Trauma treatments are therapies developed to treat Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder that can develop after you experience a traumatic event, such as a physical or sexual assault, combat , violent crime, or a natural disaster. PTSD may also occur in response to chronic and intense experiences of emotional abuse and invalidation. PTSD consists of symptoms that fall into 4 major categories: (1) re-experiencing the trauma, often through intrusive thoughts or memories; (2) avoidance of trauma-related cues, including distracting yourself from thoughts or memories about the trauma or avoiding people, places, or situations that remind you about the event; (3) negative changes in mood or cognition, such as increased fear, guilt, shame, anger, or depression, or difficulty remembering parts of the event; and (4) heightened emotional arousal and reactivity, including noticing an increased startle response, hypervigilance, and an increase in self-destructive behaviors like substance abuse or self-harm. There are several evidence-based therapies available to treat PTSD.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy, or PE, is a type of trauma treatment developed by Dr. Edna Foa to treat PTSD and has been adapted by Dr. Melanie Harned to treat people experiencing both PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder. PE emphasizes the role that avoidance and problematic beliefs have in maintaining PTSD symptoms. Thus, the goal of treatment is to help you face things associated with the trauma that you have been avoiding in order to help you test out and change problematic beliefs about yourself and the world that developed because of the trauma. During PE treatment, you’ll experience two types of techniques. During imaginal exposure, you’ll work with your therapist to face the thoughts and memories about the trauma you tend to avoid, while during in-vivo exposure, you’ll work with your therapist to face the people, places, or situations related to the trauma that you tend to avoid (only if they are realistically safe and align with your current life goals - for example, you would not be asked to face the perpetrator of your trauma unless it was safe to do so AND it was important to you to do so).

Cognitive Processing Therapy, or CPT, is a type of trauma treatment developed by Dr. Patricia Resick to treat PTSD. CPT emphasizes the role that negative and unhelpful thoughts, called “stuck points”, have in maintaining PTSD symptoms. Thus, the goal of treatment is to help you consider new perspectives and think through your stuck points. By changing your thoughts, you can change how you feel. During CPT, you’ll talk with your therapist about any negative or unhelpful thoughts you have been having about the trauma and work together to learn to consider other ways of thinking about the event. Additionally, you and your therapist will focus on several areas of your life that may have been affected by the trauma, including your sense of safety, trust, control, self-esteem, and intimacy, and work together to consider new perspectives and ways of thinking.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is a type of trauma treatment developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro to treat PTSD. EMDR emphasizes the role unprocessed traumatic memories have in maintaining PTSD symptoms. Thus, the goal of treatment is to help aid your brain’s natural capacity to heal and process the traumatic memory. During EMDR, your therapist will guide you through a protocol to designed to stimulate bilateral activity in your brain. Unlike other treatments that focus on directly changing the thoughts, behaviors, or emotions that result from experiencing a traumatic event, EMDR focuses directly on changing the way the traumatic memory is stored in the brain in order to help reduce PTSD symptoms.