Curious about how trauma can show up in the brain, body, and relationships? We’ve created some examples and resources that may be helpful on your healing journey. While it’s helpful to understand, keep in mind you are more than symptoms, labels, behaviors, etc. You are worthy. And you are worthy of healing!
Click here to take an anonymous quiz to learn more about your symptoms. Or Here for a free stress quiz by Brain MD and learn more about your stress.
Jump to Book supports, trauma treatment, or trauma impact. If you’re looking for ways to support or manage your symptoms between sessions, go to the Pause with Us page.
DSM criteria for diagnosing
Intrusions
May look like flashbacks (includes sensory and emotional flashbacks), distressing and recurrent dreams, and a physiological reaction to cues that may resemble aspects of the event (s).
Changes in mood
Difficulty remembering aspects of the event(s). Negative beliefs about or expectations about self (No one can be trusted, I am bad), shame. Persistent negative emotional state. Diminished interest or participation in activities as well as feeling detached or estranged from others.
Avoidance
Avoidance of or efforts to avoid memories, thoughts, feelings places, people, situations, etc associated with the event(s).
Arousal/Reactivity
Irritability, anger, reckless or self-destructive behavior. Hypervigilance or exaggerated startle response. Problems with concentration and sleep disturbances.
Trauma Treatment
Safety and Stability
With our clinicians at Selah, safety and stability is the most important part of trauma treatment. It is a place we’ll circle back to over-and-over. This builds a strong foundation. It can also take years depending on your internal sense of safety. Some folks choose to end treatment here as their symptoms are managed.
Processing and re-processing
This part of treatment is more specific. Several types of interventions can be utilized to support the shifting of the traumatic event(s) to ‘it happened’, from a previous place of ‘it’s happening.’
At Selah, we use Brainspotting, EMDR, TF-CBT, and other somatic interventions as trained in. This is to ensure that the activation is manageable and not a re-telling or re-living of the event, which would only reinforce the traumatic memory.
Integration
During integration, you are learning to live differently. While this traditionally is thought of only after reprocessing of an event(s), it can occur during safety and stabilization as well. Relationships change as boundaries are put into place, the way you begin to pause and not respond the same as you increase awareness towards behavior adaptions. There is further integration after the reprocessing where the world begins to open up and you’re no longer viewing the world from a place of a wound.
Trauma Impact
Books for Trauma/Complex Trauma
- The Heart of Trauma by Bonnie Badenoch
- Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment by Amir Levine, Rachel Heller
- Truth and Repair by Judith Herman
- The Complex PTSD workbook or Complex PTSD Resiliency by Dr. Arielle Schwartz
- No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
- Healing the Fragmented Selves by Janina Fisher
- Attuned by Thomas Huble
- Becoming Safely Embodied by Dierdre Fay
- Secure Relating by Sue Marriot and Ann Kelley
- Fierce Self Compassion by Kristin Neff
- Finding Meaning by David Kessler
- The Garden Within by Anita Philips
- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson
Books for Survivors of Sexual Abuse
- The Sexual Healing Journey by Wendy Maltz
- Victims No Longer: The Classic Guide for Men Recovering from Child Sexual Abuse by Mike Lew
- The Princess Saves Herself by Amanda Lovelace
- Body Rites by Shena J Young
- Healing Sexual Trauma workbook by Erika Shershun