Perhaps you’ve just started going to trauma therapy. You were hoping to experience relief early on. Instead, you’re struggling with lots of complex emotions coming up during sessions. Maybe you’re thinking about pursuing therapy for trauma. Yet you’re nervous that sharing experiences you’ve tried to suppress will be too difficult.
Going to trauma therapy is a momentous decision. In the long run, this choice can be transformative, opening you up to a brighter new chapter of your life. But the road can be challenging. After starting trauma therapy, you might temporarily feel worse before you feel better. Here’s why this phenomenon is so common for people in trauma therapy.
Opening Up for the First Time
When you experienced trauma, you might have attempted to carry on as usual for months, years, or even decades before seeking help. Reaching out to a therapist can feel too vulnerable. Even if the events dramatically affected your quality of life, you may have tried to convince yourself that you could carry on without support.
Once you finally open up in trauma therapy, you might be sharing trauma that you’ve been avoiding thinking about since childhood. Acknowledging these old wounds can be deeply painful. It’s normal to feel extremely vulnerable.
Allowing Yourself to Feel
For so long, you’ve ignored the emotions surrounding your trauma. You may be holding on to anger, sadness, disappointment in people who couldn’t protect you, and even shame, potentially blaming yourself for what happened. In therapy, you allow yourself to feel these emotions fully.
It can be truly overwhelming. The right therapist can create an environment where you can embrace these emotions safely. You won't be pressured to talk about anything you’re not ready for.
Challenging Long-Held Beliefs
Trauma can strongly influence the beliefs you hold about yourself. You might have long-held, negative beliefs about who you are, what you can achieve, and what kind of treatment you deserve. In therapy, you can trace the roots of these beliefs to traumatic experiences and understand where these thoughts came from.
Realizing that you’ve engaged in hurtful self-talk for so long, and finally speaking to yourself kindly, can be difficult. It can be tough to get used to compassionate self-talk. Furthermore, trying to adapt to new belief systems can feel uncomfortable at first.
Taking Steps Towards Healing
After going through trauma, it's often hard to keep up with healthy lifestyle habits. You might have completely neglected self-care for years. Trauma can lead to low self-worth. As a result, you might not have been prioritizing habits like sleep, exercise, or a healthy diet. Substance use may have served as a coping mechanism for painful feelings.
In counseling, your trauma therapist will help you start letting go of the habits that might be worsening your mental and physical health. But committing to new routines takes work! It can take a little experimentation to figure out how to make better habits work with your lifestyle.
Letting Go of What Doesn’t Serve You
Perhaps you’ve accepted relationships, jobs, or living circumstances that did not really serve you, because your trauma led you to believe that you should simply settle. When you work with a therapist, you might realize just how long you’ve spent in situations that were not helping you grow as a person.
You may also find that it’s time to let go of relationships with people who have hurt you deeply in the past. Saying goodbye isn’t easy, even when it’s the right decision.
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If you’re ready to try trauma therapy for women, we invite you to connect with our practice and schedule a free consultation to learn more about our counseling services.