Despite a traumatic event having occurred in the past, it can still feel very much present in your daily life. You might find yourself having unwanted thoughts or memories and reoccurring vivid images, such as flashbacks and nightmares, about details of past trauma. Difficulty coping with strong, intense emotions such as shame, guilt, fear, anger, and sadness is also common. You might notice that you are often easily startled and hypervigilant about your surroundings. Past trauma can also negatively affect our self-esteem and relationships with significant others, such as making it harder to trust our decisions and other people.

Traumatic experiences can occur from many different types of situations, such as being the victim of violence or witnessing a terrifying encounter. In addition, we can also be re-traumatized by what occurs after the traumatic event and people’s reactions to it. I specialize in helping adults heal from complex childhood traumas, such as verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse by understanding their triggers and posttraumatic reactions. In therapy, we can work to address ways in which you can feel safer in your body and in your environment and create a space in which you can comfortably talk about past trauma and its impact on your life. Therapeutic approaches like psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive processing therapy, and EMDR can help you live a freer life that is not controlled by your past.