Healing from Trauma
- Libby Rose
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Disclaimer: I am not an expert! These are things I've learned through lived experience, and resources that have helped me.
Look. I'm not going to lie to you. Healing from trauma is hard. It's scary. It's frustratingly slow. It sometimes feels harder than just living in a dissociative state. It comes with physical side effects and baffling emotional reactions. It's also SO worth it. It's so much better than just living in a perpetual state of overwhelm, forever.
I can't tell you how to heal from trauma. I can, however, provide resources and information to help you find the right path to healing for yourself.
In this post, I will primarily be providing helpful vocabulary that you can look up to learn more, as well as linking to some specific resources.
I'll be covering the following topics:
Further Reading
Trauma Therapy
I can't say enough good things about trauma therapy. It's not right for everyone, and not everyone can afford it. But if you can, here's some info on the types of therapy out there.
Individual therapy
Working with a trained trauma therapist can be incredibly beneficial. Their calm presence helps you co-regulate your emotions. They can help you recognize when you're in a state of overwhelm, and provide guidance on escaping it. They can provide psychoeducation to help you understand what you're doing, why it's important, and how it will help.
But with so many therapists out there, and so many different treatment modalities, how do you find the right therapist? How do you even know what you want in a therapist?
Learning what is available is a really good first step. Here's a list of different therapy modalities you can read up about, to see what sounds like a good fit for you. This is not an exhaustive list, I am sure there are way more out there, but its a great starting point.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Somatic Therapy
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Experiential Therapy
EMDR
But look - lets be honest here. Trauma is freaking exhausting. If you don't have the mental capacity to look up any of this stuff? Its fine. Just look for a therapist whose info indicates they are Trauma Informed, and that they specialize in working with PTSD.
Group therapy
Trauma is a lying jerk who will tell you that your specific trauma is totally unique and no one could ever possibly understand or help you. Group therapy helps confront this lie. It can be such a relief to see other people experiencing what you're experiencing. It's helpful to learn from their experiences in a supportive environment.
Plus, its cheaper than individual therapy.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
This is basically going to trauma therapy as a part time job. Except they don't pay you, you pay them. So, not a very good job.
Some features of an IOP:
You can still live at home and have your normal life.
You get lots of support, both from the therapist(s) and the group of people in the program with you.
Effective - you're spending like 9+ hours every week doing therapy and working on this stuff.
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Basically trauma therapy as your full time job.
PHP is more intensive than an IOP, but less invasive than a full hospitalization. You'll be spending 5-6 hours at the hospital every day, working on healing, learning important skills, and doing activities. You'll also be working with a doctor to help figure out what medications can help you.
Inpatient Trauma Treatment
Basically making trauma therapy your whole life.
If you just can't function in your life, and feel like you're just shutting down - it might be time to consider a full hospitalization. If you feel like you are actively at risk of harming yourself or someone else? Yeah, same.
This won't be a fun time. In fact it's kind of the antithesis of fun. Honestly it will probably suck, a lot. Bring some things to pass the time with, like card games and juggling balls and coloring books. Bring comfort objects, like a stuffed animal and a comfortable blanket. They help.
Why would I recommend something that sucks? Because it also helps, SO MUCH.
What it provides is a stretch of time where you have literally no responsibilities other than resting. Your food is provided. You don't have to do dishes or laundry or take out the trash. Your basic needs are taken care of. Your activities are preordained. You'll have daily sessions with a doctor to adjust your medications to find a balance that works. You'll spend lots of time in individual and group therapy sessions. You'll spend even more time just resting. Watch tv, do a jigsaw puzzle, take a nap, whatever. There's nothing to think or worry about.
If you need that level of care? It is worth every moment of boredom and frustration and feeling cooped up.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
Disclaimer: Ketamine is definitely not going to be for everyone. There are many conditions, such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, that can make it unsafe. It is not FDA approved for trauma treatment. Absolutely work with a medical professional to determine if Ketamine might be safe for you before pursuing this route.
That said, there are many clinical trials being done to research the effectiveness of Ketamine on PTSD, many of which have shown promising results. There is also a whole bunch of anecdotal evidence out there that it can help.
Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation is all about building awareness about your condition, learning the process of healing, and learning strategies that can help.
When you're trapped in PTSD or cPTSD, it can feel like you're trapped in a deep dark hole with no way out. Is psychoeducation going to airlift you to safety? Nope. But it will shine a light on the ladder out of there so you can at least see that it exists, even if you can't reach it right now. Even just knowing there really is a plan for escape is better than blindly stumbling around in the dark.
There's lots of places where you can access psychoeducation, from working with a trained therapist, to youtube videos and articles online.
As a starting point, here's a few psychoeducation resources that have been helpful in my own journey. This is certainly not an exhaustive list.
Take these SLOWLY - this is a lot, and it's going to take time to process, understand, and integrate anything you learn. How slow? Slower than you think. Depending on where you're at in your healing journey, spending a full week on each of these resources might be a breakneck pace. I know you want to feel better NOW... this is one of those annoying cases where slow and steady wins the race.
Psychoeducation topics:
Finally, I leave you with this heavily paraphrased quote from one of the many professionals I've worked with, about the goal of healing from trauma.
You aren't going to feel better right away. Right now, your goal is simply to find a moment of peace. A split second. Keep working towards those moments. As you heal, those moments will get longer. You might feel a whole minute of peace. A day, an hour. A week. A month. Eventually, you will go years without a trauma reaction. Right now, today? Just find that moment of peace. It is enough.
Resource: Books for Healing
This Reddit post, despite being a few years old now, is a fantastic list of books that can help on your healing journey, with descriptions and a recommended reading order.
As with the psychoeducation tools - take these SLOWLY! Your nervous system is already working overtime just getting through each day. If you start to feel more agitated, take a break. Not just for a half hour - for a day, a week, a month, a year, as long as it takes for that feeling of discomfort to dissipate. If you feel like you can power through another chapter - DON'T! Wait until you feel safe before you continue.
I'm not going to reproduce the really great content of that post, but to save you the click, here's the list of books in their recommended reading order.
Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett
Whole Again by Jackson Mackenzie
Running on Empty by Jonice Webb
Hold Me Tight by Sue Johnson
Insecure in Love by Leslie Becker-Phelps
The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Codependent No More by Melody Beattie
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parent by Lindsay Gibson
Healing From Hidden Abuse by Shannon Thomas
Complex PTSD by Pete Walker
If you've got the energy to do so, I do recommend going to the Reddit post to learn more about what each book is about, as they likely won't all be right for what you need. If you don't - that's also understandable and okay!
Resource: Tools for Healing
What is a tool for healing? These are the little things you can do to find moments of calm in your life and give your nervous system a chance to cool down.
If you have read through the 3 Stages of Healing from Trauma, this correlates with Stage 1 - finding ways to put the trauma away and find moments of peace.
A great place to start is this list:
Not all of them will help you - but there's 101 of them, so you can try a bunch and see which ones do help.
Almost everyone I know who has needed these tools to heal from trauma has absolutely hated them. Hated having to do them. And, most of all, hated it when they actually work.
Its okay to hate doing things that are good for you while you do them. They'll still work, even if you mutter and curse your way through them. You do not need to have a good attitude about it. In fact... I hereby officially give you permission to be grumpy all the way through!
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