What Is Trauma-Based Therapy and How Does It Work?

Pain, challenge, grief, loss, abuse—there are so many negative aspects of the human experience. All of us will go through something hard, and, unfortunately, many people will also have traumatic experiences that impact them for the rest of their lives. Trauma-based therapy practiced here at Beachcomber IOP is the way we can start to untangle the impacts of trauma from our lives and reach healing and wholeness.

Here’s what trauma-based therapy is all about and how it can benefit people who are going through recovery for drug and alcohol addiction.

What is Trauma-Based Therapy?

Many people who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction have had traumatic life events in their past. The definition of trauma is that it’s an “emotional response to a terrible event.”

Because it’s an emotional response, trauma can come from a variety of events. Some common ones are issues of abuse, neglect, or an accident. The aftermath of a traumatic event is complex emotions like depression, anxiety, fear, or even physical symptoms. Many people are unable to continue their normal life after experiencing trauma and, therefore, may be more likely to turn to drugs and alcohol to cope.

Trauma-based therapy is where the therapist specifically addresses the client’s trauma and works to resolve it and help the client move forward passed the traumatic event so they can heal.

Benefits of Trauma-Based Therapy

There are many benefits to trauma-based therapy. The biggest is that it helps address the root cause of behaviors like addiction. It helps the client go all the way back to an initial trigger that created a trauma response in the mind and body.

Other benefits of trauma-based therapy include:

• Handle the reality of a traumatic event
• Eliminate physical and psychological symptoms of trauma
• Break cycles of hereditary trauma
• Provide coping skills to boost day-to-day functioning
• Switch from a past-focused to a future-focused view

Trauma-based therapy acknowledges the reality of a significant event or events in your life that have resulted in harmful behaviors. Without addressing these, it’s impossible to fully move forward into health and healing.

Trauma-based therapy can be challenging and even painful. But this short-term process is essential to move past trauma and not let it seep into areas of everyday life anymore.

Trauma-Based Therapy at Beachcomber IOP

Beachcomber IOP’s trauma-based therapy encompasses two strategies:

• Rapid resolution therapy: This supports the client through the early recovery process to address trauma.
• EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing): A clinically backed approach to get to the unconscious root of trauma, remove it, and process unresolved feelings and emotions.

In addition to these personal supports, Beachcomber IOP also offers a trauma group for people to be supported in a group environment through their recovery. If you or a loved one is suffering from drug and alcohol addiction because of a traumatic life event, consider contacting us at Beachcomber IOP.