Trauma therapy is a form of psychotherapy (talk therapy) designed to manage the impact of traumatic events on people’s lives. It helps people process traumatic events and the lasting experience of trauma that may follow those events. A traumatic event is any event in a person’s life that they experience as life-threatening, abusive, frightening, or dangerous. A person can also be traumatized from witnessing traumatic events. These events may permanently impact a person’s psychological and emotional functioning. Trauma therapy focuses on helping people with a past experience of trauma or a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) manage their traumatic experiences. Typically, a trauma therapist has additional training in trauma and will use skills and strategies that are designed to help people overcome the effects of traumatic events without re-traumatizing.

People seek trauma therapy for any number of different issues. People need trauma-informed therapy to combat trauma, accidents, assault or attack, intimate partner violence, natural and man-made disasters, physical abuse, Bullying in schools or workplaces, and Early childhood trauma. There are many types of trauma therapy treatments. Evidence-based treatments have research evidence supporting their effectiveness. The following are a few of the main types of evidence-based treatments. Prolonged exposure (PE) is a treatment in which a person is gradually exposed to their trauma-related memories, fears, emotions, and feelings about the event(s) to learn that these are no longer dangerous or need to be avoided. Patients typically meet with a therapist once a week for three to four months. PE is strongly recommended by the American Psychological Association as a first-line intervention for PTSD.4 In one study, 71% of participants experienced a decrease in PTSD symptoms with PE treatment. Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a trauma-focused therapy designed to treat PTSD. It helps patients challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs related to the trauma. Writing a detailed account of the traumatic event allows patients to re-conceptualize the event to reduce its impact on one’s current life. MLA