Trauma & PTSD Therapy in California
The experience may be over, but it can still affect how you feel, think, and respond today.
Maybe you’ve been through something painful or frightening that you can’t seem to move past. Or perhaps your experiences happened over time, and you’ve spent years trying to understand why certain situations leave you feeling anxious, guarded, overwhelmed, or disconnected.
You may know logically that you’re safe now, yet your mind and body don’t always respond that way.
Therapy can help you understand how these experiences have affected you, develop a greater sense of safety, and begin moving forward without feeling controlled by the past.
Online individual therapy for adults throughout California.
Understanding Trauma and Its Lasting Effects
Trauma isn’t always the result of one life-threatening event. It can develop after experiences that leave you feeling unsafe, helpless, overwhelmed, or without the support you needed.
Some experiences involve what people commonly call big “T” trauma, such as serious accidents, assault, abuse, or witnessing violence. Other experiences are sometimes described as small “t” trauma. They may not involve immediate danger to your life, but they can still have a significant emotional impact, especially when they happen repeatedly or during childhood.
Examples of Small “t” Trauma
These experiences may be less visible, but they can still shape how you see yourself, trust others, and navigate the world.
- Being bullied, teased, or repeatedly humiliated
- Growing up with frequent criticism, rejection, or emotional neglect
- Feeling excluded, dismissed, or consistently misunderstood
- Experiencing betrayal, abandonment, or painful relationship dynamics
- Growing up in an unpredictable environment where you had to be careful about what you said or did
You might minimize what happened because you believe others had it worse. Yet those experiences may have influenced how you see yourself, respond to conflict, or relate to others today.
You don’t have to compare your experiences to someone else’s to recognize that they’ve affected you.
How Trauma Can Show Up in Everyday Life
Trauma can affect your emotions, body, thoughts, and relationships. You may be keeping up with responsibilities while struggling internally.
- Feeling on edge: Difficulty relaxing, startling easily, or anticipating problems.
- Intense emotions: Fear, anger, sadness, or physical sensations that feel overwhelming.
- Relationship struggles: Difficulty trusting others, setting boundaries, or feeling safe in close relationships.
- Feeling disconnected: Emotional numbness, loss of interest, or a sense of going through the motions.
These reactions can become so familiar that you may not recognize how they connect to earlier experiences.
When Trauma Develops Into PTSD
Not everyone who experiences trauma develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD can develop after experiencing or witnessing an event involving actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Symptoms can continue long after the experience and interfere with sleep, relationships, work, or everyday life.
Sometimes PTSD involves recognizable flashbacks or nightmares. Other times, it shows up in everyday moments you might not immediately connect to what happened.
Everyday Examples of PTSD
- Difficulty relaxing: Trouble sleeping, feeling constantly on alert, or expecting something to go wrong.
- Intense reactions to triggers: A loud noise, unexpected touch, or certain tone of voice brings up fear, panic, or anger.
- Avoiding reminders: Staying away from places, conversations, driving routes, or situations associated with what happened.
- Intrusive memories: Unwanted thoughts, nightmares, or flashbacks that make the past feel present.
- Feeling disconnected: Withdrawing from relationships, feeling emotionally numb, or struggling to enjoy activities you once liked.
Living with these symptoms can be exhausting. Trauma can affect how the brain and nervous system respond to perceived threats, even when the original danger is no longer present. With appropriate treatment, many people experience meaningful improvement.
You don’t need to know whether you have PTSD before seeking support. A clinical assessment can help clarify what you’re experiencing and which treatment approaches may be helpful.
What Could Feel Different?
Healing from trauma doesn’t mean forgetting what happened or pretending it didn’t affect you. It can mean feeling less overwhelmed by reminders, responding to the present with greater flexibility, and reconnecting with yourself and others.
- Feel more grounded and less reactive to triggers.
- Develop greater trust in yourself and your ability to cope.
- Reduce avoidance and participate more fully in daily life.
- Challenge painful beliefs about yourself connected to past experiences.
- Experience a greater sense of emotional safety and choice.
Progress looks different for everyone. The goal is to help the past have less influence over how you feel and navigate life today.
How Trauma and PTSD Therapy Can Help
Hi, I’m Kyrah Dickens, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified EMDR Therapist with over 10 years of experience helping adults navigate anxiety, trauma, and difficult life experiences.
My approach is compassionate, collaborative, and tailored to your needs. I integrate evidence-based approaches to help you understand what’s happening emotionally and physically, develop effective coping strategies, and work through experiences that continue affecting you.
EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps the brain process distressing memories and experiences so they may become less emotionally activating. It can be helpful when you understand what happened intellectually but still experience strong emotional or physical reactions.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps you recognize and change patterns of thinking and behavior that may contribute to fear, avoidance, self-blame, or ongoing distress. Trauma-focused CBT approaches can address beliefs and coping patterns connected to traumatic experiences.
Nervous System Regulation
We may incorporate grounding, practical regulation strategies, and other supportive techniques to help you manage distress and develop greater stability before and during deeper trauma work.
Treatment isn’t one-size-fits-all. We’ll work together to identify an approach that fits your experiences, symptoms, and goals.
What It’s Like to Work With Me
You don’t have to share every detail of your trauma before you’re ready, and you won’t be expected to immediately revisit painful memories.
We’ll begin by understanding what you’re experiencing now, what you hope to change, and what support you may need to feel more emotionally grounded.
Depending on your needs, our work may include building coping skills, understanding trauma responses, identifying patterns connected to past experiences, and processing distressing memories when clinically appropriate.
I believe trauma therapy should be collaborative and thoughtfully paced. We’ll regularly check in about how treatment is going and make adjustments as needed.
Questions You May Have
Do I have to talk about everything that happened?
No. You can begin therapy without sharing every detail of your experience. Some trauma-focused approaches, including EMDR, do not require a detailed verbal account of every traumatic event. We’ll discuss what information is helpful and work at a pace that supports your treatment.
What if I don’t know whether what I experienced counts as trauma?
You don’t need a particular label for your experiences before seeking help. We can explore what happened, how it affected you, and whether trauma-related patterns may be contributing to your current concerns.
Can EMDR help with childhood trauma or experiences that happened years ago?
EMDR can address distressing experiences from childhood or adulthood, including memories that continue influencing your emotions, beliefs, or reactions. The treatment plan depends on your history, current stability, and individual needs.
How long does trauma therapy take?
Treatment length varies depending on your experiences, symptoms, goals, and other factors. Some people benefit from focused treatment for a specific event, while others need more time to address longstanding or complex trauma.
Is online trauma therapy effective?
Online trauma therapy can be effective for many adults, including those receiving EMDR, when appropriate safeguards and clinical considerations are in place. We’ll discuss whether telehealth is suitable for your needs.
When This Work Is a Good Fit
This work is often a good fit for adults who recognize that past experiences may be influencing their current emotions, relationships, or sense of safety and want to understand and change those patterns.
You may benefit from this approach if you’re interested in therapy that goes beyond managing symptoms to explore the experiences and beliefs that may be contributing to them. You don’t need to know exactly where to begin or have everything figured out before starting.
When This May Not Be the Best Fit
Because my practice is fully online, this approach may not be the best fit for individuals who need a higher level of care, immediate crisis support, or in-person services to safely manage significant symptoms. Some people may benefit from more intensive stabilization or specialized treatment before beginning outpatient trauma processing. Determining the appropriate level of care is an important part of ensuring that treatment meets your needs.
You Don’t Have to Keep Carrying the Past in the Same Way
What happened to you may have shaped how you see yourself, relate to others, or respond to the world around you. But those experiences don’t have to continue defining what feels possible for your future.
Therapy offers a space to better understand those patterns, work through unresolved experiences, and develop a greater sense of safety, connection, and trust in yourself.
Ready to Explore Trauma Therapy?
If you’re considering therapy for trauma or PTSD, I invite you to schedule a free consultation. We can briefly discuss what you’re looking for and whether my approach may be a good fit.
Kyrah Dickens, LMFT #118667 | Clear Thoughts Therapy & Beyond Online
Therapy Throughout California