People in trauma recovery benefit from a variety of therapeutic approaches
Photo by Diana Simpumpande on Unsplash
For individuals in trauma recovery, the most effective treatment approach usually employs more than one type of therapy. Non-traditional therapies, sometimes called alternative therapies, can complement more traditional, western approaches to give clients broad-spectrum support as they heal from trauma.
Traditional approaches
Many providers turn to medication to treat depression, anxiety and other trauma symptoms in their patients. For PTSD patients, currently the FDA has approved only two antidepressants, which work to regulate neurotransmitters in the brain responsible for controlling the fight-or-flight response.
Most American medical journals point to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as the most effective non-drug treatment for combat veterans who live with PTSD. That approach involves working with a licensed therapist to identify negative thought patterns and to reduce the catastrophic thinking common to trauma survivors.
Complementary therapies
Traditional therapies have shown promising results in many PTSD patients, but individuals have other options available to them.
In fact, many doctors or therapists will suggest complementary therapies to their PTSD patients, in addition to medication and/or psychotherapy, as a way to manage intrusive thoughts and anxiety responses. These practices or interventions might include:
Exercise. Aerobic exercise in particular has been shown to reduce stress, boost mood, increase focus and more.
Acupuncture. Based on eastern philosophy and tradition, acupuncture is thought to impact how energy flows though the body and brain. For trauma patients, that could result in a dampened anxiety response.
Mindfulness, Yoga and Meditation. All three of these turn an individual’s focus inward to the body and mind. That focused concentration can help redirect negative thoughts and reduce the impact of invasive traumatic memories.
Prayer. Doctors or therapists with a religious affiliation might recommend prayer as an additional mindfulness technique, which also connects the individual to his or her spiritual needs.
Art, dance or music therapy. Creating a piece of art, dancing or playing music can give expression to thoughts, fears or experiences that an individual has difficulty putting into words, and that can lead to powerful healing.
Animal therapy or emotional support animals. Studies show that combat veterans with PTSD do better with animals in their lives, and a support animal can help others in trauma recovery as well.
Emotional freedom technique (EFT). Also known as tapping, this technique involves recall of the traumatic memory in combination with acupressure taps that help release the energy associated with that memory.
Bilateral Stimulation and Eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). This therapy stimulates both sides of the brain with light, sound or touch, effectively creating new, positive neural connections in place of the old, negative ones created by the trauma event.
All of these practices help redirect an individual’s focus away from traumatic memories and toward something invigorating, calming, soothing or more positive. As the University of Melbourne reports:
“What many of these alternative treatments have in common is that they shift the emphasis away from an internal focus on the individual’s traumatic experiences, and instead are grounded in the external world.
Rather than a trauma-focused approach, many of these interventions are also likely to have a calming effect on the individual, so may be helpful in reducing the hyper-alertness experienced by people suffering PTSD.”
For some of these practices, more studies are needed to understand their full impact on trauma patients’ brain responses, but many people with PTSD report a greater ability to cope and self-soothe by practicing one or more complementary technique in addition to therapy or medication.
One therapy in particular, EMDR, has shown enough promise as a PTSD treatment that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officially recommends it as an evidence-based trauma treatment. National Institutes of Health (NIH) contributor Miriam Reisman writes:
“Once highly controversial, eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) has been gaining acceptance and is now recommended as an effective treatment for PTSD in both civilian and combat-related cases in a wide range of practice guidelines. In EMDR, the therapist guides patients to make eye movements or follow hand taps, for instance, at the same time they are recounting traumatic events. The general theory behind EMDR is that focusing on other stimuli while revisiting the experience helps the patient reprocess traumatic information until it is no longer psychologically disruptive.”
As our understanding of the mind-body connection grows, I expect more people and institutions to embrace complementary therapies as accepted mental health treatments. I feel honored to offer Splankna Therapy, a complementary alternative therapy for clients working on change. I know what an impact these techniques can make as part of an integrated treatment approach. Splankna is a results-driven, Cognitive-Somatic energy method that works to release stored emotion and trauma while tending to body, soul, and spirit.
Splankna was developed from an integration of some of the techniques mentioned above. As a practitioner, and Christian, I am committed to a redemptive posture towards these tools, focusing on God’s created mechanisms for bringing relief and wholeness to body, soul, and spirit.
To learn more about complementary trauma therapies, including Splankna, EFT and bilateral stimulation, contact me. I also offer #HER Circle support groups to women in trauma recovery.