Trauma/PTSD

Haunted by memories that you want to forget.

Something happened that you want to push as far away as possible. You do not want to be reminded of that pain.

Working to avoid the memories, you feel it’s locked away and under control. Maybe it’s been buried, and you’ll never have to look back.

But it doesn’t go away.

Avoid. Distract. Numb.

Somehow, your resistance keeps getting overpowered. The pain holds on. Your body remembers even when you can’t.

Suppressing those memories makes matters worse.

There’s nothing worse than to lose control and not have answers. To not know why you are scared. Or from where the nerves are coming. The crying outbursts. The uncontrollable rage.

What you worked so hard to bury keeps coming back with a vengeance. It seems to only get worse with time.

It steals your sleep. You can’t let your guard down, or you won’t be able to ward off threat.

It takes your sobriety. Emotions and setbacks are too much to bear.

It clouds your judgment as you seek out relationships with others who are hurtful or unavailable.

You may make risky decisions that put yourself or the ones you love in danger.

Terror without help is no help.

The experience and your attempts to manage it deflate your sense of safety. Don’t stay present too long. Keep alert for the constant threat. Keep busy. Always moving.

No matter how hard you try to master it on your own, you can’t. You come to the end of yourself. The reality sets in that you cannot go on living this way.

It can feel shameful to reach out. You should be better. But you are tired and not sure how much longer you can sustain.

It may be one of the scariest things to reach out and trust another after being betrayed. Or to recount what you’ve experienced when the feelings seem like too much to bear.

But you were never meant to hold those experiences on your own.

Therapy provides the help that you need.

Therapy offers a space for you to get your bearings. To endure the journey with another. To be seen and tell your story.

Consistent meetings with another who is safe and trusting increase your capacity to feel safe. This gives you a space to feel heard. You begin to hear yourself.

We face the past together, so it does not continue to steal from your present. What was once fragmented and confusing begins to come into focus.

We put the pieces together over time as you put words to your experience. This gives you the power to understand and feel whole.

A bridge builds between your experience and healing. And it provides new ways to cope with distress effectively and causes those self-defeating ways to fall away.

Now is the time to overcome those haunting memories.

It’s time for you to establish a greater sense of safety as you reconnect to your mind, heart, and body. This allows you to move toward compassion. The ability to forgive can set you free.

The sharp fragments no longer steal your sense of security.

Understanding your story allows you to come out on the other side with a new sense of healing, strength, and power.

Don’t continue to let the past steal from your present or future.

Give me a call today at (202) 618-1674.