We all experience difficulties and stressors in life, but trauma can often feel like it takes a hold of our lives so deeply that we don’t know how to find our footing.
Most of us have experienced some sort of traumatic event in our lives, whether it’s a little ‘t’ or big ‘T’ trauma.
A little ‘t’ trauma is an unfortunate event like losing a job or getting divorced.
While these things can certainly cause stress, most people can get help with conventional talk therapy.
Big T traumas—like loss of a loved one, serving in the military, a near-fatal car accident, or rape—are a different beast.
These events can dramatically impact your life, and can often lead to a devastating aftereffect, called PTSD.
What is PTSD exactly?
It stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is a lasting consequence of traumatic events that cause intense fear, helplessness, or horrors.
PTSD will manifest differently in every person and can be caused by varying degrees of traumatic events.
Some of the most common symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares, dissociation, and intrusive memories, to name just a few.
All trauma is difficult to live with, and we at My LA Therapy will personalize your treatment to help you restore a sense of control, rediscover who you are, and help you get your life back.
Using research-proven techniques, we will help you begin to heal and regain a sense of vitality, freedom, and hope.
There’s no sugar coating it: living with PTSD can feel unbearable.
Most people who experience a traumatic event will have reactions that may include shock, anger, nervousness, fear, and even guilt.
Life may feel like it’s been reduced to “before the incident” and “after the incident,” and if you’ve suffered a major trauma, you might feel as though you’re constantly reliving the incident.
You may find yourself pulling away from family and friends and self-isolating, or turning to drugs and alcohol to escape or self-medicate.
If PTSD is affecting the quality of your life, we are here to help you heal and rediscover a stronger, braver self in the wake of your trauma.
We’re so confident in our extraordinary therapists that we guarantee you’ll love your match – or your money back.
At My LA Therapy, our highly-vetted Anxiety experts are selected not only for their clinical acumen but for who they are.
The DSM-V outlines the symptoms and criteria needed to make a diagnosis of PTSD. Please note that only a mental health professional is qualified to diagnose this condition.
Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in one (or more) of the following ways:
Presence of one (or more) of the following intrusion symptoms associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning after the traumatic event(s) occurred:
Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning after the traumatic event(s) occurred, as evidenced by one or both of the following:
Negative alterations in cognitions and mood associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning or worsening after the traumatic event(s) occurred, as evidenced by two (or more) of the following:
Marked alterations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning or worsening after the traumatic event(s) occurred, as evidenced by two (or more) of the following:
While all of the above can feel overwhelming, the good news is we have many therapy modalities in our toolbox that are proven to be successful in alleviating PTSD.
Here are some of the empirically validated, evidence-based therapeutic approaches we use to treat PTSD:
See dedicated pages for more info about these individual modalities by visiting the links above or locating them on our Methods page.
Therapy can successfully improve your life by helping you minimize the anxiety in your life, identify and change underlying thought and behavioral patterns that contribute to your struggles, and provide you with strategies to decrease discomfort while restoring an overall sense of peace.
To experience true and lasting joy in our life, we must heal by facing and conquering our pain, trauma, and fear.
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We’ll provide you with a personalized match with the perfect LA therapist who specializes in your exact concerns and fits your style, schedule, and budget. We guarantee you’ll love your therapist — or your money back.
During your call we’ll deep dive into your unique needs to provide you with a personalized match you with the perfect therapist for you in Los Angeles.
I am blown away! I don’t write testimonials, unless I have been extremely moved by something. I was blessed to work with Brooke on a single session, and before this I was in therapy on and off with multiple therapists for the last 20 years of my life. Brooke was able to do more in one session than many years of work with my previous therapist. She has the true gift of great insight and compassion while also getting straight to the heart of your blind spots and unconscious issues in a way that has truly changed my life.
Skyler J.
There are people who are good at their work there are people like Brooke: who are born to do it. I cannot recommend Brooke more highly. I can only imagine where I would be today if I had started working with her years ago. From the beginning of our session, she knew exactly what tools and questions that would work for my particular psychology and my personal experience. No other therapist has been able to do that or anything close.
What I also really appreciate from our session is Brooke's ability to go directly to the source of the issue while also keeping a very gentle and kind energy with me. I felt very seen, understood, and supported. Everything and more that I could have ever asked for from a therapist. I have a severe trauma history and complex issues she was able to immediately identify and help. If she could help me, I know she can help you too.
Taylor E.
You did more in 45 minutes than my last therapist did in a year.
Jamie
With your help, I've finally started to understand that while my vivid imagination often wants to create terrifying monsters under the bed, in a lot of cases those monsters are nothing more than a heap of decidedly less-terrifying laundry I've avoided for too long that just needs to be aired out and put away. Which is definitely a lot easier than monster slaying. Thank you for shedding light in the dark places I was too afraid to face alone.
Morgan B.
I am extremely fortunate to work with Sydney, who is helping me create real internal change. The talent to listen well is Hall of Fame stuff, and she has that. She then follows with questions, strategies that are organic to the moment. I have come to believe that deep, radical, if occasionally deeply painful change ... and, then, healing can happen. I'm just at the lip of that last part - but would not have gotten there, AT ALL, without Sydney
Ric K.
The best therapist ever! Life-changing 🙂
Catherine H.
Right now, the work is changing my life, sometimes in inches, sometimes in miles.
Ric K.