INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
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Trauma/PTSD​

IAP's Bay Area Center for Anxiety has specialists ready to help you, your child, or your partner face their trauma and overcome PTSD!  

Psychological trauma is a type of distress that occurs as a result of a disturbing, frightening, and often life-threatening event. A traumatic event involves a single experience, or an enduring or repeating event or events, that completely overwhelms our ability to cope. It may be even more challenging to integrate the thoughts and emotions associated with the experience. 

This sense of being overwhelmed can be delayed by weeks, years, even decades. This is because as we try to continue our life "normally," sometimes trying our best to act like the event never happened, causing the sense of impending anxiety and stress to build over time. 

Typical causes of psychological trauma are violence, sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse, the threat of any of these types of abuse, or the witnessing of any of these kinds of abuse. Natural disasters, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and mass violence, such as genocide and war, can also cause psychological trauma. 
​Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder 
  • Recurrent thoughts about the event / trauma
  • Nightmares 
  • Flashbacks
  • Triggered by associations
  • Avoiding thoughts, feelings, places, related to the trauma
  • Not remembering
  • Feeling numb and/or having diminished interested in life
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Difficulty with concentration
  • Getting startled easily
  • Hyper-vigilance
  • Irritability or outbursts of anger

A variety of events can cause trauma, but there are commonalities. There is frequently a violation of familiar beliefs and norms; what is culturally is considered to be a human right in the community and/or nationality. The event likely causes a state of confusion and/or a state of extreme insecurity. This also occurs when people or institutions that we rely on for survival are inconsistent, absent, or they unexpectedly betray us.​

When trauma leads to PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, there are many thoughts and behaviors that cause a significant amount of distress in many aspects of our lives. The body's response to the distress has even been shown to cause physical changes to our brain chemistry.  Fortunately, therapy can help!  

​We provide effective, evidence based treatments to trauma/PTSD, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), which allow individuals to get their life back!  When working with someone in a relationship, we may also strengthen the relationship with Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), and work through the effects of PTSD on the relationship.  When working with children or adolescents, we also work with families to help them understand the trauma/PTSD and how it manifests in the family, and use the relationships of family members to shore up support as the child or teen confronts their trauma/PTSD.   There is help, so don't delay treatment any longer!  
For a free phone consultation or to set up an appointment with us, call (415) 617-5932 or email us at info@sfiap.com
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CONTACT US TODAY

San Francisco • Marin • East Bay • Peninsula • South Bay • Anywhere in California via Zoom


email

info@sfiap.com

phone

(415) 617-5932
  • Home
  • For Clients
    • Children
    • Adolescents/Teens
    • Family Therapy
    • Couples
    • Addiction
    • ADD/ADHD
    • Anger Management
    • Anxiety
    • Depression
    • Eating Disorders
    • Trauma/PTSD
    • Phone Crisis Resources
    • On Demand Workshops
  • For Professionals
    • All Trainings
    • On Demand Workshops
    • Attachment Based - CBST Yearlong
    • Summer Intensive
    • One Way Mirror Training
    • Consultation Groups
    • CBT Training
    • EFT Couples Training
    • Family Therapy Training
    • ESSFT Certification
    • EMDR Training
    • Child Therapy
    • Motivational Interviewing
    • ADHD Treatment
    • Seeing the Blind Spots: A Consultation Group for Examining White Therapists' Privilege
    • Seeing the Blind Spots: Exploring How You Think About and Experience Gender Diversity
    • Supervision, Law, and Ethics
    • DBT for Alcohol and Drug Addiction
  • About
    • Our Staff
    • Payments and Insurance
    • Joining IAP >
      • For Staff >
        • Staff Info
        • Assessments
        • Intake Forms
        • Handouts
        • New Contractor Info
        • Additional Resources
        • IAP Library
      • For Admin >
        • Onboarding
        • IAP Referrals
        • DKS Admin
        • Accounting
        • Marketing
        • HR
        • Index
    • IAP's Virtual Open House
    • Nonclinical Internships
    • Blog
  • Contact