Over 223 million adults in the United States have experienced some type of traumatic event in their lifetime.
Trauma is a singular or repeated incident that has negatively impacted a person’s life and caused significant long-term damage that hinders the person’s ability to move on. They often involve experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event. They usually take a toll on a person’s mental health and can affect their relationships, work, and overall quality of life. Without professional help like with our Palm Beach mental health treatment with trauma therapy that focuses on how to deal with these traumatic events, many people will struggle to ever see improvement.
Different Types of Trauma
There are several types of trauma including physical and psychological trauma. They stem from events that can happen both directly or indirectly to the individual and may occur at any time in a person’s life. Trauma recovery is usually different depending on the type of trauma as well as the severity of the symptoms.
Common examples of significant traumatic events that often require trauma treatment of some kind include:
- Rape or sexual abuse
- Robbery or mugging
- Assault
- Abuse
- Neglect
- Physical violence
- Abduction and kidnapping
- Automobile accident
- Public shooting or acts of terrorism
- Natural disasters
- War and Combat
- Loss of a loved ones or several loved ones
- Prolonged illness or medical problems
- Bullying
Signs of Trauma
If a person experiences one or more of these traumatic events, they may begin to exhibit symptoms associated with trauma including:
- Nightmares
- Sleep problems
- Flashbacks
- Anxiety
- Avoidance of people and/or environments related to the traumatic event(s)
- Depression
- Trouble completing everyday tasks
- Substance abuse
Without trauma recovery treatment, these symptoms may get worse. Eventually these symptoms may grow into PTSD, an anxiety disorder, depression, or addiction.
The Connection Between Trauma and Addiction
It is not uncommon for people struggling to cope with a trauma event to turn to drugs or alcohol for help. These substances may act as an easy way to numb the pain, forget, ease anxiety, sleep, and escape, but their use does more harm than good. In the long run, these substances may make the symptoms worse or negatively impact the person’s overall mental health. Also, if a person turns to drugs or alcohol every time they experience symptoms, or even preemptively, this behavior becomes habitual. Their brain will start to alter in ways that reinforce this behavior and chemical dependence will eventually occur. Many people are unaware of the negative consequences that come with using substances to cope until it is too late. This self-destructive behavior becomes a dangerous cycle, but with the help of our addiction and trauma treatment programs at our behavioral health facility in South Florida, you may be able to break this cycle for good.
Psychological Trauma & Addiction Treatment in South Florida
The professionals at our Florida trauma treatment center will start with a complete patient history and psychological examination so they can determine the level of trauma recovery therapy needed and the severity of substance abuse if present. They will also look at how that trauma has contributed to the patient’s addiction before developing a specific trauma treatment plan.
At the Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches, our residential trauma treatment program will help patients who have suffered traumatic experiences face the demons of their past and develop new coping mechanisms to improve their lives in the present. We have developed the program to address trauma brought on by both shocking, singular events as well as repeated patterns of traumatic experiences.
Through our dual diagnosis programs in Palm Beach, we address the root causes of trauma while simultaneously treating patients for the physical and psychological damage caused by drug and alcohol abuse. We will work with patients to identify the triggers of trauma response behavior and help them develop better coping mechanisms outside of substance abuse. Patients are encouraged to comfortably process, acknowledge, and communicate their trauma without breaking down and resorting to extreme and drastic behavior. These tools can help patients finally find peace and rebuild their lives during their addiction recovery. During their time with us, patients will also work with their therapists in both group and individualized counseling while exploring our full array of specialized trauma therapies.
Give yourself or your loved one the chance to move past the debilitating emotional pain and suffering of trauma at our trauma recovery center in Florida.
Sources:
This page uses evidence presented by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
