Trauma

Someone once said, “Scars remind us where we’ve been but don’t dictate where we go.” For a trauma victim, unfortunately, nothing seems further from the truth. Traumas include any experienced or perceived event considered life threatening or severely overwhelming. A trauma can occur at any age or during any period of our life and can consist of one or more events.  When a trauma occurs, it can overwhelm one or more senses, our feelings, our thinking and even our ability to physically react. A trauma can literally “jam up” areas of our brain, take over our neurological system and make it impossible for other calmer and more rational areas of our brain to come to our aid. This can leave an individual in a constant state of arousal, prone to overreact to simple stimuli and subject to re-experiencing the trauma again through things such as nightmares, flashbacks and even through our relationships. As a result of the overwhelming “jamming up” effect of a trauma, it is often impossible to resolve or reprocess the experience through “talk therapy” alone.  Other techniques and supports are usually necessary.

Dr. McHugh is trained in trauma therapy and offers a safe, supportive and successful approach to trauma resolution.