Two Therapies for Trauma Near Me
When I was starting my career in mental health a supervisor discouraged me from learning how to treat trauma. She told me that trauma treatment is a fad. Say WHAT!
I did not follow her advice. It was stupid advice. Instead, I worked with as many people as I could with trauma. And my research at NIH and beyond focused on people with trauma. I went all in.
I love working with people who have trauma. The reason I love it is because they often do two things. First, they tell me the truth. Second, I get to see who they become after their trauma is processed. We’ve all had plenty of people lie to us. The truth is refreshing. We all haven’t seen personal transformation. But I have. And I live for it.
Symptoms of Trauma
The list of symptoms of trauma is long. The way people think about trauma has drastically changed in the last 15 years. This can make it hard to know if you’ve experienced trauma.
What I want you to know is that the symptoms of trauma are primarily physical. The shorthand from this from the brilliant Dan Seigel is “the issues are in the tissues.”
This is supported by the most important book about trauma in recent years. That book is called The Body Keeps the Score. In it, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk describes his research about trauma and the body.
I also want you to know this about the symptoms of trauma: Processing them without a trauma informed approach makes you feel crazy. If you’re doing everything your therapist says and you’re still not getting better DO NOT draw the conclusion that it is you. That you can’t get better. That you’re the reason bad things happen to you. That everything you touch turns to …
To effectively treat your symptoms of trauma, you MUST have trauma informed care.
Trauma Informed Mental Health Care
Trauma informed care means that the provider must have advanced training in a validated form of trauma informed care. I will detail two of those in one second. Without this advanced training, they can do more harm than good.
Validated Form of Trauma Treatment #1
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing or EMDR is the most researched form of trauma care out there. DCNE has providers that are trained in it. Our Director has been using it for about 15 years. He trains others in EMDR and holds the highest certification you can.
EMDR uses eye movements to desensitize traumatic memories. This reduces the intensity, duration, and frequency of the symptoms. In other words, it gives you your mind and body back.
Yes. There is a dispute in the literature about it.
Yes. That dispute is a good thing.
Yes. It is the gold standard.
Validated Form of Trauma Treatment #2
Neurofeedback trains your brainwave activity to reduce or eliminate the symptoms of trauma. The research on it is compelling. DCNE is the DC area’s leading neurofeedback provider.
In a traumatic moment, your brain rewires. It does this to protect you. But when you aren’t in a traumatic situation anymore, your brain doesn’t “unwire” itself. You have to tell your brain to rewire. You have to get it back to a non-trauma state. Neurofeedback does that.
This is great for people who don’t want to talk about their trauma.
This is great for people who don’t want to take medications any more.
This is great for all kinds of symptoms related to trauma.
Why You Should Work with Us
We are proud of our long list of professional accomplishments, awards, articles, books, etc. But what we care most about is if we are a good fit for you.
To see if we are a good fit, we offer consultations for anyone interested in our services or who want to know more. We do this as a service to the community. Reaching out for mental health care is hard. We make it easier.
It is as easy as booking your consultation on our website, by texting us at 202-998-2343, or by emailing [email protected]. During this consultation you will not have to spill your guts about what happened. We will simply listen to your goals and help you understand how we operate. We are your resource to make it easier, even if you don’t work with us.
Other ADHD Services Offered by The Center for Neurocognitive Excellence
In addition to trauma treatment, we also offer therapy for anxiety and therapy for depression. We aren’t just an “uh huh, tell me more” kind of therapy practice. We want to get in there with you and provide real tangible results.