Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Treating trauma begins with a mind-body connection. Often people come to therapy to treat unresolved trauma. Sometimes this is known and other times it is revealed through a safe relationship with a therapist. Further, talk therapy alone is not usually enough to recover from trauma. I am trained in using eye movements, hypnotherapy, mindfulness, dialectical behavior therapy, brainspotting, and yoga. Integrating these methods has proven to be most helpful for my clients.

I work with folks who have developmental and attachment trauma as well as history of acute trauma (abuse, assault, etc). I also specialize in working with folks who have a history of religious trauma. I use Somatic Internal Family Systems and mindfulness based somatic therapy to work with trauma.

When we have been through traumatic experiences, the narrative of the event is literally twined up in the same neural path as the body reactions we have to that trauma. I offer concrete tools to disentangle the two without re-traumatizing you in the process. This way you can hold your story, heal, use the information well, and leave triggers and suffering behind.

I have experience in treating adults with trauma associated with medical issues, such as suffering a traumatic brain injury, as well as family trauma and military veterans struggling to transition back to civilian life.

Have you experienced a frightening event (recent or long ago) that left you feeling helpless, thoughts that you would die or be badly hurt? Are you now experiencing flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, nightmares and you've become a "different person?" Further evaluation and discussion is needed as you may have PTSD or another trauma disorder which requires professional help in order to recover. The symptoms just won't go away but you probably already know that. Learn to face the FEAR!

Treating trauma begins with a mind-body connection. Often people come to therapy to treat unresolved trauma. Sometimes this is known and other times it is revealed through a safe relationship with a therapist. Further, talk therapy alone is not usually enough to recover from trauma. I am trained in using eye movements, hypnotherapy, mindfulness, dialectical behavior therapy, brainspotting, and yoga. Integrating these methods has proven to be most helpful for my clients.

PTSD is no joke. The after effects of trauma can have a far reaching impact and no matter how strong you are, the way that trauma rewires your brain and nervous system isn't for wimps. Intrusive thoughts, emotional flashbacks, or painful triggers have a way of keeping a stranglehold on your present. Trauma imprints on our minds and bodies until we release that pent-up energy. Learn how to change your reactions when triggered so that you can finally have peace again.

Whether we're coping with the aftereffects of a single-incident trauma, relationship trauma, or developmental trauma/complex PTSD, our ability to safely connect to ourselves and others is interrupted, and our quality of life suffers. When the relationships that are suppose to provide us with safety no longer feel safe, we suffer. Together, we can utilize effective therapies to safely reprocess and unburden the lingering aftereffects of trauma, and help you move forward with your life.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

I am passionate about working with people who have endured trauma. I have specialized training in treating trauma from an integrated model using attachment theory and DBT to support long-term healing. Within these frameworks, I have more intensive training in post-traumatic sleep disturbance (incl. nightmares) and compassionate exposure training for environmental triggers. Clients with PTSD can expect strategies for immediate relief and long-term treatment to facilitate deep, lasting healing.

I have additional training in anxiety, trauma, and PTSD including a certification as a Clinical Trauma Professional. I have seen people with anxiety, trauma, and PTSD on a weekly basis for many years and have a lot of exposure to the various forms these conditions can take.

Our entire organization is devoted to trauma therapy and everyone on our team has completed advanced training in PTSD and trauma, trauma-informed care, and specialized approaches for healing trauma. We offer EMDR, IFS, psychodrama, gestalt therapy, expressive arts therapies, and other somatic approaches.

I have worked with many types of trauma and PTSD. I have helped people reclaim agency and confidence in their lives and over their bodies after sexual traumas, medical traumas, and physical injuries. I have also helped people make sense of the confusion in their lives that can arise from the trauma of abusive and neglectful caregivers in early life. Trauma robs you of your sense of self and of a sense of having a future that feels alive; I can help you to reclaim a sense of hope for your life.

In traditional psychotherapy, there is an emphasis on putting language to thoughts. However, for someone with trauma, these thoughts are too painful to think about, much less express in words. By integrating the somatic dimension, my clients can build an awareness of how physical symptoms relate to their beliefs and emotions. This reconnection of the cognitive, emotional, and physical elements of our being allows us to be truly engaged with the present and no longer hindered by the past.

Avoid or control. These are the two ways you’ve coped with trauma. And you’re resilient! Your strategy has worked, at least for a bit. Now, you’ve realized you’re reacting to your trauma in ways that are no longer helpful. You need to feel safe, but you don’t know how. Let’s start by creating safety within your body. With your body no longer in its fight-or-flight mode, you can more fully engage the trauma lurking underneath. It may be a slow process, but you can finally experience relief.

I enjoy helping people cope with trauma reactions as we work to reduce them. I believe PTSD symptoms are a natural reaction to an overwhelming and often unnatural experience and that working to reprocess traumas can often mean working our way out of a PTSD diagnosis.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is a unique approach to psychotherapy. ART is unique because the ART Therapist guides the client to replace the negative images in the mind that cause the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress with positive images of the client’s choosing. And this is done quickly, most often within one session! Once the negative images have been replaced by positive ones, the triggers will be gone.

Find out more about how I can help you with trauma via my specialty webpage: https://www.timholtzmantherapy.com/ifs-therapy

I have been treating complex and chronic trauma for the entirety of my career, and am trained in many modalities specific to this such as EMDR, Attachment-Focused EMDR, and Child Parent Psychotherapy.