Firstly, what is trauma?

Trauma is not defined by the event alone. It is any experience that overwhelms your capacity to cope, leaving lasting imprints on the nervous system, the body, and the sense of self. Trauma can come from single incidents, long-term stress, relational harm, identity-based oppression, medical trauma, or experiences that were too much, too fast, or without support.

How does Trauma Shows Up Day to Day?

Trauma can shape daily life in ways that are often invisible. It may affect:

  • Your body: tension, pain, fatigue, startle responses
  • Your emotions: fear, numbness, shame, sudden overwhelm
  • Your thinking: intrusive memories, self-blame, confusion
  • Your relationships: difficulty trusting, conflict, withdrawal
  • Your identity: feeling broken, disconnected, or “not yourself” These patterns are adaptations, not failures. They formed to protect you.

As each person’s trauma has its own history and its own way of showing up, different therapeutic approaches will feel more supportive for different people. You might be wondering which approach could meet you where you are and help you move toward steadiness again. In the next slides, we explore several approaches and how each one can support trauma healing in its own way.

So… which approaches help with trauma?

Trauma-Informed Therapy: Trauma-informed therapy is a way of working that centres safety, choice, collaboration, and cultural awareness. It is helpful if you need a gentle and steady foundation before exploring deeper experiences. It supports you in understanding how trauma shaped your nervous system and helps you rebuild stability at a pace that feels manageable.

Trauma-Focused CBT: TF CBT is structured and practical. It helps you work with the thoughts, behaviours, and meanings shaped by trauma. It is useful if you struggle with intrusive memories, avoidance, guilt, or anxiety. It supports you in understanding patterns, challenging unhelpful beliefs, and building coping skills. There is strong evidence for its effectiveness with PTSD and complex trauma.

Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing(EMDR): EMDR helps the brain process traumatic memories so they lose their intensity. It uses bilateral stimulation to support the integration of past experiences and strengthen more adaptive beliefs. It is often helpful if you feel stuck in certain memories or reactions or if talking alone has not shifted things. It is widely recommended in international trauma treatment guidelines.

Psychodynamic Therapy: Explores how trauma influences unconscious patterns, relationships, and self-perception. It helps you understand long-standing emotional themes, attachment wounds, and the ways past experiences shape present reactions. It is supportive for relational trauma, identity disruption, and complex histories that feel woven through your life.

Somatic Therapy: Somatic therapy works with the body as a central part of healing. It helps you notice sensations, regulate your nervous system, and release patterns of tension or shutdown. It is helpful if you experience dissociation, chronic stress, hyperarousal, or a sense of being disconnected from your body. It supports you in building a felt sense of safety.

Creative & Expressive Therapies: Creative therapies use art, movement, writing, and other expressive forms to help you access experiences that are difficult to put into words. They offer non-verbal pathways for processing trauma and support emotional expression, integration, and meaning-making. They are especially helpful if talking feels overwhelming or limiting.

Internal Family Systems: IFS works with the different parts of your inner world. It helps you understand protective parts, wounded parts, and the core Self that can lead healing. It is supportive for complex trauma, identity fragmentation, and internal conflicts that feel confusing or contradictory. It helps younger emotional wounds find resolution.

Integrative Therapy: Integrative therapy brings together different evidence-based approaches in a way that is tailored to your needs. It is helpful if your trauma shows up in several areas of your life and you need a flexible, personalised way of working. It allows your therapist to draw from cognitive, relational, somatic, and expressive methods so your healing can unfold in the way that feels most supportive for you. You can check in with the therapist and ask which modalities they draw from.

These approaches are loose guidelines rather than strict rules. Each person’s needs are different, and the right fit often becomes clearer through conversation. If you are unsure which approach might suit you, do not hesitate to ask questions or explore further. Therapy is most effective when it feels aligned with who you are and what you need.

What would you like us to explore next on “What approach would help me with…”

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