Trauma Therapist in Alexandria, VA

Takeaway: Trauma can have a profound impact on a person’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Whether you’ve suffered a recent trauma or have deep, old wounds that have never healed, working with a trauma counselor can help. I’m here to provide a safe and supportive space for you to process and heal by using evidence-based techniques. Get started today.

Are you struggling with intense emotional pain from the past? Do you understand what happened intellectually but still become overwhelmed emotionally? Or do you have this feeling inside that a part of you is wounded but you're not sure why?

Trauma can be a complicated issue and it takes a seasoned professional to really understand it. What therapy do you need for trauma? What does it mean to be trauma-informed?

It's important that in working through trauma you work with a trauma informed therapist or trauma psychologist who works with trauma focused treatments.

A trauma informed therapist will be able to understand the mental health symptoms that are related to trauma and complex trauma. If improperly diagnosed, there is the potential to do further psychological harm within the trauma therapy itself.

trauma therapist's are able to see beyond the widely understood traumatic events that happen in life, such as divorces, disease, and childhood trauma. A traumatic event doesn't need to be a huge event. A person may perhaps not even experience it as trauma.

Below we will explore more about this topic and the treatments that are available.

Does this sound like you?

Do you find yourself anxious for no reason, have trouble sleeping, or become highly triggered by particular situations?

The feelings associated with a trauma response are commonly thought of us an eruption of emotions which is of course true, however, it can also happen as a slow stream of discomfort or persistent feeling of a lack of safety.

Traumatic experiences that are experienced at low levels of intensity, but sustained over a long period of time can also have the same feelings related to a traumatic incident.

If so, you may be affected by trauma.

Trauma related issues can prevent a person from experiencing the fullness of life. A subtle feeling loneliness over time can turn into unhealthy behavior patterns such as substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and potentially other PTSD symptoms.

Unfortunately, a lot of the emotional or psychological harm that is done to us is less from the traumatic event and more from how our internal world continue to try to reconcile the traumatic experience, waging an internal war which puts us in significant distress.

In the next section we'll explore more precisely what trauma and PTSD is, and how trauma informed care will address traumatic incidents.

What is trauma?

The study of the human condition and trauma goes back close to 150 years. At the time it was physicians who were trying to understand the hysterical states of patient reactions to adverse or traumatic events. It has since evolved from a multitude of trauma therapies.

In its essence, trauma is a person's experience of not having enough internal resources to safely engage an event. Having had this experience of overwhelm, a person's psyche is left in an unresolved state, attempting to understand the event, and ultimately prepare for the next potential encounter with a similar event.

Trauma is in the eye of the beholder. One persons trauma can be another person's growth experience. In a different situation, those two people's experience can easily be switched. Although the event has much to do with our response, its our sustained reaction to the event that designates it as a trauma.

Most people experience at least one trauma in their life. Life has its challenges, and whether its an event that happens to us, or to someone or a community we care about, we all experience the feeling of overwhelm.

Research has shown that the effects of trauma effect a person across their psychological and biological functioning. Because our experiences, particularly intense experiences, touch all of our facilities, the effects and trauma related symptoms have all experienced trauma.

Different example's of a traumatic experience across the spectrum can be; grief/loss of loved one, relationship or family break-ups, sexual assault or sexual abuse, natural disasters, and domestic violence, and other less obvious kinds or chronic trauma such as emotional neglect or enmeshment, bullying, loss of job or failures at school.

In my experience as a practitioner providing trauma treatment and also educating the general public, and also in working with other trauma therapists, I believe that all people suffer from a traumatic wound of some kind. Its an essential part of our development of personality and resilience.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder?

Now that we discussed a little bit about what a trauma is, lets take a look at some of the specific symptoms of PTSD as its defined in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual Version 5 (DSM-5).

First its important to say that just as not all people who experience a traumatic event produce a trauma memory, not all people who experience an event as traumatic get what's known as PTSD. Below are the main trauma symptoms mental health clinicians agree represent the experience of psychological trauma and PTSD.

The first thing is that an adverse event must have been experienced either directly, observed indirectly, or learned of (in the example of an event that happened to a loved one) that put a person(s) safety profoundly at risk. As a result, some or all of the ensuing symptoms can occur.

Re-experience of the event: Flashbacks, disturbing memories, nightmares, and prolonged emotional and physical reactivity after the event.

Avoiding events that are related or similar to the traumatic event: Physical locations, people, situations, or internal thinking and feeling similar to the traumatic memory.

Remarkable changes in mood and thinking: Feelings of isolation and despair, exaggerating blame on self or others, difficulties experiencing positive emotions, and issues of memory related to the event and/in general.

Sensitivity to environment and increased reactivity: Irritability, aggression, and a general overall hyper-vigilance even at baseline. As a result, there can be a difficulty in concentration and getting proper sleep.

The symptoms above need to be at the level of disrupting a person's daily functioning and persist for greater than one month (under one month it's considered Acute Stress Disorder). In addition, the symptoms can't be a result of another mental health illness or due to the misuse of substances both legal and illegal.

People suffering from post traumatic stress disorder are high risk for addiction to substances or other mood-altering processes. As such, often times when a client comes into therapy they may present with addiction issues and later it is revealed that there are underlying mental illness issues stemming from the trauma. It is important for the mental health clinician to be able to know how these symptoms can present in order to provide effective treatment in order to treat the underlying trauma.

In my experience providing trauma focused therapy, during the talk therapy process other mental health conditions can present themselves. One of the benefits of being trained as a trauma therapist is being prepared for trauma processing when it arises.

Meet Ryan Napolitano, online trauma therapist in Alexandria, VA & beyond

As a trauma-informed therapist I know that every client that comes to me has a high likelihood of trauma in there life. In my experience working as a trauma therapist for a residential trauma treatment center, trauma survivors come in all shapes and sizes. There is no one presentation, which is why its so important to be trained in trauma informed therapy.

My background and experience has been formed by working with some of the top professionals in a residential treatment program in Spain which used treatments such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, group therapy techniques, internal family systems, and cognitive processing therapy, as well as other creative types of trauma therapy.

I've personally received extensive training in trauma and am a Certified Trauma Treatment Provider. I'm also a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor with lots of experience in understanding that relationship. If a person is coming to therapy for trauma they may unknowingly may be preventing themselves from doing the emotional processing if they actively engage in addictive behaviors. This is something that not all trauma counselors are familiar with, and something that sets the trauma therapy I provide apart from other trauma therapists.

My training in internal family systems, psychosynthesis and psychodynamic therapy make for a diverse collection of frameworks where trauma therapy can be applied.

My approach to adult trauma therapy

Trauma focused therapy can be applied in many different applications. The first and most important part in treating trauma is creating safety.

Trauma is born out of a profound lack of safety, and its in the safe holding of a therapy session where it kind find the holding needed to address memories and feelings from the past.

Whether or not we've been harmed by the traumas of life or not, I believe that each person has the capability to heal. I believe that people are born and will continue to be creative, whole, and resourceful.

The trauma therapy that I provide is about finding some of the inner resources that have been cut off or not previously known to trauma survivors.

The healing process begins when we start to recognize the parts of ourselves that have been hurt, the ones that have been protecting us, and the ones that have lied hidden and lost.

If you seek treatment with me, I'll determine what mode of therapy is best for you. Often times its necessary to spend time developing healthy coping skills and anxiety management before we begin the trauma therapy itself. Sometimes its helpful to provide a person with additional mental health resources outside of the therapy session.

The main mode of treatment I utilize for treating trauma is an attachment-based approach. This approach is used when the trauma symptoms are centered around primary attachments. My role as a therapist here is to securely attached with my client and allow them to be, be seen, and validate their experience. This transformative therapy allows people to work through attachment and relationship issues. The benefits of trauma therapy in this application can address intimacy issues, helping to rewire a persons response to connection with others.

Another mode I use for treatment is an approach called Internal Family Systems (IFS). This is a process that focuses less on the traumatic events and more on the relationship of our internal system. In this modality, a person will reorganize the internal power dynamic, allowing for other parts of self to step back, and other parts to step forward. This can be particularly helpful for people who are struggling in a state of hyper-vigilance.

A similar approach to IFS is what is known as psychosynthesis. This is a type of trauma therapy that is similar to IFS, but includes an exploration of purpose, value, and meaning. Although this is not a trauma specific treatment, for the clients that are akin to exploring the higher self and spirituality, my experience has show that it can have profound effect to treat ptsd.

Who I help as a trauma psychotherapist

My experience as a trauma therapist extends to working in variety of situations with different populations. Below I'll describe some of the specific populations I work with.

Adults

My experience as a trauma therapist extends to working primarily with adults. Although I have some experience working with adolescents, the majority of my experience working with trauma is with adults and young adults (18+).

Attachment trauma

As an attachment based therapist, I can help people with issues that stem from early life attachments. If you had issues in your life with a primary caregiver, or have experienced trauma at a young age, I can help you work through the feelings of a lack of safety in trust that have hindered you in your adulthood.

Addiction And trauma

If you or your loved one has been struggling with addiction, I have experience in treating this population and their families. Being the loved one of someone who is suffering addiction is an often undiagnosed and overlooked aspect of the effects of addiction. I specialize in working this population restore healthy boundaries and shed themselves of the blame of their loved ones addiction. And for the person struggling with addictions, I'll work with you to see that addiction is a family disease often found trans-generationally within the family system. Together we'll work to free you of the shame that has propelled that addiction.

Spiritual trauma

If you've experience trauma in the spiritual dimension of your life I can help you. If you have a faith that you once had but have since turned away, but continue to struggle with the feelings of guilt, or loss of connection to the community, this can be a traumatic experience. In more severe cases, this can present from having had intense indoctrination experiences in spiritual communities at young ages, holding concepts or being given over-glorified expectations, which left you hurt and scared.

FAQs about working with a trauma counselor in Alexandria, VA

If you're not sure if you are suffering from trauma, please feel free to reach out. I'm always happy to answer personal questions during the free consult about what might be right for you. Below are some FAQ's with regards to working with a trauma therapist.

Trauma therapy in Alexandria, VA can help you make peace with the past.

The benefits of trauma therapy can be profound. If you feel that you may be suffering from PTSD or issues related to trauma, I have a variety of experiences and tools to draw from that can help you receive the healing that you're looking for, or perhaps the healing process you didn't know you needed.

Every trauma focused practitioner treats trauma differently. I encourage you to reach out to several therapists and choose the one you feel most comfortable with. I'm always here and available for a free consult to answer your questions about trauma and how I might help you or a loved one.