Trauma Therapy in New York

Trauma Therapists in NYC

Trauma Therapy in New York

If you struggle with trauma, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Mind Connections wants to support you and pair you with the best trauma therapist NYC has to offer! As we know, trauma causes people immense distress and difficulty in life.

When you suffer from PTSD, the nightmares, flashbacks, and other symptoms can be specifically daunting. Our trauma specialists at Mind Connections in NYC are here to help you. Call us FREE for 15 minutes or book online to receive trauma therapy or PTSD treatment in New York. 

Trauma vs PTSD

What is Trauma?

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, crime, or natural disaster. As a result, you may feel very stressed, frightened, distressed, or out of control. 

What is PTSD

You may be thinking, “Do I have PTSD?” PTSD is a type of anxiety caused by a traumatic event you witness, directly experience, learn about, or are exposed to repeatedly. Where trauma is the emotional response to a terrible event, PTSD is a far more severe disorder surrounding the event. Untreated trauma can progress into PTSD. trauma therapy in NYC

CPTSD vs PTSD

Are you looking for a trauma informed therapist? Are you looking for the most helpful complex ptsd therapist NYC has to offer? To clarify, complex PTSD or CPTSD is a type of PTSD caused by a series of repetitive scarring experiences happening to someone. In light of this definition, people with long-term abuse usually face complex trauma. This abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual. CPTSD can also appear in victims of long-term bullying or harassment. 

PTSD Symptoms

Generally speaking, signs of ptsd may vary from person to person. Overall, there are 4 types of symptoms that ptsd causes:

  • First, intrusive memories (flashbacks, reliving traumatic events, & nightmares)
  • Second, avoidance (of thinking, talking about the traumatic event, places, people, or activities)
  • Third, negative changes in thinking and mood (negative thoughts; feeling hopeless, numb, or detached; loss of interest; difficulty with relationships)
  • Fourth, changes in physical and emotional reactions (easily startled; hypervigilant, anger, guilt, shame, sleep difficulty; destructive behaviors of drinking, & using drugs)

The 4 Trauma Responses

Ordinarily, when people experience PTSD, it affects them in many areas of their lives. One way trauma affects people is through their responses to triggers. Specifically, PTSD causes people to react to others in four main ways:

Fight and Flight

  • When people who struggle with trauma feel threatened, they can react by either fighting or taking flight. These first two trauma responses that PTSD causes are often coupled with each other. A fight response causes people to get defensive and aggressive. Oftentimes, they will act on feelings of anger in order to protect themselves. Correspondingly, the flight response is not as direct as the latter.
  • To clarify, the fight response causes people to avoid conflict. Additionally, people with flight responses have anxiety over conflict and will often try to distract themselves from the problems at hand.

Freeze

  • The third trauma response is freeze. Notably, when people with this trauma response get triggered they find it hard to react. Many times, they dissociate from the situation and are often indecisive.

Fawn

The fourth trauma response often shows up as people-pleasing others. In attempts to stop something bad from happening, the fawner will often try and subside the situation/aggressor by doing something that makes them happy. Fawners will do whatever it takes to lessen the negative effects of a situation.

What Causes Trauma

Traumatic experiences are not limited to a threat to life or safety, any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can cause trauma, including emotional distress and physical harm. In trauma therapy at Mind Connections, our trauma specialists will listen to you and understand the causes or triggers of your trauma. Potential causes of trauma could include: trauma therapy in NYC

  • traffic accidents
  • life threatening illnesses
  • sudden death of a loved one
  • natural disasters, battles, or war
  • Neglect or separate from a parent
  • physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
  • bullying, harassment, assault, or violence
  • financial or emotional distress, e.g., foreclosure, emotional betrayal

What Are Trauma Symptoms

Our trauma therapists and specialists at Mind Connections will help you identify trauma symptoms before making accurate diagnosis. People may react to traumatic events with mild to severe levels of psychological, emotional, physical, and behaviors symptoms. They include: 

Emotional and psychological symptoms: trauma therapy in NYC

  • Anxiety and depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Feeling numb and disconnected
  • Flashbacks and re-experiencing
  • Difficulty with memory and concentration
  • Intense emotions of anger, sadness, guilt, shame, and mood swing

Physical symptoms:

  • Insomnia & nightmares
  • Increased or decreased appetite
  • flashbacks and re-experiencing
  • Fatigue & Racing heartbeat
  • Muscle tension, aches, & pain

Behavior Symptoms

  • Substance use, e.g. alcohol & drugs
  • Self-isolation and withdraw from others
  • Poor job and academic performance
  • Relationship difficulties and communication issues

Trauma Therapy & Treatment In New York

You may have experienced trauma many years ago, whether being childhood trauma or sexual assault that you feel is difficult to talk about, we want to let you know that we are here for you. At Mind Connections, our trauma therapists received advanced training to help you in your healing journey, including EMDR. We respect your decision and believe you will only reveal the past when you are ready. We will gently guide you and equip you with new tools in therapy. We implement different approaches to assist you, including:

  • CPT (Cognitive Process Therapy)
  • TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy)
  • Prolonged Exposure Therapy
  • Psychodynamic Therapy
  • DBT (Dialectic Behavior Therapy)
  • Online Therapy
  • Life Coaching
  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy)

If you or your loved ones are struggling with PTSD, our therapists at Mind Connections are here to help. Call now to receive the support you deserve!