Therapy for Trauma

Do you struggle with trust issues and find yourself pulling away from other people?
Have you suffered from anxiety or depression all your life without knowing why?

Maybe you’ve never thought of yourself as a trauma survivor, but when you look back on your life, there may be experiences that you’ve never fully recovered from. Perhaps you dealt with sexual trauma or abuse in a past relationship or had a partner who was controlling or narcissistic. As a result, you might find it hard to feel safe in your relationships and have trouble dating because you’re afraid of being hurt again. Maybe you just don’t seem to connect with people the way that you used to, and you’re wondering if it’s time to seek therapy for trauma.

Your inability to maintain healthy relationships could lead to isolation and loneliness. You might be characterized by people-pleasing behaviors and have a tough time speaking up, saying no, and setting boundaries for yourself. Perhaps you constantly find yourself in relationships where your needs go unmet and you don’t feel safe expressing yourself or taking up space. Deep down, maybe you struggle to believe that you are worthy of living a good life or having healthy connections.

To cope with your low self-esteem, you may engage in self-sabotaging behaviors like drinking, drug use, or disordered eating. Yet although these habits may bring temporary relief, they probably only make you feel worse in the long run.

If you want to improve your self-worth, learn new coping skills, and free yourself from the shackles of the past, we encourage you to pursue counseling with us. At the Therapy for Women Center in Philadelphia, our therapists are committed to helping you process and resolve your trauma so that you can live a more authentic and empowered life.

It’s estimated that a whopping 50 percent of women and 60 percent of men nationwide will endure some form of trauma within their lifetime (1). And although not all of those individuals will develop PTSD, painful experiences from the past often have a way of compromising life in the present.

Because only a fraction of people ever seek treatment, you likely know someone who is silently struggling with trauma or PTSD behind the scenes of their otherwise “normal” lives. Most of us are familiar with the typical causes of trauma, such as severe injuries or medical diagnoses, physical assault or combat experience, or the loss of a child, spouse, or sibling. However, trauma and PTSD can also result from a string of events or prolonged exposure to a toxic situation, such as childhood neglect, bullying, rejection, public humiliation, or emotional abuse.

Contrary to popular belief, trauma doesn’t just happen to people who’ve suffered from war, violence, or natural disasters. It’s a universal predicament that impacts millions of people, and most forms of trauma take place in relatively mundane settings. You can experience trauma from bullying, childhood neglect, giving birth, suffering from a chronic illness, losing a loved one, or having an abusive boss at work.

The truth is that life is really hard and many of us have experiences that—whether we know it or not—dramatically change our lives. Not all of these experiences lead to PTSD, but they can subtly impact the way we approach relationships and cause us to fall into unhealthy patterns of behavior. If there’s something in your past that you’re struggling to recover from, you may have suffered from a traumatic event. The right therapist can help you make connections between the past and present and understand the ways that your experience has affected you.

It’s become increasingly common to talk about trauma in today’s world. A lot of this can be attributed to the pandemic, which shook up the entire globe and left millions of people with both physical and emotional scars. Additionally, the rise of social media has emboldened many survivors to come forward and tell the world, “I had that experience, too.” Needless to say, the barriers that once kept trauma in the dark are starting to break down and people are beginning to realize they are not alone.

That said, a stigma still persists and there is still a culture of shame surrounding people who struggle with prolonged trauma. This is why it’s so important to seek therapy. It gives you a safe, judgment-free space to work through your emotional pain with someone who will listen to you, validate you, and believe your story.

Trauma happens when your brain gets "stuck" on a painful experience and cannot process it correctly. At Therapy for Women, we will help you integrate what happened so that it stops impacting your overall health and you can start living the life you want. When you heal from trauma, your life gets bigger instead of constantly shrinking to accommodate the pain of the past. You can start to trust yourself again, stop engaging in avoidance behaviors, and realize that you are worth it. Our mission is to help you live from this authentic and empowered place.

In addition to being trained in a wide variety of trauma treatments, many of our therapists have experienced trauma in their own lives, so we’re confident that we can relate to you on a deeply personal level. We will help you normalize your experience, recognize you’re not alone, and gain real-life skills for managing your symptoms.

The body is the storehouse of trauma, so we believe it is crucial to incorporate the wisdom of the body into therapy. We want to help your body and subconscious brain process what happened to you so you can release it and move forward in life.

We draw from a wide variety of approaches to help you achieve this. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) Therapy uses gentle stimulation exercises to access the deeper parts of the brain and help them release the emotional pain of trauma. IFS (Internal Family Systems) Therapy can help you get to know all the different parts of yourself so that you understand which parts are holding onto shame or engaging in self-sabotage. And Somatic Therapy seeks to create safety and awareness in the body, enabling you to feel calm and grounded as you process your trauma.

Our approach to therapy is effective because we incorporate many body-based approaches along with various relationship skills and distress-tolerance skills that will help you deal with your symptoms. Our ultimate goal is to empower you to release your trauma and learn to cope with it differently so that you can live a better life. We want you to let go of self-sabotage behaviors, live in a way that’s aligned with your values, and start accomplishing your goals!

All of our therapists are trauma-informed and have undergone rigorous training to ensure that we work at a slow, comfortable pace and do not exacerbate your symptoms. While processing trauma can bring up old feelings and pain points, we will help you become stronger and gain the skills to manage whatever comes your way during your recovery. We will make sure that you never have to bite off more than you can chew. 

If you see a counselor who is not an expert in trauma, you probably won’t get the progress you’re looking for. At Therapy for Women, we are not just “sit-there-and-nod” therapists. We work with both the brain and body and use cutting-edge approaches like EMDR, IFS, and Somatic Therapy to help you create real and lasting change in your life. 

It’s never easy to open up to someone new, especially about a subject as vulnerable as trauma. The good news is that many of our therapists have experienced trauma ourselves, so when you are digging deep into the past, you can rest assured that there is no judgment from us. We have been where you are, which is why we are so passionate about helping you through it! 

Trauma does not define you. With our help and support, we believe that you can experience the safety and healing that were missing during the moment of original trauma. To connect with one of our trauma specialists, you can contact us or book an appointment. 

Is a painful past experience making it hard to feel present in your life?

Trauma And PTSD Affect Millions Of People’s Lives 

Many People Have Experienced Trauma Without Even Realizing It 

The Cultural Discussion Around Trauma Has Gotten Much Louder In Recent Years 

Therapy Can Help You Integrate Your Trauma So That It Stops Holding You Back In Life   

Our Approach To Trauma Counseling Is Somatic, Holistic, And Body-Based

03. I already tried therapy before and it didn’t work. How will this be different? 

02. What if I’m judged for how I feel?

01. Won’t talking about my trauma make me feel worse? 

You May Have Some Questions About Trauma Therapy…

Make Healing A Part Of Your Story