Steps from the Green Line
Trauma Therapy in Boston
Trauma can be anything. It can be the bullying you were victim to as a child. It could be a mugging or a car accident. Trauma can occur from any kind of event or even any kind of relationship.
If you have experienced a traumatic event and are experiencing trauma or PTSD symptoms, then it is so important to seek out therapy for the sake of your well-being and to help you reduce trauma symptoms.
What is Trauma?
Trauma can come from internal family systems, external events, abuse, and even accidents. Trauma can occur after any stressful or dangerous event. If that event reoccurs or is continuous, you may even develop complex trauma or PTSD.
Trauma can last for years, or even a lifetime, if left untreated. There is no requirement on how severe the traumatic event was, only how you have responded to it. Some traumas may have washed over you, and others may have wound you deeply. Being affected by your trauma is not a weakness. It is not something you should feel ashamed of. All that matters is that you get the trauma therapy that you need.
Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma can shape how you grow. Neglect, abuse, mental health conditions by proxy, and parentification – all of these can cause lasting trauma in children that affects self-esteem and behaviors as they grow up. How a child reacts to the trauma in the moment isn’t an indicator of how they will process and internalize it, either.
This means you may feel “fine” about what happened to you as a child but only realize that you have internalized the trauma later on. You won’t be able to connect what happened in your childhood to your current thoughts and behaviors until after doing work in therapy.
Trauma in Young Adults
Adolescents and young adults today suffer from trauma, depression, anxiety disorders, and more. Working with an adolescent psychiatrist can help you understand the trauma you may have experienced or continue to experience in your everyday life.
Even something that seems as benign as social media can affect us in profound ways. Bullying can change your daily life and even life choices moving forward since it impacts your self-worth and confidence.
If you want to live your best life now, despite living through difficult times in your youth, then working with one of our PTSD therapists can help you understand the root of your trauma and build up essential skills to process it in a healthy way, so you can meet your goals.
Trauma in Adulthood
Trauma that occurs in adulthood can range from physical to mental. Complex trauma occurs in many people, from military veterans all the way to rape and abuse survivors.
You are never too old to develop the mental and physical symptoms of trauma, and similarly, you are never too old to seek out a licensed psychologist.
PTSD
Trauma may or may not cause PTSD. Sometimes, a reoccurrence is all that it takes to tip the balance. Say you were in a dangerous car accident that ended up with you hospitalized. You manage to recover without PTSD symptoms.
Then, later, you get into a minor fender bender. Being placed back in a car accident can actually trigger your trauma response. It isn’t unheard of for a minor secondary event to result in PTSD.
To help, we offer PTSD therapy to those who have been deeply impacted by a traumatic event.
Types of Trauma We Can Help With
Trauma-focused therapy can help those who have experienced and lived through many forms of traumatic events. Traumatic events, in this case, can include:
- Car accidents
- Emotional, physical, or mental abuse
- Medical trauma
- Sexual trauma
- Natural disasters
- Grief
- Chronic pain
- Witnessing crimes
- Being a victim of a crime or bullying
- Refugee trauma
- Community violence
- Racial violence
- and more
The traumatic event itself does not matter. The only factor that matters in regards to getting treatment is how you have internalized the trauma. Some can go through the same thing you have and not experience trauma symptoms.
Experiencing trauma differently from someone else does not mean you have to suck it up and deal with it. Trauma and PTSD are best handled with a large support network that includes PTSD therapy, group therapy, and holistic mental health methods.
Do I Qualify for a Trauma Therapist in Boston?
You can access our services if you have depression, anxiety, PTSD, or simply want to improve an aspect of your life or behavior. We regularly help adolescents and college students with issues that range from poor self-esteem to stress and burnout.
To specifically access our trauma systems therapy, however, you will need to exhibit these symptoms:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Difficulty remembering details of the trauma
- Aggressive reactivity (irritability, anger, destructive behavior. restlessness, etc).
- Hypervigilance
- Insomnia
- Self-neglect
- Self-harm, suicidal idealization, or suicidal attempts
- Substance abuse
- Flashbacks
As stated, however, you don’t need to be “bad enough” to benefit from our services. We tailor every treatment plan to the person, so we can help regardless of whether you are dealing with the old wounds of childhood trauma, or fresh ones.
What Types of Boston Trauma Therapy are Available?
At our Boston location, we offer comprehensive support for adolescents, students, and adults alike who are living with trauma. We are also always accepting new patients, so there’s never been a better time to understand your trauma, your responses, and how you improve your quality of life with our Boston services:
Evidence-Based Trauma Treatment
Here at Back Bay Mental Health, you have access to in-person trauma and PTSD treatments and mental health services from licensed professionals. New patients start with a free consultation. During this time, we evaluate you, your goals, and what you want out of your therapy.
If you are a good fit, you can start in-person trauma-focused therapy right away. We can also help you with comorbid conditions, like depression or anxiety, which often go hand-in-hand with other forms of trauma or PTSD.
With us, you have access to evidence-based treatments like:
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy: CBT works to help you identify the start of a negative thought cycle and put a stop to it, freeing yourself from trauma-related cycles.
- Cognitive Processing Therapy: This type of trauma treatment works to help you address the negative or harmful beliefs you may have developed after your trauma. Neglect in children can result in a feeling of worthlessness as an adult, for example. CPT works to help confront those unhelpful beliefs associated with your trauma.
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy: Prolonged exposure therapy helps those who struggle with directly confronting their traumatic memories or reminders of it by gradually increasing exposure to it. This can help those who can no longer drive after a car accident regain their driving confidence, for example.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Eye movement desensitization is a unique treatment where eye movements are combined with guided instructions to help you reprocess the trauma. The goal is to help you repair your mental injury.
- Narrative Exposure Therapy: If you struggle with blackouts and have difficulty with piecing together the timeline of your traumatic event, you may benefit from Narrative Exposure Therapy, which works to contextualize your traumatic experience. This is particularly useful for groups.
- Medications: In some cases, medication may be beneficial. If they are, our psychiatrists will help you with medication management to find the right approach that helps you best.
This is just a small sample of the treatments our clinicians can offer.
Group Therapy Treatment
On top of using evidence-based treatments to help you with your trauma and PTSD symptoms, we will also provide community support. With group therapy, we can help promote healing on a social level. These enhanced supports, especially when attended to in person, can help you connect with others going through the same thing as you. Not only will this help you feel less alone in your trauma and PTSD, but it can also be a source of healing.
All group sessions are conducted with clinical supervision as well, which means they will be led. This is how we can help our group sessions stay on topic and move towards a positive and healthy conclusion.
Why Choose Back Bay Mental Health?
Licensed Trauma Therapists
You will have access to in-person licensed psychologists and trauma specialists. Our team works closely with your clinical social worker (if you have one) or solely with you to develop a treatment plan and journey that puts you first. Recovering from trauma can take a long time, even a lifetime. With specialists by your side, however, you will be able to build up the skills necessary to reach your own personal goals.
Flexible and Adaptable Treatment Schedule
Our clinic is easy to access from home and school. We are also very flexible and can work around both school and work schedules. In short, you can get help for your trauma and PTSD on your schedule.
Zero Waiting Times
As a private clinic, we can take on new patients today. You won’t be placed on a waiting list, nor will you need to jump through hoops just to prove you need a mental health counselor. We are here to help you regardless of your trauma or response.
Personalized, Comprehensive Treatment
Our services are designed around your symptoms, goals and self. If you aren’t responding to a certain type of treatment, we will move on and try something else. Your healing journey is not a linear journey. There is also no one-size fits all approach towards trauma recovery. That’s why we personalize everyone’s treatment and adjust accordingly.
Get Trauma Counseling Boston Today
Our private clinic provides mental health services to those seeking a safe and effective center.
If you have any concerns about your mental health or your behavior or just want to make some meaningful changes in your life, then therapy can absolutely help – trauma or no trauma.
To get started, contact our team at our Back Bay Mental Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts (MA).