What is Trauma Therapy?
And what can I read to learn more?
A lot of people hear the word trauma and immediately think of something dramatic: a serious accident, abuse, a natural disaster, or another life-altering event. And certainly, those experiences can be traumatic.
But trauma can also come from things that aren’t as easy to identify. Growing up in an unpredictable home. Living through a difficult relationship. Being bullied. Losing someone you love. Experiencing repeated stress without having the support or resources to process it.
Sometimes people come to therapy knowing exactly what happened. Other times, they just know they don’t feel like themselves anymore.
So What Is Trauma Therapy?
Trauma therapy is a type of therapy that helps people understand and work through the emotional, physical, and relational effects of difficult or overwhelming experiences.
That might mean learning how to recognize what’s happening in your body when you’re triggered. It might mean making sense of reactions that seem bigger than the situation calls for. It might involve processing memories, developing better ways to regulate emotions, or learning how to feel safe in relationships again.
And importantly, trauma therapy isn’t about forcing someone to talk about everything that has ever happened to them.
Good trauma therapy starts with safety.
At Lemi, many of our therapists have extensive experience working with people in crisis, including backgrounds in hospital inpatient settings and ER crisis intervention. That experience matters. Trauma can show up in complicated ways, and having a therapist who understands how people respond when they’re overwhelmed can make a big difference.
Our therapists also use trauma-focused approaches such as EMDR, somatic therapies, and mindfulness-based bodywork. Different approaches work for different people, and therapy should be tailored to the person sitting in the room, not the other way around.
A Few Books Worth Reading
If you’re curious about trauma, whether because of your own experiences or because you want to better understand someone you care about, there are some books I often recommend.
What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD and Oprah Winfrey
This book looks at trauma through the question, “What happened to you?” rather than “What’s wrong with you?”
That shift may sound simple, but it can change the way we understand ourselves and other people. The book combines Dr. Perry’s work in neuroscience and trauma with Oprah’s personal experiences.
It’s approachable without completely watering down the science, which is not always an easy balance to strike.
No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD
If you’ve ever thought, “Part of me knows better, but another part of me keeps doing this,” you’ll probably understand the basic idea behind No Bad Parts pretty quickly.
Schwartz introduces Internal Family Systems, or IFS, which views our minds as having different “parts” that can have different emotions, fears, and protective roles.
I particularly like the compassion built into this approach. Instead of treating parts of ourselves as problems to get rid of, it encourages curiosity about why they’re there and what they’re trying to do for us.
Trauma and Recovery by Judith L. Herman, MD
This is a more substantial read, but it’s an important one.
Judith Herman’s work has had a major influence on how clinicians understand trauma and recovery, particularly trauma resulting from abuse, violence, and other interpersonal experiences.
She describes recovery as involving safety, remembering and mourning, and reconnecting with life and relationships. It’s not exactly an easy beach read, but it’s a valuable book if you want a deeper understanding of trauma and what recovery can actually involve.
Waking the Tiger by Peter A. Levine, PhD, with Ann Frederick
Peter Levine’s work focuses heavily on the connection between trauma and the nervous system. Waking the Tiger introduces Somatic Experiencing and explores how the body responds to threat and overwhelm.
Some of the language around trauma and the body in this book is more theoretical than the evidence behind other trauma treatments, so I’d recommend approaching it as one perspective rather than the final word on how trauma works.
Still, it can be helpful for people who notice that their trauma shows up physically: tension, a racing heart, feeling frozen, restlessness, or a strong urge to escape.
You Don’t Have to Figure It All Out Before You Start
One of the things I want people to know about trauma therapy is that you don’t need to arrive at your first appointment with a neatly organized explanation of what happened to you.
You don’t have to know whether what you experienced “counts” as trauma.
You don’t have to remember every detail.
And you definitely don’t have to have the whole thing figured out before you ask for help.
A good therapist can help you understand what you’re experiencing and decide together what kind of support makes sense.
Trauma therapy can involve talking. It can involve learning skills to regulate your nervous system. It can involve EMDR or somatic work. Sometimes it involves all of those things at different points in the process.
The goal isn’t to erase what happened. It’s to help you have more choice in how you respond to it and to build a life that isn’t organized around what happened in the past.
If you’re interested in learning more, start with one of the books above. Or, if you’re ready to talk with someone, our therapists at Lemi are here to help.