PTSD & Trauma Psychologists in Brisbane
Our trauma psychologists in Brisbane offer comprehensive counselling services that address your trauma and mental health holistically. We can't change the traumatic events we've been through, but we can change how we react to it, live with it, and grow with it. Experience the healing that therapy can bring with the professionals who care.
Trauma is a natural human response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that impacts a person’s mental health. Its effects can cause feelings of helplessness, diminish their sense of self-worth, and limit their ability to feel a full range of emotions and experiences. Everyone's reaction to trauma is different, but for the most part, it can affect one’s daily life and ability to function long after the traumatic event has happened.
Acute Trauma
A one-off traumatic event, such as being in a car accident.
Chronic Trauma
Repeated or prolonged events, such as being in a domestically violent relationship.
Complex Trauma
Repeated and interconnected events over a prolonged period, such as experiencing neglect and emotional abuse as a child or in a recent relationship.
When you experience trauma, the brain sets off an alarm system signalling danger. This kicks the brain into a high-alert mode often associated with the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. The hippocampus in the brain files memories, but a traumatic memory can be challenging for the hippocampus to sort and store. This can lead to the symptoms of trauma because the brain cannot process what has happened and file the memory away.
The frontal cortex of the brain, responsible for decision-making and emotional control, can also be impacted by trauma, making it hard to make coherent decisions and regulate emotions. All of these factors can cause stress and more physical impacts from a traumatic event. Our trauma psychologists help with this by equipping you with healthy coping techniques and memory processing to acknowledge the memory and store it in the brain properly.
While trauma presents itself in many different ways for people, there are a few key signs that can help you identify trauma in yourself or a loved one. It’s important to understand that these symptoms may not be present all at once; they can be subtle, extreme, or not show at all in comparison to other symptoms. These symptoms are curable with proper treatment by qualified psychologists.
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Sleeping issues (nightmares, insomnia, or other sleep pattern changes)
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Flashbacks or intrusive memories
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Fear
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Confusion
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Eating & digestive issues
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Shock
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Easily scared or jumpy
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Chronic pain
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Social withdrawal
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Depression
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Irritability
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Negative thinking patterns
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Concentration issues
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Shame
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Memory complications
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Anxiety
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Hypervigilance
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Headaches
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Numb to emotion
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Dissociation
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Trauma comes in many forms, and there is a spectrum of how impactful it can be depending on one’s life experiences. For example, one person spraining a wrist could be an injury they mentally overcome straight after having a bandage put on their arm; for another, it could be a deeply emotional experience that lingers and impacts their life significantly. How someone deals with their trauma is unique, and responses to the events are different.
Through personalised sessions, our trauma psychologists work with you to address a variety of traumas, including:
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Natural disasters
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Traumatic grief
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Violence
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Car accidents
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Bullying
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Sexual abuse
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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
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Domestic abuse (including emotional or psychological)
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Childbirth
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Long-term or terminal illness
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Military incidents
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Suicide attempts
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Race-based trauma
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Child neglect and abandonment
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Chronic pain
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Intergenerational trauma
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Refugee trauma
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Community violence
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Religion or cult
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Medical trauma
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Terrorism
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Witnessing violence or a traumatic event
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The important thing to remember is that it's okay to talk about these experiences and the heavy feelings that can come with them. With clear guidance and techniques, you can recover from trauma. Our team of trauma psychologists here in Brisbane are the specialists at listening to you and developing treatment plans to smoothen your recovery journey. Just like a physical wound, emotional wounds from trauma need care and support to heal.
5 Techniques To Try At Home
While these techniques are not cures, they are fantastic methods to help alleviate symptoms and get you in the right frame of mind. Completing these or a couple of them is a great technique to use alongside counselling to process what you’ve been through and make your healing journey safe.
Practising Self-Care
To destress and take your mind away from the trauma, practising self-care is a great way to give your mind and body some positivity. Self-care looks different for everyone, but some ways can include taking a bath, lighting candles, massage, watching a movie, eating healthy food, arts and crafts, listening to music, meditation, sleeping regularly, and more.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness includes any activity that grounds you in the present moment, such as journaling how you’re feeling, writing out the things you are grateful for, or anything else that makes you feel grounded and present. An excellent activity for mindfulness when you’re feeling triggered is thinking about five things you see, four things you can touch, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you taste.
Body movement
Getting your body to flow with movement is an excellent way to give yourself natural dopamine and endorphins. You can join a local gym, go for walks, participate in yoga or pilates classes, stretch, or do your favourite form of exercise. If you’re not feeling confident about leaving your home, there are plenty of fantastic free yoga videos on YouTube that can be beneficial. Trauma-informed yoga is an especially great form of movement for addressing trauma.
Breathwork
Proper breathing skills help regulate the nervous system and bring you some peace. You can attend breathwork classes or practise long, steady breaths at home. A great breathing exercise is the 4-7-8 technique, which involves breathing in from your nose for four seconds, holding the breath in for seven seconds, and then breathing out your mouth for eight seconds.
Activities
Reduce your stress by doing the things that bring you joy in your life. While these activities may not bring you the same amount of joy as they used to, they can remind you of the good in your life at present. This could be seeing a special friend, participating in a hobby you liked to do, or even going for a walk to get an ice cream. Of course, if this makes you feel worse, listen to your body and limit the activity, but if it’s not causing you further trauma, do it!
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