trauma Couseling for Teens Can Relieve Your teen’s Anxiety and Heartbreak.
HAve the Effects of Trauma Diminished Your Teenager’s Quality of Life?
Has your teen experienced a trauma that has left them feeling like a shadow of their former self? Do they feel alone in their suffering or misunderstood by the people around them? Do they wonder why they can’t just “get over it?”
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, trauma therapy for teens may be right for your teenager.
Trauma therapy for teens who have survived a traumatic experience seeks to gently reestablish their sense of safety and well-being, restore their trust in other people and the world around them, reduce the distressing symptoms caused by lingering anxiety and fear, and bring joy back into your teen’s life.
symptoms of Trauma
There are countless distressing effects of trauma, and they can make daily life incredibly difficult. Teen trauma survivors may experience:
- Hypervigilance
- Nightmares
- Panic attacks
- Feeling emotionally closed off
- Frequent crying
- Distrust of other people or the world
- Emotional edginess
- Flashbacks
- Headaches and stomach aches
- Clinging to parents
- Dissociation or numbness
These symptoms can take over a teen’s life, reducing it to a shell of what it used to be. It’s heartbreaking to watch one person’s harmful actions, one terrible accident, or one painful experience continue to affect your child long after the event itself is over. It can feel incredibly unfair. However, trauma therapy for teens can help.
How Can Trauma therapy Help?
Teens who have undergone trauma need the opportunity for their internal alarm bells to reset so they can get back to living a full, happy life. A common concern about trauma therapy is that the survivor will have to tell their story. One of the main reasons teens try to deal with the trauma on their own is because they don’t want to go through the pain of reliving the events. Fortunately, there is research that supports the idea that this is not always necessary to reduce anxiety and other symptoms.
How Is Trauma Treated Without Telling the Story?
At Teen Therapy OC, we use three different approaches to treat trauma: EMDR, CPT, and Flash Treatment. All three are effective, but some approaches may be a better fit for certain teens or situations than others. That’s why we take the time to understand what your teenager is experiencing and choose an approach that feels appropriate for their needs. Our goal is to help your teen process the effects of trauma without making them feel overwhelmed or like they have to relive everything that happened.
EMDR:
This stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Through bilateral simulations of the brain, new neural pathways form around intense memories of the trauma. This can help a teen learn to feel calmer and safer. EMDR does not require the teen to share their story in detail. Rather, it focuses on reducing the intensity of the emotions surrounding the painful memories instead of concentrating on the events themselves.
CPT:
Originally developed for soldiers returning from combat, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) also does not require the victim to recount the traumatic event(s). Instead it uses a protocol containing 12 levels to reduce guilt, shame, and mistrust resulting from the event(s). Once the thoughts and emotions related to self-blame or anger and betrayal are quieted, many other symptoms begin to subside as well.
Flash Treatment:
This is the gentlest form of trauma treatment. Developed by Dr. Philip Manfield, this newer method of trauma treatment (less than 10 years old) is backed by research and is considered highly effective, pain-free, and has lasting benefits. The goal of Flash Treatment is to decrease the intensity of the negative emotions associated with the trauma. First, the therapist will interview your teen about the negative emotions associated with the trauma. Your teen will not need to share what happened or relive the experience; the interview covers the emotions only. This will help the therapist understand the way the trauma is affecting your teen now and what triggers the negative emotions and responses.
Next, your teen will engage in a highly enjoyable and engaging activity. For example, they could show the therapist their favorite YouTube video. While your teen is experiencing the positive emotions from the activity, the therapist will interject a “flash” into the experience. The flash will expose your teen to the trauma so briefly that it is a subconscious event. Because the brain is already having feelings of enjoyment, engagement, and happiness, being briefly exposed to the trauma during this time allows the brain to realign the intensity of the negative emotions. This does not mean your teen will start feeling happy when they think about the trauma; that would be an inappropriate emotion response. Instead, the an emotional shift takes place so that your teen will no longer experience such intense anxiety and emotional distress when reminded of the trauma.
Flash Treatment at Teen Therapy OC
One of the difficulties with Flash Treatment is that it is can be hard to find a therapist trained to do it, especially one that works with adolescents. Fortunately, at Teen Therapy OC Diana Hong, MFT has taken the time to both go through Introductory Flash Technique Training and Advanced Flash Technique Training. When asked what she loves about using this technique with teens, she replies, “It’s so incredibly gentle. It’s really nice for teens who just don’t want to go through all the distress that can happen during traditional trauma treatment techniques.”
Another benefit of Flash Treatment is that it often works quickly. Unlike many trauma therapies, you can tell within a few sessions whether this approach is helping. This can save your family from spending months and significant financial resources on a treatment that may not be the right fit.
Diana is also very generous with her time. You are always welcome to call her at 714-489-5634 and discuss how this may or may not help in your child’s particular situation.
Therapists on Staff Who Specialize in Teen Trauma Therapy:
Three of our therapists specialize in trauma therapy, and each is trained in a different treatment method.
- Diana Hong: Flash Technique
- Carrie Johnson: EMDR
- Lauren Goodman: CPT
Trauma Therapy for teens Can Restore Hope and Joy
Trauma therapy for teens can help reduce the debilitating symptoms caused by trauma and help your teenager begin to feel like themselves again. At Teen Therapy OC, we are dedicated to helping bring life, joy, and hope back into your teen’s life. If your teen has survived a trauma, trauma therapy could be a helpful next step. Your teen is not out of reach, and they don’t have to stay stuck in the effects of what happened to them. Trauma therapy can help your teenager move toward living a fuller, happier life. To get started, you can email us through the Contact Page or give us a call.
