Exploring Childhood Trauma Therapy for Adults

Children absorb what they learn, what they experience, and what they observe like sponges, whether they know it or not. Children take in everything from the world around them–the good and the bad. This can include childhood trauma, whether from physical or psychological abuse, accidents or injuries, divorce or big life changes, or even seemingly mundane events in their lives that would later have a larger impact.

Childhood trauma can live on well into one’s adulthood and the causes can also be forgotten, yet remnants of trauma can affect every component of an individual’s life. Childhood trauma therapy for adults can be an invaluable tool for those seeking to explore the root cause of adult mental health concerns in a supportive, safe space.

Therapy techniques for childhood trauma can vary. Hypnosis to remember childhood trauma, holotropic breathwork, age regression therapy, and EMDR therapy can all be effective psychotherapeutic treatments for releasing childhood trauma. Read on to learn about our integrative and alternative therapy techniques that Miami Hypnosis and Therapy can offer in childhood trauma therapy for adults.

What is Alternative Therapy?

Mental health concerns can be treated with talk therapy with a licensed mental health counselor and/or a psychologist or psychiatrist if further psychiatric care is needed. But often, these methods don’t work on their own and alternative and integrative therapies can be explored either as a primary or additional therapy.

No two clients are the same, so why would the same therapies work with everyone? Tackling mental health treatment with a multi-pronged approach has been proven effective for a variety of disorders. Childhood trauma can be complicated, all-encompassing, and extremely detrimental if it starts to interfere with daily life. Exploring alternative therapy techniques for childhood trauma can be the key to developing your ideal treatment plan.

• Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is an effective therapeutic practice that involves a trained professional guiding a patient in a relaxed state to a clear confrontation of their traumas.

Hypnosis to remember childhood trauma can be an effective way for patients with suppressed or partial memories to heal from the trauma that has been affecting their life. Those seeking childhood trauma therapy for adults often are living with PTSD, and age regression can help individuals to confront those challenging or semi-forgotten memories in a productive, safe way.

• • Age Regression Therapy

Age regression therapy is a form of hypnotherapy that allows patients to mentally return to the age at which they experienced this life-changing trauma. Under the guidance of a therapist the patient will enter into a relaxed hypnotic state and explore the traumatic event under the safety and guidance of the therapist.

• EMDR Therapy

What is EMDR therapy? Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a psychotherapy designed to help people lessen the stress associated with traumatic memories. It can be an extremely effective  therapy technique for childhood trauma. 

But how does it work? During an EMDR session, your therapist will gently guide you to focus on the traumatic memory that is causing them distress. During this process, you will experience rapid eye movements that mimic what the eyes do during sleep. This allows these memories to become “unstuck”and be processed like non-traumatic memories.

• Holotropic Breathwork

Similar to EMDR therapy, holotropic breathwork mimics the body’s reaction to sleep. When one matches their breath to the pattern commonly experienced during sleep. This intense, but guided, altered breathwork allows patients to tap into their nervous system in the brain in a different way to allow a different processing of these traumas. Holotropic breathwork can be an effective childhood trauma therapy for adults and helps patients to process their traumas in a healthy way. Holotropic breathwork and EMDR therapy can also help patients with memory loss trauma to regain lost memories.

Alternative therapies can take many forms. Miami Hypnosis and Therapy offers a variety of therapeutic services for those seeking help navigating the life-long effects of trauma.

The Consequences of Childhood Trauma

The minds of children are malleable and pliable. During developing years, we learn how to make sense of the world around us. When a child experiences a trauma, their perception of the world and life can change. Those who experience childhood trauma may experience both physical and mental symptoms. A person’s biology is determined by the environment in which they grow up. If an individual grows up in a stressful or abusive environment, their development can be severely affected.

Individuals who experience childhood trauma may grow to develop mental disorders such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sleep disorders, and more. These mental disorders can have severe implications for an individual’s life and wellness. Childhood trauma therapy for adults can help adults heal and manage these mental disorders.

Why Choose Alternative Therapy?

Mental health issues can carry stigma. Individuals may not seek therapy because of their culture, family, or personal shame associated with the root of the trauma. Individuals seeking therapy may also be wary of therapists and/or medication, or there may be a financial barrier preventing them from accessing adequate mental health care. 

Alternative therapies offer a unique take on childhood trauma therapy for adults that can help those wary of more traditional therapeutic avenues.

Those benefits include:

• Developing a Connection Back To the Body

Often, individuals who have experienced a trauma relating to their body may feel detached from themselves physically in some way. By utilizing therapeutic methods that engage with the body in new ways a patient may be able to heal that broken connection and live within themselves in a new, and healthier, way.

• Avoiding Stigma

Traditional therapeutic routes can carry with them a significant stigma. Alternative
therapy techniques for childhood trauma don’t carry with them the same stigmas and preconceptions that may be held about more traditional therapeutic methods.

Alternative therapy doesn’t even need to be an ‘alternative’. Many alternative therapy practices can be effective when used in conjunction with other childhood trauma therapies for adults.

Take The First Steps

Seeking out mental health treatment can be an extremely difficult journey. Individuals who live with childhood trauma have carried that burden for a great portion of their life, and confronting it can seem scary and overwhelming. Individuals may want to pretend they can manage the demons on their own and ‘tough it out’.

In reality, the demons of childhood trauma should not be battled alone. Seeking childhood trauma therapy as an adult may feel outside of your comfort zone, but doing so can help you make space for more fulfilling memories and experiences. Maybe you’ve sought out therapy before and it wasn’t effective, or maybe this is your first time seeking therapy techniques for childhood trauma. Either way, by reading this piece you’ve made the first step towards healing. Contact us today, and let us take the next steps with you.