Types of Trauma Therapy

There’s a common misconception that therapy is only talking about your feelings and problems. While divulging information is absolutely useful and is often a portion of sessions, there are many other strategies used that can help an individual process traumatic events and complex emotions. It can be beneficial to understand the options and how they work before choosing to try one. 

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)

Typically, during a very stressful or traumatic event, the brain is focused on survival rather than storing that memory in the way other (more calm) memories are stored. Because of this, the memory can affect your thoughts and actions. 

EMDR aims to give your mind time to properly process and store the situation, so it doesn’t affect your daily life so intensely. It often involves first working on calming strategies and discussing the process so the client is comfortable throughout the process.

When ready, you picture the traumatic event. At the same time there is some form of bilateral stimulation, such as moving your eyes right to left, tapping opposite shoulders, or holding buzzers that vibrate one hand at a time. This stimulation helps to reprocess the memory. 

As you picture the event, your therapist will ask guiding questions, perhaps about what emotions arise, where you feel them in your body, what other thoughts come up, and so on. The idea is not to fix these emotions, but to sit with them.

Additionally, it is not necessary to divulge all the details of the event. If you’re not comfortable discussing the nitty gritty, EMDR can still be an extremely useful tool. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT focuses on identifying problematic patterns of thinking and beliefs that may be impacting your behaviour, reactions, emotions and other thoughts. 

It can be challenging to figure out these core beliefs on your own, and fully understand how they affect your day-to-day. 

The first step of CBT is identifying situations causing you distress. From there, the aim is to analyze what beliefs arise about yourself/others during these situations. You then work with the therapist to change these beliefs and the behaviours that follow. 

Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)

Exposure therapy can reduce reactions to painful memories. It is a similar process as EMDR in terms of slowly exposing yourself to a traumatic memory.

However, rather than reprocessing, the aim is to reduce intensity of reactions over time. The therapist will often practice calming techniques with the client, and instill them during sessions. 

This technique has been particularly useful in individuals experiencing PTSD, though it can also help with phobias. 

Of course, many clinicians will overlap some techniques with others, assessing on a case-by-case situation. There’s also no rule stating you need to stick to one kind of therapy. If one isn’t working, ask to try another! 

Our trauma-informed therapists are always happy to provide a more in-depth explanation of the available options. Book a free 20 minute consultation here to learn more.