Trauma therapy in Gilbert, Arizona

Your nervous system is always going to win in the battle of your prefrontal cortex (thinking brain) and the limbic system in fight or flight. This is why often times learned breathing techniques or calming mantras may not work when your trauma has been activated.

I am not a fan of diagnosing a client with a mental illness prior to doing trauma work. Trauma manifests in many different ways. It can look like anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, always looking over your shoulder for the next threat. It can look like assuming people are don’t like you and are out to hurt you. I have seen trauma manifest as lack of boundaries because you were never allowed to have your own feelings or needs. It can feel like IBS symptoms, heart palpitations, shallow and rapid breathing, tightness in the chest, neck, temples, stomach, you name it and trauma can sit there within the body.

My approach incorporates aspects of EMDR, EFIT, IFS and ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy). In becoming familiar with each of these approaches, I have found that many share very similar interventions that are useful in calming down the nervous system and desensitizing it to the trigger stimuli.

I primarily use Accelerated Resolution Therapy with a lightbar, but it can also be used with TheraTappers (the “buzzies” you hold in your hands). Client feedback from my clients who have done both EMDR and ART typically report preference for ART as it leaves fewer “loose ends” and is much more directed than EMDR, leading to faster resolution of the problem and the ability to tie up many loose ends that may arise.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy is a relatively new, evidence-based approach for treating trauma and PTSD. It could be considered a “cousin” to EMDR as they have quite a few similarities in the protocol. It combines elements of cognitive behavioral therapy with rapid eye movement (EMs) techniques to help individuals process and resolve distressing memories quickly. Unlike traditional talk therapies, ART focuses less on verbal exploration and more on re-imagining the traumatic event. By guiding clients to visualize the trauma differently while engaging in EMs, ART helps reduce the emotional impact of the memory without requiring extensive retelling. This removes the roadblock some clients may have in not wanting to be forced to recount all the details of their trauma with their therapist. All I need to know as your therapist is the theme of the traumatic scene or core belief of self you want to work on, and during treatment I refer to your trauma as “your scene”. This process can lead to rapid symptom relief, often within 1-5 sessions, making it an appealing option for those seeking a fast-acting therapeutic intervention.