PTSD & Trauma Counseling

Have you experienced a traumatic event that continues to affect your daily life?

Do you have physical and mental symptoms as a result of your PTSD and trauma?

Do you feel separated from your loved ones as you struggle with worsening symptoms?

PTSD & Trauma Counseling therapists in Charleston and Mount Pleasant SC.

Your body has a built-in system that helps you in times of danger: fight, flight, or freeze response. Events that cause this response can have an ongoing effect, causing mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological harm.

What Are Examples of Traumatic Events?

These are some common examples of traumatic events. Note, however, that everyone responds to situations differently. Never feel that your trauma is too small to matter.

  • Serious illness

  • Pain or injury

  • War

  • Terrorism

  • Parental abandonment

  • Family conflicts

  • Rape

  • Domestic abuse

  • Death of a loved one

  • Crime committed against you

What Are Symptoms of Trauma?

Symptoms of trauma differ between individuals. You may feel any of the following:

  • Irritability

  • Sudden mood shifts

  • Increased anxiety and nervousness

  • Depression

  • Nausea and/or headaches

  • Anger

  • Nightmares

  • Flashbacks or repeated memories of the event

  • Intense fear that the traumatic event will happen again (usually triggered by visiting the original location or arriving near the anniversary)

  • Changes in thought patterns and mood

  • Denial

  • Isolation and withdrawal from daily activities

  • Difficulty sleeping and/or concentrating

  • Avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event

  • Worsening of an existing medical condition

What Is PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder can last for months or years following a traumatic event and requires ongoing social support and therapy to overcome symptoms. 

This anxiety disorder affects stress hormones (fight, flight, or freeze response) and alters how the body responds to stressors. It is characterized by intense emotional and/or physical responses to memories or thoughts related to the traumatic event.

How Does EMDR Therapy Work?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy unsticks recurring memories and allows the brain to process and store them properly, removing the intense emotion from the memory.

Your therapist instructs you to imagine a specific traumatic event that triggers discomfort while following an audible or visual stimulus from side to side with your eyes, or they will use alternating taps or vibrations on your hands or knees. This process is called bilateral stimulation (activating each side of the brain) and is similar to what occurs in the brain during REM sleep.

Then, you periodically stop to discuss your emotions as they rise to the surface. As you repeat the process over several sessions, your response to the trauma reduces in intensity. At that point, your therapist helps you develop healthier and more empowering thoughts about yourself to associate with the trauma.

When Should I Find Help?

Whenever symptoms interfere in your daily life, such as relationships, work, school, or hobbies, it’s time to get help. Schedule your free 30-minute consultation with one of our trauma therapy counselors to get on the path to healing today.