Some people will experience traumatic events that leave a lasting impression on their lives, including their mental health. Addiction and other issues may have a link to this trauma, whether one is aware of it or not. Therefore, when getting help for substance abuse, trauma-informed therapy can be the key to unlocking lasting sobriety. Our trauma therapy program at Sierra Sage Recovery Services helps clients learn ways to keep the traumatic experience from negatively affecting their lives.
What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy?
A trauma-informed therapy program is an approach to mental health treatment that accounts for how a traumatic experience may have impacted a client’s life. It may be specific therapy for trauma or help for another mental health concern. For instance, someone with a drug addiction may have had trauma that triggered the substance abuse. Or an individual may have anxiety that had its onset shortly after a traumatic event.
The therapy uses sensitive language and techniques to help the client mentally cope with the past while learning ways to keep it from triggering negative thoughts and actions. Trauma-informed therapy is important to ensure clients feel safe while receiving mental health care treatment for trauma or any other type of concern.
Who Needs Therapy for Trauma?
Trauma can have different effects on everyone. However, when living through a traumatic experience begins to impact life, getting trauma therapy becomes necessary. Signs of needing this type of care may include:
- Insomnia or sleeping too much
- Difficulty focusing or having problems with work or school performance
- Changes in appetite leading to weight gain or loss
- Relationship problems
- Mood swings
- Negative coping methods, including substance use
- Symptoms of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including nightmares and flashbacks
People don’t have to be diagnosed with PTSD to need trauma therapy. In fact, PTSD has its own therapy program to treat the more severe symptoms that accompany it. Anyone who needs help to process trauma and cope with it healthily can benefit from trauma-informed therapy.
Since trauma-informed therapy can help those dealing with other issues, clients should always let mental health treatment providers know about their history of trauma. Doing so will ensure that the clients receive the best type of help for their condition.
Why Is Trauma-Informed Therapy Important in Dual Diagnosis Treatment Programs?
Trauma can lead to serious consequences for some people, including difficulties with mental health and addiction. In fact, these side effects of experiencing trauma may become the reasons someone seeks care. For example, someone may not go to therapy specifically because they have trauma but instead seek help for substance use.
Experiencing trauma has a strong connection to substance abuse because the anguish of dealing with mentally troubling thoughts after a traumatic event may trigger drinking or drug use to cope. For those with addiction and trauma, dual diagnosis treatment programs can help. These programs assist clients through recovery from addiction by also providing trauma-informed therapy programs.
In dual diagnosis treatment programs, clients get treatment for substance use and mental health conditions. Treating both issues at the same time helps to improve the client’s outcomes due to the interconnected nature they have. For example, clients with insomnia from trauma may abuse drugs to help them sleep. Drug abuse worsens mental health and relationships, often leading to continued substance use. By giving clients therapy for both, the cycle can stop.
Contact Sierra Sage Recovery Services for Trauma-Informed Therapy and Addiction Recovery
Trauma-informed therapy ensures that each client’s experience is heard and addressed during mental health treatment. For more about our therapy for trauma or other mental health treatments, contact us at Sierra Sage Recovery Services in Las Vegas, NV. Either reach out to us online or phone us at 833.922.2884. Through support and therapy, clients can find ways to live mentally healthier lives.
