed and shifted with the support of reprocessing modalities (parts work/ IFS, Brainspotting, EMDR). Healing is layered and multidimensional. Feeling supported and increasing capacity can take weeks, months or years. Attachment and attunement are important considerations as to how someone may recover and at what pace.
Having meaningful shifts can occur in one session, one season or over a year. Effective trauma therapy that support relief in the short term is possible. If it feels like you’re still building to trauma work or feel stuck in therapy see my post about ‘How to Tell if Therapy is Working for You’.
3. Myth: Trauma Therapy Involves Talking About Every Single Detail of My Past
Trauma is stored in right brain, limbic system (feeling brain) and autonomic nervous system that connects to brain stem (animal brain). You’ll notice left brain, prefrontal cortex is left out of this equation because its not an active part in storage of trauma capsules or our ability for emotional regulation. (Its why telling yourself to calm down doesn’t often work). Trauma can be effectively targeted and shifted without language. Parts work and Brainspotting can offer powerful pathways if we don’t have a trailhead of cognition.
While dual attention (power of observation) is an important resource it doesn’t require constant narration. We make meaning of the processing over time and how it can be impactful and life changing for you.
4. Myth: Trauma Therapy is Just About Talking
See prior point! If we only talk or address solely with cognitive strategies, (or typical ‘top-down’ processes), we miss so much of the valuable content. Think ‘tip of the iceberg’ idiom and we likely won’t get to the shift in emotion, sensation or autonomic responses that keep you stuck.
5. Myth: Therapy is for People Who Are Weak or Unable to Handle Life
Trauma survivors and their capacity for adaptation and resilience will always have my deep, unwavering respect. Seeking help is a courageous and proactive step toward healing. If we could do it alone - we wouldn’t have the problem we’re experiencing to begin with.
Parts Work/IFS framing can be especially useful here as it empowers individuals by helping them integrate all parts of their personality, creating a stronger sense of self. I would be curious about which part or parts carry this type of narrative and self judgment and how they helped a person survive. How they might they be willing to get their needs met in different ways? What would it take for them to begin to trust highest self?
6. Myth: I Need to Wait Until I'm 'Ready' for Therapy
Most people aren’t “ready” for therapy in the traditional sense - things have just gotten bad enough. Making the choice to face our challenges is a huge step towards healing. As a trauma therapist in Baltimore who prioritizes attunement and an attachment focused lens, I understand that healing from trauma is a deeply personal journey, and no matter where you are emotionally or mentally, it’s a paradigm shift if you are no longer alone in this process. With patience and understanding from a trauma therapist, you build the tools and resilience you need to move forward, always honoring your unique journey at your own pace and when we have more capacity do so.
7. Myth: Trauma Therapy Will Make Me Feel Worse Before It Gets Better
The prior trauma might likely always be the saddest, hardest, scariest, most awful aspect of your past. It doesn’t need to be kept well alive in the present. Body based modalities like EMDR and Brainspotting are specifically designed to minimize emotional overwhelm while processing trauma. Effective trauma therapy is designed to help clients process and release emotional pain and to have your brain do something different when visiting old wounds. Trauma informed therapy is done at a pace that respects your emotional needs and unique capacity - without contributing to destablization.
8. Myth: You Have to Commit to Long-Term Therapy Right Away
Brainspotting, EMDR, and Parts Work/IFS can be used in a short-term or long-term context, depending on the client's needs and progress. We can focus on an more acute aspect of the experience and always have you guide the work and where we go.
I’m also struck by the limitless potential clients have for healing and how far our trauma work together can take us. I encourage folks to start with a free consultation to explore their needs without any long-term commitment upfront. If you feel the therapist understands you and might be able to help ask for potential for short term work or targeted focus.
9. Myth: Trauma Therapy Only Focuses on Trauma, Not on Building a Positive Future
Trauma therapy works through past experiences, it also helps build a future by developing healthier coping strategies, better self-understanding, and more fulfilling relationships. Meeting needs of protectos and healing of wounds carried by parts allow us to get out of patterns and automatic experiences. This work can be deeply empowering for individual change and shape the possibility for a different future.
10. Myth: Trauma Therapy is Only About Addressing Past Events
Body based modalities allow us to be with what’s showing up in the here and now so we can continue to address the present day impact as opposed to staying in the past. EMDR, Brainspotting and Parts work/ IFS can help clients not only heal from the past but live better with sensation and emotion in their bodies supporting them to be more present, resilient, and able to thrive today. As we learn adaptive information, and become better resourced we can heal parts carrying past pain and allow the story of your human experience to continue to move and unfold.
While trauma work, will likely be uncomfortable - as it requires us to revisit painful content - it should not feel intolerable. Over time, effective trauma therapy allows us to be with the pain but get off the rollercoaster of re-experiencing that pain in the exact same ways as when we were hurt.
What happened may likely still be most awful or saddest thing that ever happened to you; with trauma therapy it becomes a thread in the greater fabric of your life as opposed to continuing to define who you are and how you live. Take the first step toward reclaiming your peace and reach out to a trauma therapist.
