Our therapists offer PTSD & trauma therapy in Bentonville, AR

My go-to approach for helping people in PTSD/trauma therapy is cognitive processing therapy (CPT), which is evidence-based and has been established for decades. I enjoy using and teaching CPT because it allows you to learn to 'be your own therapist,' to combat the spirals and triggered anxiety on the occasions they do intrude into your everyday life. Most of all, CPT views our avoidance of stressful situations and trauma reminders as normal. No shame in this game!

I teach the following tools in PTSD/Trauma Therapy:

• Psychoeducation: We will explore some of the sources of trauma, what causes PTSD, what we can do to address PTSD symptoms, and what recovery from PTSD might look like.
• Assessments and self-reporting tools: We will introduce and use tools like 'subjective units of distress' ratings, PCL-5 scores, PHQ-9 scores, GAD-7 scores, etc. These are simple screeners (just a few rating questions) that help us monitor our progress and identify themes or areas to explore.
• Natural versus manufactured emotions: We will identify and explore the 'natural' emotions that occur as a normal response to a stressful situation versus the 'manufactured' emotions of shame and guilt we add ourselves.
• Identifying and combating stuck points: Using an evidence-based approach to identify, process, and eventually combat those negative cognitions (thought-spirals) that keep us from processing our trauma and moving forward with it.
• Cognitive reframing/restructuring: We cannot change the past by changing how we think of it, but we can work on processing it naturally and creating adaptive and accommodating thinking that is healthier and less self-destructive to our past and future selves.
• Relaxation and stress management: PTSD and trauma responses trigger our fight/flight/freeze responses and our body's defenses. Our mind/body is actually trying to protect us from danger, but we will work on using relaxation techniques (both mental and physical) to help communicate to our body when something is a real threat versus a perceived threat.
• Communication strategies: It is important to explore communication patterns between ourselves and our support systems (or the community) that may have been affected by trauma. Unfortunately, the avoidance of our PTSD symptoms can sometimes mean we've been avoiding talking with our own support systems.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in PTSD/trauma therapy when we see the duration, intensity, and frequency of triggered spirals and responses decrease. We can help track these using a couple of simple self-report tools that are even included in the CPT material (PCL-5, and PHQ-9). What that feels like to a client: Less of your week spent trying to prepare for and/or manage active trauma responses, and more energy left to get back to the things trauma has taken from you.

Clients can supplement their time in PTSD/trauma therapy with everything from online support groups to bibliotherapy (helpful books). Self-care and hobbies can be used to help express and process emotions that are hard to discuss in words-practices like journaling, painting, dance, sculpture, scrimshaw, etc. Several organizations supply free educational material on PTSD and trauma recovery, and countless individuals have published or shared their stories worldwide. Yes, we may have guided activities and self-reflection worksheets to help (the dreaded 'homework' word!), but what is most important is being willing to keep trying!

To prepare for the first PTSD/trauma therapy session, you will have already met for an intake session and general history-gathering/trust-building meeting before diving into specific trauma-treatment. We will have discussed which trauma(s) is the most impactful. Someone can help prepare for that trauma-focused treatment by doing a little log-keeping—try to notice any theme or pattern to when a triggered response occurs; you are the foremost expert on you!