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Instead of “Therapist Near Me," Search for Trauma Therapy- You'll find more specific healing

Nov 17, 20233 min read

Updated: Nov 15, 2024


Carolyn Lee Therapist I Richmond Virginia I EMDR Therapy I Trauma Therapy

Hi again Friends,


It’s me, Carolyn Lee, Your Rebel Therapist, here to give you the low down on the 'trauma and trauma therapy' portion of what it means to be an Identity Trauma Therapist. But first...


I originally wrote a blog post on Identity Development. If you missed it, check it out here, because it'll help give this post more context. There, I teach you some of the foundational principals behind the identity development process, that I'm oh so passionate about.

 

Becoming a Professional in Trauma Therapy

I’ve wanted to be a Therapist since I was 13 years old. I’ve wanted to be in a healthcare profession before that, and in a caregiving one even before that.


What I didn’t know early on though was that I wanted to be a Trauma Therapist.


It wasn’t until I got internships working with suicidal older adults, then human trafficking victims, and then child sexual abuse allegation cases that I threw myself into trauma therapy work.


These experiences taught me these 3 key points:

  1. What trauma can look like in the WORST cases (ie. various forms of abuse, Stockholm syndrome cases, witnessing domestic violence, tragic deaths, etc..)

  2. That being a mental healthcare provider requires setting boundaries around what it means to be exercise compassion, and

  3. That there was this super promising kind of therapy called, Eye-movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy.

After 3 years of working with the more stereotypical trauma populations, I needed a break from it. So, before I burnt out, I made the shift to providing therapy in multiple community mental health settings.

EMDR Therapist, Carolyn Lee, LMHC explains her transition from doing trauma therapy with survivors of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse to community mental health work feeling likeIt’s like she had went from doing trauma therapy in pitch black darkness, beneath the depths of the most horrible things humanity is capable of, to doing it in darkness lit up by one or two night lights.

On one hand, it was refreshing to see my skill set being put to use across a variety of mental health issues and populations, but on the other hand, it was all too familiar.


It became increasing more clear to me that trauma was an experience more pervasive than any amount of times people could come in to therapy and present with information checking off necessary criteria for meeting a trauma-related clinical diagnosis according to the DSM-V (the medical model-based mental health bible).

EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee LMHC explains how one might expect to develop Trauma, or 'the darkness,' under certain circumstances more than others (ie. abuse and other horrific events), but can and often does experience trauma, or it “getting dark”, way more often in their day-to-day life, than realized at first glance.

While a consequent diagnosis of Acute Stress Disorder, an Adjustment Disorder, or one of PTSD, might give me or any other health provider a helpful footnote on what to possibly expect before treating a person, it’s benefit ends there- for me, personally. That’s when I decided, to heck with this.


I don’t care if I’m being impatient-  I need more- results for my clients, and a more helpful structure for understanding and treating the source and effects that trauma was having on their minds and bodies.

 

EMDR Therapy and my Evolving 'Picture of Trauma'

I had been interested in EMDR for several years, but couldn't justify spending all the money and time for the training. However, one day I was just done. Done with being frustrated in how I felt I could help my clients heal so much more, but not knowing how.


So, I buckled down for the intimidating training, and then more intimidating Certification Process for Eye-movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy.

AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT.

The premise and applications of EMDR actually made sense and produced the healing RESULTS that might’ve taken me double or tipple the amount of time to achieve with clients, if just doing talk therapy with them.

 

EMDR helped me redefine trauma like this:

EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee, LMHC, explains how Trauma is the reexperienceing, or tripping over, upsetting details from the past, but in the present. ie. Feelings, thoughts, images, tension, tummy aches, adrenaline rushes, smells, self beliefs etc... Trauma is just a form of learning that got “glitched” in one’s natural information processing system. It’s learning that stings, because it involves upsetting details from one’s experiences getting stuck in the forefront of their mind, and for whatever reason, getting inappropriately labeled as being important to remember just as intensely, later on. The difference between an upsetting situation that results in trauma, verses one that doesn’t, involves which details the mind takes away, and labels as being important for future usage, and those it decides are useless, now that the specific situation is over.

For those of you, like me, who learn more by example, gloss over the one below.

EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee LMHC explains the difference between adaptive memory processing and trauma-stalled memory processing, using an example in both situations. Example: Someone accidentally burning themself, touching a hot stove. If adaptively, or helpfully processing that experience, it might involve the takeaway message of “next time don’t get as close,” or “next time, wear oven mitts.” The useless details might include the shock, pain, fear, memory of the specific meal one was cooking, or what time of day it was. A trauma-stalled processing version of this same situation might exclude the important learning takeaway above and instead highlight the unhelpful memory details listed, along with details like how using the stove in general could lead to burns, the fact that the pain occurred in kitchen, and that cooking can lead to stress, which can lead to physical pain.

And below again, is an example of what the outcomes of future learning triggers might look like for someone who was able to helpfully process the upsetting memory, versus someone whose memory of it got stuck in the trauma-stalled memory processing version of the situation.

EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee, LMHC, explains the future learning outcomes of a hypothetical situation, processed in two different ways, adaptively or unhelpfully, resulting in traumatic response. The next time the person who helpfully processed their memory of the experience goes to use the stove again, or cook the same meal again, they’ll be “triggered” to utilize the takeaway learning from their previous, upsetting experience, without letting themselves be immobilized by the experience’s extraneous details. Conversely, the person whose processing was stalled by traumatic response is likely going to be triggered in ways in the future that might involve approaching the stove with excessive caution, avoiding using the stove, avoiding aspects of cooking, or even avoiding cooking entirely in the future.


EMDR helped me Redefine Trauma Triggering like this:

EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee LMHC explains that whether helpful or not, details from our past experiences get triggered all the time, because it's the nature of learning. All learning involves triggering, if it's to be used later on. Trauma is just a form of learning that is not comfortable and is no longer up to date or useful.

When some aspect of a new learning situation feels similar in the body, to previous learning experiences it’s had with you, it’s going to try and remind you in whatever way it can, with a message of, “hey! Last time this worked or didn’t work,” to help give you a leg up, this time around.

 

After this long winded post, and my one on identity development, I’m FINALLY going to help you put the pieces together, in a way that might help you better understand yourself, your situation, and what I do.

EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee, LMHC explains how her next blog post will be on combining identity work and trauma therapy work to understand the work of an identity trauma therapist.

Stay tuned to figure out why you’re feeling one way, when the outcomes and achievements of your life suggest another…


EMDR Therapist Carolyn Lee LMHC Explains Trauma Therapy as your rebel therapist

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