Spokane Christian Counseling Logo

  • CounselorsFind out more about our counselors
  • ServicesRead about the expertise available
    • Individual ServicesAddress your personal concerns confidentially
      • Individual Counseling
      • Children & teens Counseling
      • ADHD
      • Aging and Geriatric Issues
      • Anger Management
      • Anxiety
      • Autism Spectrum Disorder
      • Chemical Dependency
      • Coaching
      • Codependency
      • Depression
      • Domestic Violence
      • Eating Disorders
      • Grief Counseling
      • Infidelity and Affairs
      • Men’s Issues
      • Neglect and Abandonment Issues
      • OCD
      • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
      • Professional Development
      • Relationship Issues
      • Sex And Porn Addiction
      • Sexual Abuse
      • Trauma
      • Women’s Issues
    • Christian Couples CounselingWork through challenges together
      • Couples Counseling
      • Premarital Counseling
      • Marriage Counseling
    • Family CounselingEstablish the peaceful home you desire
      • Couples Counseling
      • Children & teens Counseling
      • Family Counseling
    • Group CounselingBenefit from the support of others
      • All Counseling Groups
    • Online Counseling
    • Anxiety
    • Depression
    • Marriage Counseling
  • LocationsWe have offices at various locations
    • Spokane Christian CounselingNorth Spokane
    • Spokane Office OutsideSpokane
    • Spokane ValleySpokane Valley
    •  1Online Counseling
  • CareerJoin our team of Christian Counselors
  • (509) 209-8961Please give us a call, we are here to help
header-image

4 Ways to Find Relief from Trauma and PTSD

Spokane Christian Counseling
https://spokanechristiancounseling.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/4-ways-to-find-relief-from-trauma-and-ptsd-5-scaled.jpg 2560 1670
https://spokanechristiancounseling.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/spokane-13-scaled.jpg
https://spokanechristiancounseling.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cropped-Spokane-Open-Horizontal-HiRes.png
705 West 7th Avenue
SPOKANE, WA 99204
United States
705 West 7th Avenue
SPOKANE, WA 99204
United States
Photo of Karyn George

Karyn George

Aug
2023
21

4 Ways to Find Relief from Trauma and PTSD

Karyn George

Individual CounselingTrauma

The effects of trauma and PTSD on a person’s life are wide-reaching both in time span and relational bandwidth. If you find yourself wondering about whether or not you suffer from trauma and PTSD, this article may help!

We’ll discuss the definition of both trauma and PTSD, some symptoms to watch for, and four types of treatment that can help a person who has been through trauma and/or PTSD. Here are some possible signs that you or someone you love is struggling.

What is trauma?

In its most basic form, trauma is the response that a person has to a stressful event that involves a threat to their life, a loss of life, or an extreme injury. While anyone can experience psychosocial stressors, true trauma, as defined by the DSM-5, involves “actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence.”

Like us if you are enjoying this content.
4 Ways to Find Relief from Trauma and PTSDWhile trauma is limited to the previous definition, psychosocial stressors are traumatic and damaging and can impact all spheres of a person’s life. Healing from traumatic events or trauma is possible.

Some traumatic events occur in a person’s childhood, and others are experienced as adults. Many think of trauma only as acute trauma, however, trauma can be broken down into various types: acute, chronic, complex, and secondary.

Acute trauma is when a person experiences a sudden event that causes stress. This is what many commonly consider trauma, such as the death of a parent, a car accident, an assault, or a one-time event that marks the person’s ability to function in some way. While acute trauma is experienced after a one-time event, the stress from it usually lasts much longer.

Chronic trauma is when a person experiences struggle over and over again. This includes repeated violation of a person’s body, bullying that goes beyond a one-time occurrence, domestic abuse of any kind, or being subject to traumatic experiences multiple times.

Complex trauma is something that many experience in their early childhood development, sadly often due to the neglect of a caregiver. It involves any chronic trauma that is ongoing and threatens a person’s sense of identity and safety over time.

It can cause severe developmental delays in children. Extreme neglect, insecure food and housing or homelessness, and/or ongoing physical or sexual abuse would be examples of complex trauma.

Other types of complex trauma can include growing up in a war zone, being faced with multiple deaths, situations of torture such as in war, ongoing emotional abuse, human trafficking, or the feeling of being trapped in a long-term system of abuse.

Secondary trauma is what a person experiences when he or she is exposed to others’ suffering repeatedly. It can occur in adults who are caregivers, medical personnel, soldiers who watch fellow soldiers suffer or die, or a child who has a parent with substance abuse issues, a mental illness, or who has witnessed abuse in the home.

What is PTSD?

PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder, and it can occur in any person’s life  –  young or old. It is a disorder that develops after a traumatic event of some sort, whether that event was experienced by the individual with the disorder or witnessed by that individual.

4 Ways to Find Relief from Trauma and PTSD 3

Typically, the symptoms that PTSD triggers last long after the traumatic event has occurred. PTSD has a fascinating history. It has gone through a myriad of name changes as we learned more about it including Traumatic Neurosis, De Costa’s Heart, and Shell Shock.

It wasn’t formally recognized until 1980 when it made its way into the DSM III as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Although it was once thought to only impact soldiers, veterans, or those who serve in trauma-related professions such as emergency health care or the police force, trauma and PTSD affect many individuals and families.

What are the Symptoms of Trauma and PTSD?

Some symptoms of trauma and PTSD include:

Repeated, intrusive thoughts and/or memories that cause the individual to experience physical and emotional stress.

These can be thoughts or memories while a person is awake or while they are sleeping, experienced as nightmares involuntarily. The term “flashback” is often applied to this kind of intrusive thought when it’s attached to a memory of the traumatic event.

Changes in how a person thinks or feels over time.

These changes can relate to not enjoying activities that the individual once enjoyed. They can also be an avoidance of attachment by separating oneself from family members or friends, keeping them at an emotionally safe distance. This symptom of changes can also impact a person’s mood, causing them to believe inerrant things about themselves, others, or the traumatic event. When a person loses memory surrounding an event, it falls under these types of cognitive changes.

Avoidance of anything or anyone that would remind them of the traumatic event.

War veterans sometimes avoid their friendships with fellow servicemen because of having experienced traumatic events with those friends. Other types of avoidance might be fear of or resistance to talking about the traumatic event because the event brings up too much negative emotion or thought.

Change in a person’s excitability or anger levels.

When someone has PTSD, it often means their emotions can be triggered involuntarily, especially if the PTSD has not been treated. These outbursts may be sudden fits of anger or irritability, unexplained tendencies toward compulsion that is risky or dangerous, and sleep issues.

4 treatment options for trauma and PTSD.

4 Ways to Find Relief from Trauma and PTSD 1There are four well-researched, evidenced treatment options that can help someone who has PTSD. Unfortunately, without treatment, trauma and PTSD do not just go away. The symptoms may subside or ebb and flow at times, but without treatment, the effects of trauma and PTSD on a person’s life are monumental. They influence the individual and his relationships.

Here are four treatments that can help:
The use of story or narrative.

Some evidence suggests that someone who has experienced trauma and PTSD gains healing whenever he tells the story of that traumatic event. One caution is that the use of story must be within the care of a trained, trauma-informed psychologist or it can be dangerous and re-traumatizing to the person who experienced trauma and PTSD.

However, if the story elements are directed by a trained professional through a form of talk therapy, it can be effective.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for PTSD (also known as EMDR therapy) can be especially helpful for individuals for whom talk therapy isn’t effective. Through a series of eye movements and answering questions about the traumatic experience, an individual’s memory can change over time making the traumatic event less triggering and painful.

It is important to underscore how vital it is to ensure that any treatment for trauma and PTSD be administered by a trauma-informed psychologist who is familiar with the disorder and has an evidence-backed history of beneficial treatment options. Our offices are home to several of these therapists. Contacting us will be a good first step to finding the right professional to help you or your loved one with PTSD.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is widely respected among professionals who treat a variety of psychological disorders. It involves challenging distorted thinking patterns that have been caused by trauma.

Over time, working with a CBT-trained therapist can give individuals greater confidence in their abilities and help them to reframe problems in light of reality. It can also equip them with the necessary problem-solving skills to move forward in life so that they are not continually held back by the trauma they experienced.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy.

Prolonged exposure therapy is a gradual approach to whatever caused the trauma. In people with PTSD, this type of therapy typically lasts for three months and begins with an evaluation and treatment plan.

After that, the therapist will help the person to re-tell in the present tense the traumatic event or events. With help from the trauma-trained professional counselor, the person who suffers from PTSD talks through how he or she felt while describing the events in the present tense.

4 Ways to Find Relief from Trauma and PTSD 2Next, this type of therapy involves listening to the present-tense recording and providing homework assignments related to it.

Patients learn to work with the counselor to identify which situations they avoided due to the traumatic event and, slowly, they introduce ways to cope and reimagine these situations. Over time, patients can recognize the traumatic event and not avoid it or people and experiences that may remind them of it.

If you or someone you love is experiencing signs of PTSD or you are interested in finding a trauma-informed counselor, contact our offices and we will guide you step by step to the healing that’s available – and possible – for you.

Photos:
“Trauma”, Courtesy of Susan Wilkinson, Unsplash.com, CC0 License; “Watching the Water”, Courtesy of Pierre Bamin, Unsplash.com, CC0 License; “How Are You Really?”, Courtesy of Finn, Unsplash.com, CC0 License; “Overwhelmed”, Courtesy of Nik Shuliahin, Unsplash.com, CC0 License

DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE

The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this article are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please contact one of our counselors for further information.

  • Share on Facebook
  • Tweet it
  • ↑ Back to top
Photo of Karyn George
Schedule with Karyn
  • Appointment Info

  • Your Info

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Karyn George

Licensed Mental Health Counselor
(425) 728-4225 karyng@seattlechristiancounseling.com

I have a very relaxed and approachable vibe and hope to create a safe and warm environment where you can come as you are and feel truly accepted and seen, both by me and the Lord. The relationship between the counselor and client is pivotal and it’s important to have a therapist you feel like you can trust and open up to. I value laughter and humor and, where appropriate, enjoy incorporating this into our time together. I have also worked with individuals who have special needs and am perceptive, flexible, and accommodating in order to make your time in therapy fit well with your individual needs. Read more articles by Karyn »

Other articles that might interest you...

Individual Counseling: The Process and What to Expect
Spokane Christian Counseling

Individual Counseling: The Process and ...

For anyone who has never been to therapy but is thinking about taking that step, I want to give a...

continue reading »
Understanding and Coping with Trauma: The Impact of Car Accidents
Spokane Christian Counseling

Understanding and Coping with Trauma: ...

Car accidents are unfortunate events that can have profound and lasting effects on individuals, both physically and psychologically. Beyond the...

continue reading »
How Marriage Counseling Dispels Myths about Fighting Fair 1
Spokane Christian Counseling

How Marriage Counseling Dispels Myths ...

When you’re smack dab in the middle of a fight with your spouse, “fighting fair,” “being reasonable,” and other marital...

continue reading »

About Karyn

Photo of Karyn George

Karyn George, M.Ed, MA, LCPC, LMHC

Licensed Mental Health Counselor

I have a very relaxed and approachable vibe and hope to create a safe and warm environment where you can come as you are and feel truly accepted and seen, both by me and the Lord. The relationship between the counselor and client is pivotal and it’s important to have a therapist you feel like you can trust and open up to. I value laughter and humor and, where appropriate, enjoy incorporating this into our time together. I have also worked with individuals who have special needs and am perceptive, flexible, and accommodating in order to make your time in therapy fit well with your individual needs. View Karyn's Profile

Recent articles by Karyn

  • Apr 16 · Forgiveness: Why We Should Forgive and How It Transforms Our Lives (Part 2)
  • Oct 17 · What is Prayer and Why is it Important?
  • Aug 2 · What is at the Heart of Addictive Behavior?
See all articles by Karyn »

Related Services

  • Individual Counseling
  • Trauma

Karyn's Office Locations

  • Photo of the Spokane Valley office

    Spokane Valley

    Washington

    General Office Number

    (509) 340-0779
    505 North Argonne Road Spokane Valley, WA 99212

    View Office Details
  • Photo of the Online (WA Only) office

    Online (WA Only)

    Washington

    General Office Number

    (509) 340-0779
    901 East 2nd Avenue Spokane, WA 99202

    View Office Details
Spokane Christian Counseling Logo
Spokane Christian Counseling
Professional help with faith-based values
We are an association of professional, independently licensed Christian counselors experienced in helping people of all ages find healing for a wide variety of issues.
© 2025 Christian Counseling in Spokane. All rights reserved.
705 West 7th Avenue, Spokane, WA 99204. Tel (509) 209-8961.
Online Counseling About Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Feel free to contact us!