Trauma

Many people suffer from persistent negative emotions, like anxiety, fear, and hypervigilance, after a traumatic event or experience. If you’re struggling to overcome the aftereffects of your trauma, Virginia Ndoro, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC, can help you at Iasis Solutions in Framingham, Massachusetts. Virginia offers counseling, therapy, and medication management to help you move through your trauma symptoms. To learn more, book an appointment online or over the phone today. 

What is trauma?

Trauma is an emotional response to distressing, frightening, or stressful experiences outside of the scope of regular stressful events. You can experience trauma at any age, and any number of sources can cause it. 

Common sources of trauma include:

• Domestic violence
• Emotional abuse
• Sexual abuse, assault, or rape
• The sudden death of a loved one
• Parental loss
• Child abuse or neglect
• Military combat
• Environmental disasters
• Violent crime and robberies
• Vehicular accidents

In addition to common immediate responses like grief, pain, sadness, and shock, trauma can have lifelong consequences. Childhood trauma, for example, can change the way you function in your daily life as an adult.

How can trauma impact your daily functioning?

Whether the source of your trauma occurred last week or several decades ago, it can create physical and psychological responses that impact how you think, feel, and function daily.

Trauma can cause or worsen: 

• Feelings of worthlessness
• Extreme fear reactions
• Feeling like you must be alert at all times to protect against threats
• Survivor’s guilt
• Anger and resentment
• Extreme anxiety

Traumatic events can lead to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can cause intense thoughts and behaviors, including: 

• Intrusive thoughts and unwanted memories while awake and during sleep
• Avoidance of people, places, and things that trigger memories of the traumatic event
• Negative moods and feelings about self and others
• Outsized emotional reactions

PTSD can also make it difficult to maintain relationships and hold down jobs.

Is there treatment for the symptoms of trauma?

While no one can take away the trauma you’ve experienced, the right mental health professional can help you improve your trauma symptoms and live a full life.

Virginia offers a variety of empathetic, evidence-based treatments for trauma, including:

• Talk therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Stress management strategies
• Counseling
• Lifestyle changes to help with sleep

If she believes they can help, Virginia may also prescribe medications to support you. Typically, the most effective treatments include a combination of therapy and medication.

There is no shame in struggling with trauma, regardless of its source. If you’re ready to get help, schedule an appointment at Iasis Solutions online or over the phone today.