Caring, Secular, Scientifically-Informed.

Trauma can be "simple" (single-incident trauma) or "complex" (prolonged abuse, neglect, or abandonment). Each type of traumatic experience leaves it's own type of wound on our nervous system, and often results in maladaptive learning (patterns of thought and behavior that we needed to cope with the trauma, but which we continue to enact after they have outlived their usefulness). 

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PTSD is a discrete set of symptoms, characterized by feelings of hypervigilence (sometimes accompanied by an exaggerated startle response), panic attacks, intrusive thoughts about the traumatic experience while simultaneously avoiding things that remind us of these experiences, nightmares, flashbacks, and feelings of depersonalization and/or derealization (the feeling that either you or the world around you are not real). Sometimes there are gaps in autobiographical memory (this may be dissociative amnesia, where our mind is protecting us from being overwhlemed by memories that are too upsetting).  In short, the most primitive parts of the brain responsible for keeping us alive during times of threat have not fully realized that the danger is past and that we are safe. Trauma therapy targets processes in both the brain and body in ways that restore our sense of safety and help us to integrate traumatic material into a healthier way of thinking about ourselves and the world.  

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Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, however. Many people who have experienced trauma do not meet the criteria for PTSD; instead they may develop generalized anxiety, phobias, panic disorder, emotional dysregulation, attachment difficulties, or depression. 

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We provide trauma and PTSD therapy at our office in Kennesaw, Georgia, and offer telehealth services throughout the state. Click below to schedule an appointment, or to learn more about how different modes of therapy at Waypoint can offer you healing and restore your sense of safety and wholeness. 

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