What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy?
What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy?
Trauma-informed therapy starts with safety, choice and pacing.
Trauma-informed therapy is not one single technique. It is a way of understanding how stress, threat, attachment experiences or trauma may shape emotions, relationships, body responses, memory and coping.
What makes therapy trauma-informed?
- Pacing: therapy does not need to move faster than your nervous system can manage.
- Choice: goals and strategies are discussed collaboratively.
- Stabilisation: early work may include grounding, emotion regulation and support planning.
- Context: symptoms are understood in relation to experience, not treated as personal failure.
Is trauma-informed therapy only for PTSD?
No. Trauma-informed therapy may also be relevant for complex trauma, attachment wounds, chronic stress, grief, family or cultural stressors, emotional shutdown, people-pleasing, shame, burnout or relationship patterns.
Where do EMDR and ACT fit?
EMDR therapy may be considered when trauma memories or distressing experiences remain highly activating. ACT therapy may support values, flexibility, emotion regulation and living with difficult internal experiences.
Related pages
For more detail, see Trauma and Attachment, EMDR Therapy, What to Expect in Therapy, and Contact.
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