Trauma Therapy in Gallatin, TN

What is Trauma?

Trauma is the result of bad things happening to you or around you. It can be a one-time “Big T” trauma, such as fighting in a war, or being the victim of assault or abuse, divorce or betrayal; or, it can be “little T” trauma, which is experiencing bad things persistently, over time, such as growing up in a home where there was verbal or physical violence, suffering from chronic disease, or living in poverty.

Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of an extremely stressful event (or series of events) that shatters your sense of security, making you feel helpless in a dangerous or confusing world. Any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and isolated can result in trauma. 

What Causes Trauma?

It’s not “what happened”, but “what it was like for you” that determines whether a situation gets stored in the brain as a trauma. The more frightened, helpless, and isolated you feel, the more likely you are to be traumatized.

Emotional and Psychological Trauma can be caused by:Photo of a woman sitting down with her head in her hands covering her face. Struggling with your trauma symptoms? Learn how trauma therapy in Gallatin, TN can help you learn coping skills to begin healing.

  • One-time events such as an accident, injury, violent attack, death of a loved one, loss, divorce, or betrayal. 
  • Ongoing, relentless stress, such as living in a crime-ridden neighborhood, living in a dysfunctional family, struggling with a chronic illness, or experiencing regular traumatic events such as bullying, an abusive relationship, or childhood neglect. 

No matter what the cause of your trauma, whether it happened repeatedly or one-time, or whether it was recent or many years ago, you CAN heal and move on with your life.

How Does Trauma Affect You?

Trauma makes you feel stuck and stopped in your emotional growth. This is because your nervous system continues to organize your life as if the trauma were still going on – as if your current life is still contaminated by your past. 

For example, if you were a child who experienced the contentious divorce of your parents, and you felt lonely, confused, and angry because of the difficult family dynamics, as you grow up you will experience your world with a different nervous system, one that is wholly focused on suppressing your inner chaos, at the expense of involvement in your life. 

After the trauma, your brain’s focus is to gain control over your unbearable physiological reactions, through calming or numbing your inner chaos, rather than on thriving in life. 

What are Some Symptoms of Trauma?

The aftermath of trauma is that the body continues to defend against a threat that belongs to the past. In short, something bad happened, and your brain and body think it’s still happening, so you orient your life around protecting yourself from the bad thing, making the mistake of believing that it’s still going on (because your body and mind are so convincing). Trauma affects all of you – your body, mind, and brain. 

The result is a host of physical and mental symptoms, including:

Photo of a woman sitting down on a couch with her legs crossed and leaning her head in her hand. Unable to resolve your past trauma? With trauma therapy in Gallatin, TN you can meet with a trauma therapist to help provide you support.

Mental Symptoms:

  • Shock, denial, disbelief
  • Confusion, difficulty concentrating, feeling “foggy” in your thoughts, indecisiveness
  • Anger, irritability, mood swings
  • Anxiety and fear
  • Guilt, shame, self-blame
  • Withdrawing from others
  • Feeling sad or hopeless
  • Feeling disconnected or numb, depressed

Physical Symptoms:

  • Insomnia, nightmares
  • Fatigue
  • Easily startled
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Racing heartbeat
  • Chronic pain and fibromyalgia
  • Headaches, muscle tension
  • Lack of appetite, or compulsive overeating

Why Can’t You “Just Get Over It”?

Unfortunately, the common saying that “time heals all wounds” is not always the case with trauma. This is because trauma actually changes the brain’s structure and functioning, and without active healing work, it will continue to act from its traumatized state. Trauma does not just dissolve or go away with time. 

Trauma makes your brain specialize in managing feelings of fear and abandonment, whereas if you feel safe and loved, your brain becomes specialized in exploration, play, and cooperation. You can’t just “get over” trauma – it is a psychological wound that needs to be actively healed, and until it is, you will continue to have the symptoms listed above. There’s no such thing as “getting over” trauma; trauma needs to be healed. As you heal trauma, you grow into the best version of yourself and experience peace and happiness. 

How Do You Heal From Trauma?

Healing from trauma means being able to stop the continued “fight, flight, freeze” activation and restore your body and mind to safety. 

Your body knows how to heal itself (we are continually warding off disease, infection, and healing cuts and scrapes). Similarly, your brain knows how to heal itself. However, sometimes the body or brain needs extra help to heal properly. 

A helpful analogy is a broken leg. When someone breaks a leg, if it is a certain kind of break, the bone needs to be put back into place, so that as it heals, it will heal correctly, without residual pain, and allow for the person to return to functional movement. Without this medical intervention, the leg would not heal optimally, and the person might experience lasting pain and have difficulty moving around.

Similarly, our brains sometimes need extra support in order to heal properly from emotional wounds. This extra support comes in the form of trauma therapy. Trauma therapy essentially helps the brain heal, so that it can return to optimal.

How Can We Help With Trauma Therapy?

At Tennessee Mental Wellness, our therapists receive extensive ongoing training in various trauma treatment modalities. The main treatment we use for trauma is an evidence-based approach called Brainspotting.

Brainspotting therapy is a powerful, focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing, and releasing the core neurophysiological sources of emotional and physical pain. It also helps process and releases unhealthy coping mechanisms that result from trauma, such as compulsive behavior (addictions, binge eating), anger, and isolation. 

Get your life back. Heal your relationships. Feel better than you have in a long time. We want to help you heal your trauma. 

Photo of a woman sitting outside on the grass in the sunshine. This photo represents how with online trauma therapy in Gallatin, TN can help you on your journey to healing from trauma.

Begin Trauma Therapy in Gallatin, TN

You deserve support when dealing with your trauma and its symptoms. Our team of caring therapists can help you develop the skills needed to cope with your trauma symptoms, and feel more at peace to begin healing. To start trauma therapy with our Gallatin, TN-based therapy practice, follow these simple steps:
  1. Begin your journey to healing your trauma

Other Services Offered with TN Mental Wellness

Trauma Therapy isn’t the only service offered by our Gallatin, TN-based practice. We are happy to offer a variety of services in support of your mental health. Our team is happy to offer counseling for teens, art therapy, divorce recovery, anxiety treatment, postpartum treatment, and brainspottingOther services offered include health coachingLGBTQIA+ therapy divorce support groups, online courses, and corporate seminars. Feel free to learn more by visiting our blog or FAQs page today.

 



1185 Nashville Pike
Gallatin, TN 37066

emily@tnmentalwellness.com
(615) 510-4551

Got Questions?
Send a Message!

By submitting this form via this web portal, you acknowledge and accept the risks of communicating your health information via this unencrypted email and electronic messaging and wish to continue despite those risks. By clicking "Yes, I want to submit this form" you agree to hold Brighter Vision harmless for unauthorized use, disclosure, or access of your protected health information sent via this electronic means.