Areas of Specialization:
Eating Disorders/Weight Management/Exercise Resistance
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
MTBI/Head Injury
Chronic Illness and Pain
Adult Children of Mentally Ill Parents (ACMI)

Information/Resources:
Services Offered
Directions
Fees/Insurance/Payment
Events, Groups, and Workshops
About Beverly
Client Forms and Privacy
Articles
Therapy FAQs

Call or email today for a free 30-minute consultation:
925-705-7036
therapy@beverlyswann.com

Schedule An Appointment

Looking for Beverly Swann's tech support service for therapists? Tech Support

Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Trauma is a physiological state that people experience when something life-threatening happens to them. For most, the feeling passes when the experience is over, but about 20% of people continue to stay in this body state days, months, even years afterward. Sometimes, people feel fine for a long time, then a current event triggers the trauma state and they feel as if it is happening all over again. This is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Trauma occurs as a result of accidents, natural disasters, sexual or physical assault, abuse in childhood, and even from experiences as a child in the womb when the mother is traumatized.

Some symptoms of PTSD are:

• Feeling scared all the time and not knowing why
• Nightmares and insomnia
• Startling easily at everyday things
• Re-enacting the trauma situation in current relationships
• Feeling anxious about certain smells, tastes, sensations, or types of lighting without knowing why
• Fear of being in public or going to certain places
• Flashbacks and intrusive, disturbing thoughts and memories

In therapy, we re-establish the body as a safe place to be and a resource. We work to process the trauma in a contained, realistic way that does not overwhelm the client. We then put the traumatic events into context, i.e., "this happened in my past, but it does not define who I am."