Trauma Treatment in New York

What is Trauma?

Any event that causes, threatens, or showcases severe physical or emotional harm is considered a traumatic event. This can be a one-time event such as a car crash, or an ongoing experience such as living in an abusive household. Traumatic events often have long-lasting negative effects that range from withdrawal and numbness to agitation and hypervigilance. Not all people who experience trauma develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but for those who do, persistent symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance, and increased arousal significantly impair their daily functioning in various areas of life (school, work, home, etc.). We provide a space to carefully process traumatic events and build resilience for moving forward in life.

What are some examples of traumatic experiences?

One-time traumatic experiences

  • Physical assault

  • Sexual assault

  • A natural disaster such as a tornado, flood, fire, or hurricane

  • Witnessing a violent event such as someone being shot

  • The sudden death of a parent or loved one

  • Being hospitalized

Traumatic experiences that can be on-going

  • Physical or emotional abuse

  • Sexual abuse

  • War

  • Terrorist events

  • Gang violence

Traumatic events can affect adults and children of any age

What are symptoms of trauma?

Some signs of trauma include

  • Being in shock, denial, or disbelief

  • Having confusion or difficulty concentrating

  • Experiencing anger, irritability, and mood swings

  • Experiencing anxiety and fear

  • Having guilt, shame, or self-blame

  • Withdrawing from others

  • Feeling sad or hopeless

  • Feeling disconnected or numb

Some additional signs of trauma in children

  • Expressing nervousness

  • Having stomach aches, nausea, or vomiting

  • Being worried about safety

  • Acting in an agitated manner

  • Being scared of sleeping alone at night or having trouble sleeping

  • Experiencing temper tantrums

  • Being dissociated or detached from the world around them, and seeing things happening around them as if they are unreal

  • Reliving the event

What are symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

While many individuals who experience a traumatic event will have only temporary difficult coping, some individuals experience prolonged trauma or trauma that worsens over time. In such cases, the individual may be experiencing PTSD.

Signs of PTSD

  • Intrusive memories, which are recurrent and unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event. These can take the form of flashbacks, dreams, or by encountering something that triggers a memory of the event.

  • Avoidance, which includes avoiding thinking or talking about the traumatic event.

  • Negative changes in thinking and mood, which includes having negative thoughts about yourself and others, feeling hopeless, having difficulty remembering things, feeling numb, and having a lack of interest in or detachment from things that used to bring you joy.

  • Changes in physical and emotional reactions, which include being easily startled or always being on guard, having trouble sleeping or concentrating, feeling irritable or angry, feeling intense guilt or shame, a loss of appetite, and undertaking self-destructive behaviors.

Additional signs PTSD in children

Children may also revert to behaviors they had previously outgrown including

    • Bedwetting

    • Clinging

    • Sucking their thumb

    • Experiencing separation anxiety

New York City therapy trauma
 

How we treat anxiety at City Center Psychotherapy

City Center therapists specialize in treating issues of anxiety through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Therapy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) & Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

CBT is an efficacious and effective treatment for trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Therapists use a variety of techniques to help individual in reducing symptoms related to traumatic events and experiences. Individuals may be encouraged to observe and re-evaluate their thinking patterns and assumptions in order to identify unhelpful thought patterns, such as overgeneralizing bad outcomes, negative thinking that diminishes positive thinking, and always expecting catastrophic outcomes, in order to reach a more balanced and effective pattern of thinking. In this way, an individual may re-conceptualize their understanding of their traumatic experiences, as well as their understanding of themselves and their ability to cope.

Trauma-Focused CBT has been designed to assist children, adolescents, and their families in overcoming the negative effects of a traumatic event or experience. In TF-CBT, interventions that have been specifically tailored to meet the needs of children and adolescents experiencing emotional and psychological difficulties as a result of a trauma are integrated with humanistic, cognitive behavioral, and familial strategies. TF-CBT can help both children and their families who have experienced trauma learn how to manage difficult emotions in a healthier way.  As with adults in CBT therapy, children working with a TF-CBT therapist are shown how perceptions may be distorted and are given the tools to redesign those perceptions.

Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy

Prolonged Exposure is a specific type of CBT therapy that teaches individuals who have experienced trauma to gradually approach trauma-related memories, feelings, and situations.

Most people want to avoid the things that reminds them of a traumatic experience. However, avoiding those things only reinforces the idea that those things are to be feared in the present. By facing those memories, feelings, and experiences, a person can decrease their PTSD symptoms by learning that those things related to their trauma are not presently dangerous and do not need to be avoided.

This treatment is strongly recommended for the treatment of PTSD.

*Telehealth (online) therapy available.

Meet Evelyn.

Evelyn sought out therapy to work through her history of sexual abuse. She was a busy journalist who could distract herself from the occasional flashbacks and negative thoughts about her past, however, it was becoming increasingly difficult since she began dating again. Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, we helped Evelyn challenge the damaging beliefs she developed after the traumatic event. We also used her talent for writing to create several trauma narratives that could repeatedly expose her to the painful experience in a safe way, which is the key intervention of Prolonged Exposure therapy. Over time, the fear about her story subsided and she could date with confidence knowing her needs and boundaries in relationships.

Client names, photos, and other identifying details have been changed to maintain confidentiality.