Our therapists offer PTSD & trauma therapy in Meridian, ID

My preferred approaches in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and brief exposure therapy accompanied by self-regulation training because these interventions have consistently demonstrated excellent results, not only in my practice, but also in the PTSD treatment outcome literature.

My go-to approach for working with PTSD/trauma therapy is to first establish trust. Because people who have been traumatized often struggle with trusting others, creating safety and trust are essential. Beyond that, I will use reprocessing, CBT, and/or IFS techniques to help.

Along with brief exposure, I teach clients self-regulation skills including grounding, mindfulness meditation, square breathing, and deep muscle relaxation.

For working with trauma/PTSD, I teach how to recognize safety (or feeling “safer”), how to relax the body, how to counteract thoughts of being in danger or of being unsafe if not accurate in the here and now, and how to make a conscious choice to trust others who have shown themselves to be safe.

During treatment, I repeatedly administer self-report measures such as the “PTSD Checklist - DSM-5-TR” to assess all principal PTSD signs and symptoms. In this way, my client and I have documented evidence of their improvement in therapy.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in trauma/PTSD therapy when they report a reduction in intensity and frequency of trauma symptoms, increased ability to cope with and come to terms with triggers and the events that caused the trauma, and reduced reactivity to triggers and other reminders of the traumatic event(s).

Clients can supplement their work in my office by taking all medications as prescribed, eating well, maintaining a consistent sleeping routine, and avoiding alcohol and other mind-altering substances.

Clients can supplement their PTSD/trauma therapy sessions by reading about recovering from trauma and by keeping track of frequency/intensity of triggers as well as what helped them manage or reduce reaction to the triggers/reminders.

For their first PTSD/trauma session, clients should bring a commitment to honesty and the willingness to work hard.

To prepare for the first session working with PTSD/trauma, clients can take time to write down (as is tolerable) what happened that led to PTSD/trauma symptoms, what symptoms they experience and how intense they get, and what has helped/not helped them in the past.