Individual Therapy
Healing and Well-beingHealing. Wholeness. Self-Love.
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Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)EMDR Therapy
emdrnewportbeach.com |
Health and HappinessDiscovering joy. Finding Peace.
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Treatment Issues:
Anxiety/Depression
ADHD
PTSD
Conflict, Grief, Loss
Divorce/Infidelity
Miscarriage/Infertility
Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders
Career/Executive Challenges
Chronic Health Conditions
Parents of children with special needs
Relationship Issues
Undiagnosed learning or mental health conditions
Growing up in a home with an addicted parent
Growing up in a home with frequent parental discord or frequent chaos,
loss or parental absence
Parental, sibling or close family death or chronic illness as a child/teen
Being raised by a parent with a mental illness
(ie Depression, Bipolar or Borderline Personality Disorder)
ADHD
PTSD
Conflict, Grief, Loss
Divorce/Infidelity
Miscarriage/Infertility
Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders
Career/Executive Challenges
Chronic Health Conditions
Parents of children with special needs
Relationship Issues
Undiagnosed learning or mental health conditions
Growing up in a home with an addicted parent
Growing up in a home with frequent parental discord or frequent chaos,
loss or parental absence
Parental, sibling or close family death or chronic illness as a child/teen
Being raised by a parent with a mental illness
(ie Depression, Bipolar or Borderline Personality Disorder)
Treatment Plans:
My holistic treatment plans view individuals through an attachment, cognitive, and stress and trauma-informed lens.
My goals include identifying the appropriate diagnoses and treatment plans, healing, and teaching tools & techniques to establish and maintain strong mental health, healthy self love and loving relationships.
Complicated Childhoods:
When childhood still impacts your life and well-being...
You are worthy of love, healing and well-being,
no matter what your childhood lead you to believe
As a trauma focused therapist, I have great understanding and compassion for adults with complicated childhoods, because I know how impactful our childhoods really are to our adult lives. Additionally, my focus on the science of Adult Attachment, Mindfulness and Interpersonal Neurobiology align wonderfully with EMDR Therapy.
The biggest challenge is often helping people understand that what therapists see as trauma might be very different than what the average person understands it to be.
The research consistently demonstrates that the quality of the caregiving we received as children, alongside the experiences we had, our own genetics, and our individual personalities and constitutions, affect how we deal with where we came from, and can significantly affect where we end up going on our adulthood journeys.
What is a complicated childhood?
Here are some examples:
With a complicated childhood, there are often multiple events co-occurring in childhood listed below:
Having a parent with a mental health issue (ie Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression
or Borderline Personality Disorder)
Having a parent who drank a lot or used controlled substances frequently
Experiencing childhood or teen sexual abuse, trauma or violence
Experiencing childhood physical, mental or emotional abuse
Experiencing a violent event (like a robbery or rape)
Witnessing domestic violence
Having parents who fought a lot or called each other names
Having a parent who called you hurtful names
Losing someone or many people you cared about
Having chronic and/or high risk health conditions
Experiencing mental health issues
Suicidality
Being alone a lot as a child and having unhealthy or unsafe experiences as a result
Sexual experiences you were not ready to have with trusted others
Chronic financial difficulties impacting stability and/or frequent moving
Bullying in school
School challenges, untreated or acknowledged
Being left alone or left to manage life too early
The biggest challenge is often helping people understand that what therapists see as trauma might be very different than what the average person understands it to be.
The research consistently demonstrates that the quality of the caregiving we received as children, alongside the experiences we had, our own genetics, and our individual personalities and constitutions, affect how we deal with where we came from, and can significantly affect where we end up going on our adulthood journeys.
What is a complicated childhood?
Here are some examples:
With a complicated childhood, there are often multiple events co-occurring in childhood listed below:
Having a parent with a mental health issue (ie Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression
or Borderline Personality Disorder)
Having a parent who drank a lot or used controlled substances frequently
Experiencing childhood or teen sexual abuse, trauma or violence
Experiencing childhood physical, mental or emotional abuse
Experiencing a violent event (like a robbery or rape)
Witnessing domestic violence
Having parents who fought a lot or called each other names
Having a parent who called you hurtful names
Losing someone or many people you cared about
Having chronic and/or high risk health conditions
Experiencing mental health issues
Suicidality
Being alone a lot as a child and having unhealthy or unsafe experiences as a result
Sexual experiences you were not ready to have with trusted others
Chronic financial difficulties impacting stability and/or frequent moving
Bullying in school
School challenges, untreated or acknowledged
Being left alone or left to manage life too early
Trauma Treatment/EMDR:
Why is it important that your therapist understands trauma, no matter what your issues are?
All of us face difficulties in life, and based upon our own genetics, childhoods, parenting and experiences, we all deal with life, and it's stressors or traumas, in different ways. Some of us avoid, some of us become highly anxious, some of us seem to be all over the map when we are suffering, and some of us tend to just handle life, with greater ease than others.
Regardless of how we deal with our difficulties, research demonstrates that what qualifies as "trauma" is often mis-perceived and left untreated, leaving lasting effects on our lives. Significant events like violence, war or abuse might seem more obvious types of trauma, but even in those cases, many people "just try to move on," and do not know that the reason for their mental health challenges are directly related to traumas, even if they occurred many years ago.
Even more difficult is the reality that we now understand that trauma and its impact on a person can include many other events in our lives, and yet remain untreated, because a person does not recognize their experience as trauma. Trauma-informed care is intended to meet the challenge of helping someone safely recognize their trauma history, even when they don’t believe their experience includes trauma. You may not consider your life experience to include trauma.
For example, did you know that the following experiences can be considered traumatic and have lingering impacts on your well-being?
Parenting a child/children with special needs (ie ADHD, learning disabilities, Autism, etc)
Divorce (especially contentious divorces, but even divorce in general)
Chronic or serious health issues (Cancer, Auto-Immune Diseases, etc)
Miscarriage, Infertility, Newborn or Post-Partum Challenges
Yet the way you have learned to cope in life may reflect the impact of trauma, even if you don’t recognize it in yourself.
That is why the most effective treatment is from an approach that is trauma-informed.
The reality is, a wide range of adverse events can cause trauma. Some are easier to recognize than others.
A trauma-informed therapist’s job is to help someone heal from adverse experiences, even when that person does not identify as a trauma survivor.
So, what is trauma?
Trauma is a deeply disturbing event that infringes upon an individual’s sense of control, and may reduce their capacity to integrate the situation or circumstances into their current reality. In other words, according to therapies like EMDR, a traumatic event does not get processed by the brain, and remains just below the surface, ready to be triggered and to connect to other situations in our lives.
A person does not have to undergo an overtly distressing event for it to affect them. An accumulation of smaller “everyday” or less pronounced events can still be traumatic, but in the "Small t," form.
It is worth noting that developing post-trauma symptoms is by no means an indication of psychological weakness or congenital deficiency. In fact, these difficulties typically develop due to the individual engaging in avoidance behaviors.
Such behaviors are engaged to conceal distress with the belief that not addressing what has happened will free the individual of their emotional pain.
Avoidance is also engaged so as not to reveal any “weaknesses” or difficulty to others. By most standards, these individuals would likely be referred to as “strong-minded” or “tough”; their ability to experience such hardships and rise above them would be deemed honorable. While the individual’s efforts are intentional with the hope of reducing their psychological distress and not creating concern on the part of others, the literature has made clear that avoidance is the most significant developing and maintaining factor for trauma responses.
So “tough,” perhaps yes, but effective, no.
The DSM-5 defines a PTSD trauma as any situation where one’s life or bodily integrity is threatened; these are typically "Big T," traumas. While "Small t," traumas for the most part would not lead to the development of pure PTSD symptoms, it is possible that a person can develop some trauma response symptoms. In other words, the person may experience increased distress and decreased quality of life.
Small t's
"Small t," traumas are events that exceed our capacity to cope and cause a disruption in emotional functioning. These distressing events are not inherently life or bodily threatening, but perhaps better described as ego-threatening due to the individual left feeling notable helplessness.
"Small t," traumas tend to be overlooked by the individual who has experienced the difficulty. This is sometimes due to the tendency to rationalize the experience as common, and therefore cognitively shame oneself for any reaction that could be construed as an over-reaction or being “dramatic.”
This reaction is a form of avoidance, albeit a much less pronounced form.
Other times, the individual does not recognize just how disturbed they are by the event or situation.
Perhaps surprisingly, sometimes these events are also overlooked or dismissed by a therapist. This usually does not happen due to the therapist lacking empathy, but rather it occurs due to a lack of understanding about the importance of these experiences on a person’s mood functioning.
One of the most overlooked aspects of "Small t," is their accumulated effect. While one "Small t," trauma is unlikely to lead to significant distress, multiple compounded small ‘t’ traumas, particularly in a short span of time, are more likely to lead to an increase in distress and trouble with emotional functioning.
In fact, it is likely that the reason many individuals present for psychotherapy is due to an accumulation of small ‘t’ traumas.
These traumas may have occurred over the course of one’s life or condensed in the recent past.
Big T's
A "Big T," trauma is distinguished as an extraordinary and significant event that leaves the individual feeling powerless, and possessing little control over their environment. Such events could take form as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, sexual assault, combat/war zone, car or plane accident, etc.
Helplessness is also a key factor of "Big T," traumas, and expectedly the extent of experienced helplessness is far beyond that of a "Small t," trauma.
"Big T," traumas are more readily identified by the experiencer, as well as those who have any familiarity with their plight.
Avoidance takes a much different form with "Big T," traumas. The individual tends to more overtly and decisively engage in actions that are classified as avoidance.
They may deliberately avoid phone calls from investigators, bury their military uniform and memorabilia in the attic, or avoid crowded places.
Their attempts to minimize distress, and reduce reminders of the traumatic event are time and energy-consuming, as opposed to the more passive avoidance that occurs with "Small t," traumas. One "Big T," trauma is often enough to cause severe distress and interfere with an individual’s daily functioning, and this effect is intensified, the longer avoidance behaviors endure, and treatment is circumvented.
What does a trauma informed therapist do?
A trauma-informed therapist is aware of the complex impact of trauma (any perceived trauma, big or small) on a person’s suffering, and how it shapes a person’s efforts to cope with life and life's stressors.
A trauma-informed approach integrates a thorough knowledge of this impact into every aspect of treatment.
Trauma-informed care recognizes the impact of experiences that threaten a person’s sense of safety and well-being.
Trauma changes how a person regulates their thoughts and feelings, and their ability to care for themselves emotionally and psychologically.
Trauma Informed Care also recognizes that a person with a history of trauma may not think of himself or herself as a trauma survivor, and may not even be fully aware of what it means to live with the consequences of what they experienced.
A therapist who is trauma-informed knows that the mind and body of a person with unhealed trauma is functioning in an altered way. That person may be easily triggered to feel too much emotional intensity (hyperarousal), or shut down and unable to feel much at all (hypoarousal).
A trauma-informed approach seeks an awareness of the widespread impact of trauma on life experience and relationships.
It recognizes trauma’s role in the outlook, emotions and behavior of a person with a trauma history.
A trauma-informed approach also accepts that trauma’s impact is far more prevalent than most people realize.
As trauma-informed therapists, we choose to focus not only on the behavior someone is trying to change —but also on the underlying reasons for the behavior and the relief it provides currently.
We focus on behavior, beliefs and desired relief, so we can do repair work at the deepest level,
to make the change long lasting.
A trauma-informed approach attends to the underlying trauma from any cause.
Trauma-informed care can apply to anyone.
It’s not just for people with obvious sources of trauma like physical or sexual abuse.
Trauma-informed care applies as well to people with a history of depression or anxiety that has wreaked havoc on life, people with emotional abuse or attachment wounds, or any kind of trauma.
Recognizing trauma’s role in a person’s experience is essential to treating and healing the toxic stress of trauma on one’s life. Untreated, this stress can result in many negative health outcomes.
Recognizing the nature of trauma and understanding its impact is where the hope lies—it’s where recovery begins!
Trauma-informed care is built on a holistic view of mind, body and soul -that offers safety and compassion as well.
It inspires healing, hope, strength, relief, and resilience, and enables people to make long-lasting change.
Regardless of how we deal with our difficulties, research demonstrates that what qualifies as "trauma" is often mis-perceived and left untreated, leaving lasting effects on our lives. Significant events like violence, war or abuse might seem more obvious types of trauma, but even in those cases, many people "just try to move on," and do not know that the reason for their mental health challenges are directly related to traumas, even if they occurred many years ago.
Even more difficult is the reality that we now understand that trauma and its impact on a person can include many other events in our lives, and yet remain untreated, because a person does not recognize their experience as trauma. Trauma-informed care is intended to meet the challenge of helping someone safely recognize their trauma history, even when they don’t believe their experience includes trauma. You may not consider your life experience to include trauma.
For example, did you know that the following experiences can be considered traumatic and have lingering impacts on your well-being?
Parenting a child/children with special needs (ie ADHD, learning disabilities, Autism, etc)
Divorce (especially contentious divorces, but even divorce in general)
Chronic or serious health issues (Cancer, Auto-Immune Diseases, etc)
Miscarriage, Infertility, Newborn or Post-Partum Challenges
Yet the way you have learned to cope in life may reflect the impact of trauma, even if you don’t recognize it in yourself.
That is why the most effective treatment is from an approach that is trauma-informed.
The reality is, a wide range of adverse events can cause trauma. Some are easier to recognize than others.
A trauma-informed therapist’s job is to help someone heal from adverse experiences, even when that person does not identify as a trauma survivor.
So, what is trauma?
Trauma is a deeply disturbing event that infringes upon an individual’s sense of control, and may reduce their capacity to integrate the situation or circumstances into their current reality. In other words, according to therapies like EMDR, a traumatic event does not get processed by the brain, and remains just below the surface, ready to be triggered and to connect to other situations in our lives.
A person does not have to undergo an overtly distressing event for it to affect them. An accumulation of smaller “everyday” or less pronounced events can still be traumatic, but in the "Small t," form.
It is worth noting that developing post-trauma symptoms is by no means an indication of psychological weakness or congenital deficiency. In fact, these difficulties typically develop due to the individual engaging in avoidance behaviors.
Such behaviors are engaged to conceal distress with the belief that not addressing what has happened will free the individual of their emotional pain.
Avoidance is also engaged so as not to reveal any “weaknesses” or difficulty to others. By most standards, these individuals would likely be referred to as “strong-minded” or “tough”; their ability to experience such hardships and rise above them would be deemed honorable. While the individual’s efforts are intentional with the hope of reducing their psychological distress and not creating concern on the part of others, the literature has made clear that avoidance is the most significant developing and maintaining factor for trauma responses.
So “tough,” perhaps yes, but effective, no.
The DSM-5 defines a PTSD trauma as any situation where one’s life or bodily integrity is threatened; these are typically "Big T," traumas. While "Small t," traumas for the most part would not lead to the development of pure PTSD symptoms, it is possible that a person can develop some trauma response symptoms. In other words, the person may experience increased distress and decreased quality of life.
Small t's
"Small t," traumas are events that exceed our capacity to cope and cause a disruption in emotional functioning. These distressing events are not inherently life or bodily threatening, but perhaps better described as ego-threatening due to the individual left feeling notable helplessness.
"Small t," traumas tend to be overlooked by the individual who has experienced the difficulty. This is sometimes due to the tendency to rationalize the experience as common, and therefore cognitively shame oneself for any reaction that could be construed as an over-reaction or being “dramatic.”
This reaction is a form of avoidance, albeit a much less pronounced form.
Other times, the individual does not recognize just how disturbed they are by the event or situation.
Perhaps surprisingly, sometimes these events are also overlooked or dismissed by a therapist. This usually does not happen due to the therapist lacking empathy, but rather it occurs due to a lack of understanding about the importance of these experiences on a person’s mood functioning.
One of the most overlooked aspects of "Small t," is their accumulated effect. While one "Small t," trauma is unlikely to lead to significant distress, multiple compounded small ‘t’ traumas, particularly in a short span of time, are more likely to lead to an increase in distress and trouble with emotional functioning.
In fact, it is likely that the reason many individuals present for psychotherapy is due to an accumulation of small ‘t’ traumas.
These traumas may have occurred over the course of one’s life or condensed in the recent past.
Big T's
A "Big T," trauma is distinguished as an extraordinary and significant event that leaves the individual feeling powerless, and possessing little control over their environment. Such events could take form as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, sexual assault, combat/war zone, car or plane accident, etc.
Helplessness is also a key factor of "Big T," traumas, and expectedly the extent of experienced helplessness is far beyond that of a "Small t," trauma.
"Big T," traumas are more readily identified by the experiencer, as well as those who have any familiarity with their plight.
Avoidance takes a much different form with "Big T," traumas. The individual tends to more overtly and decisively engage in actions that are classified as avoidance.
They may deliberately avoid phone calls from investigators, bury their military uniform and memorabilia in the attic, or avoid crowded places.
Their attempts to minimize distress, and reduce reminders of the traumatic event are time and energy-consuming, as opposed to the more passive avoidance that occurs with "Small t," traumas. One "Big T," trauma is often enough to cause severe distress and interfere with an individual’s daily functioning, and this effect is intensified, the longer avoidance behaviors endure, and treatment is circumvented.
What does a trauma informed therapist do?
A trauma-informed therapist is aware of the complex impact of trauma (any perceived trauma, big or small) on a person’s suffering, and how it shapes a person’s efforts to cope with life and life's stressors.
A trauma-informed approach integrates a thorough knowledge of this impact into every aspect of treatment.
Trauma-informed care recognizes the impact of experiences that threaten a person’s sense of safety and well-being.
Trauma changes how a person regulates their thoughts and feelings, and their ability to care for themselves emotionally and psychologically.
Trauma Informed Care also recognizes that a person with a history of trauma may not think of himself or herself as a trauma survivor, and may not even be fully aware of what it means to live with the consequences of what they experienced.
A therapist who is trauma-informed knows that the mind and body of a person with unhealed trauma is functioning in an altered way. That person may be easily triggered to feel too much emotional intensity (hyperarousal), or shut down and unable to feel much at all (hypoarousal).
A trauma-informed approach seeks an awareness of the widespread impact of trauma on life experience and relationships.
It recognizes trauma’s role in the outlook, emotions and behavior of a person with a trauma history.
A trauma-informed approach also accepts that trauma’s impact is far more prevalent than most people realize.
As trauma-informed therapists, we choose to focus not only on the behavior someone is trying to change —but also on the underlying reasons for the behavior and the relief it provides currently.
We focus on behavior, beliefs and desired relief, so we can do repair work at the deepest level,
to make the change long lasting.
A trauma-informed approach attends to the underlying trauma from any cause.
Trauma-informed care can apply to anyone.
It’s not just for people with obvious sources of trauma like physical or sexual abuse.
Trauma-informed care applies as well to people with a history of depression or anxiety that has wreaked havoc on life, people with emotional abuse or attachment wounds, or any kind of trauma.
Recognizing trauma’s role in a person’s experience is essential to treating and healing the toxic stress of trauma on one’s life. Untreated, this stress can result in many negative health outcomes.
Recognizing the nature of trauma and understanding its impact is where the hope lies—it’s where recovery begins!
Trauma-informed care is built on a holistic view of mind, body and soul -that offers safety and compassion as well.
It inspires healing, hope, strength, relief, and resilience, and enables people to make long-lasting change.
What is the impact of chronic stress?
Chronic stress can wreak havoc on your mind and body, because you are hard-wired to react to stress.
When you encounter a perceived threat — such as a large dog barking at you during your morning walk — your hypothalamus, a tiny region at your brain's base, sets off an alarm system in your body. Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts your adrenal glands, located atop your kidneys, to release a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.
Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose, and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.
Cortisol also curbs functions that would be nonessential or detrimental in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with the brain regions that control mood, motivation and fear.
The body's stress-response system is usually self-limiting. Once a perceived threat has passed, hormone levels return to normal. As adrenaline and cortisol levels drop, your heart rate and blood pressure return to baseline levels, and other systems resume their regular activities.
However, when stressors are always present and you constantly feel under attack, that fight-or-flight reaction remains present.
The long-term activation of the stress-response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that follows can disrupt almost all your body's processes.
This puts you at increased risk for many health problems, including:
Anxiety
Depression
Digestive problems
Headaches
Heart disease
Sleep problems
Weight gain
Memory and concentration impairment
When you encounter a perceived threat — such as a large dog barking at you during your morning walk — your hypothalamus, a tiny region at your brain's base, sets off an alarm system in your body. Through a combination of nerve and hormonal signals, this system prompts your adrenal glands, located atop your kidneys, to release a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.
Adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain's use of glucose, and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.
Cortisol also curbs functions that would be nonessential or detrimental in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with the brain regions that control mood, motivation and fear.
The body's stress-response system is usually self-limiting. Once a perceived threat has passed, hormone levels return to normal. As adrenaline and cortisol levels drop, your heart rate and blood pressure return to baseline levels, and other systems resume their regular activities.
However, when stressors are always present and you constantly feel under attack, that fight-or-flight reaction remains present.
The long-term activation of the stress-response system and the overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that follows can disrupt almost all your body's processes.
This puts you at increased risk for many health problems, including:
Anxiety
Depression
Digestive problems
Headaches
Heart disease
Sleep problems
Weight gain
Memory and concentration impairment