Best type of therapy for childhood trauma

Downplaying compliments. Apologizing for your entire existence. Making yourself as small as possible when you’re in a public space. Clamming up when you hear a door slam. Breakup after breakup after breakup in dysfunctional relationships.

These are all very real, very difficult moments that consume your life when you’ve been through childhood trauma. They’re signs you’ve had to be in survival mode for way too long. 

And chances are you’re not alone. Your neighbor, teacher, co worker, or Doctor may be dealing with issues stemming from traumatic events in their childhood. In fact, 70% of adults have been through a traumatic event.

You’ve worked really hard to protect yourself over the years, and now something in you says it’s time for a change. So what are your options?

The short answer

If you’re looking to heal from your childhood trauma, 4 treatments stand out above the rest:

1. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) — The therapy where you can move your eyes in a specific pattern and process traumatizing events without having to say a word (jump to EMDR)
2. IFS (Internal Family Systems) — The therapy that gives you a space to “meet” different parts of you, understand them, and make peace with them (jump to IFS)
3. CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) — The therapy that helps you change all-or-nothing thinking so you don’t get pulled into downward spirals (jump to CBT)
4. IOP groups (Intensive Outpatient Therapy Programs) — Not a type of therapy but a therapy program where you attend group therapy multiple times a week to help you get past your traumas faster (jump to IOP)

Let’s get a bit more context.

Questions answered in this article:

• What are the best therapies for childhood trauma?
• What’s childhood trauma and how do you recognize it?
• What are long-term effects of childhood trauma?
• How does childhood trauma affect your social life?
• Can you heal from childhood trauma without medicine?

Best therapies for childhood trauma

1. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR doesn’t force you to talk about a traumatic experience if you don’t want to, nor do you have to learn any new skills. Instead it uses bilateral stimulation—a pattern that goes back and forth from the left side to right side—to help your brain get back to its natural healing process, like it does when you enter REM sleep. It’s giving your brain a chance to do what it already knows (and the changes last).

What might that look like in a therapy session?

Your therapist would have you recall a difficult memory, then have you apply bilateral stimulation by having you tap your arms or move your eyes in specific, rhythmic patterns. Then, as you move through the memory, they’d check in with you to help your brain and body guide the processing that’s happening.

2. Internal Family Systems (Parts Work)

IFS helps you get to know your symptoms in a new way by listening to the parts of you you’ve had to turn away from. You’re able to tune into past versions of yourself that have gotten “stuck” and give them a space to be heard. By doing that, you’re essentially putting pieces of a puzzle back together into your main self. What’s cool about this therapy is that you know what these parts of you need more than anyone, and your therapist will help you facilitate your own healing.

We all have parts, and for those of us with trauma history, we have parts that carry the heavy burdens of shame and hurt, which is exactly what this therapy is designed to heal.

What might that look like in a therapy session?

Your therapist might have you check in with your body and where you feel emotional tension. Then they’d have you ask a question to help you identify who that part is and build trust with them. As you do, you’ll meet “protector” parts, “manager” parts, and ultimately, wounded “exile” parts. You’ll ask them what they need, and work to meet that need. As they’re able to relax, you’ll feel your core adult self relax, too. This is such a powerful therapy tool that you can expect most of our therapists to be trained in it.

3. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 

CBT focuses on the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. When you can recognize what’s going on inside of you, you can change it, and as you change it, triggers lessen.

What might that look like in a therapy session? 

Instead of getting lost in the swirl of negative voices in your head, your therapist might have you get them out by journaling them. Journaling helps you see your thoughts from a bird’s eye view so you can work together to identify common patterns in your notes. Once you see the patterns, you start getting your power back. That’s where you can begin turning them around into more productive thoughts and behaviors. 

4. Intensive Outpatient Programs 

As we mentioned above, IOP isn’t a type of therapy modality, but it’s a program where you go to group therapy (and sometimes individual therapy) multiple times a week for about 6-8 weeks. It bridges the gap between needing therapy once a week and needing to go to the hospital for a mental health crisis.

IOPs are incredible because they encourage you to address the root of your symptoms in order to heal from the past in a short amount of time compared to the years it can take to see results from standard weekly therapy. And there are groups that specialize in adults, adolescents, women only, LGBTQIA+ and beyond. 

We offer trauma-specific IOPs to help get the level of attention, support, and relief you need at any point in your journey. They’re perfect if you want to do the work to move past your traumas that’s often left out of standard weekly therapy sessions.

What’s Childhood trauma and how do you recognize it?

Childhood trauma is an event that threatens you—threatens your personal integrity, threatens injury, or threatens death. Sometimes it’s one single event, and other times it’s ongoing. It’s not always physical either—it can be emotional or psychological too.

Examples of childhood trauma: 

• Emotional abuse
• emotional neglect
• Bullying
• Racism
• Oppression
• Domestic violence
• Going to war
• Sexual abuse
• Physical abuse
• A severe injury
• Dealing with chronic illness
• Watching your parents go through a divorce
• Losing someone who was foundational to your upbringing, like a friend or caregiver

But it can also be what didn’t happen. 

Neglect. Caretakers who weren’t there to pick you up from school, who didn’t make you food and forced you to figure out how to cook on your own, or who never gave you the time of day. This could also be caregivers who intentionally didn’t allow you to feel safe to express your emotions or to be your authentic self. 

Neglect can also be unintentional, caregivers who themselves did not learn how to cope with their emotions or have their own unresolved trauma, and therefore couldn’t meet your emotional needs. In fact, a caregiver’s traumatic experiences can be transmitted to their children and grandchildren (a phenomenon called intergenerational trauma or transgenerational trauma).

Childhood trauma can show up in your life in a variety of ways. How and when it shows up depends on the severity and frequency of the trauma you’ve experienced. 

When childhood trauma involves a caretaker, it often affects the child’s wellbeing and development the most since children are extremely dependent on their caregivers for their safety and survival. This creates both trauma and attachment wounds. And ongoing childhood trauma’s typically more damaging than a single event.

While childhood trauma shows up differently in everyone in adulthood,

Some common signs of childhood trauma in adults include:

• Toxic shame
• Fear of rejection
• Dissociation
• Difficulty expressing anger (especially in women)
• Negative self image
• Hyperarousal
• Chronic pain
• Substance use
• Physical health problems
• Relationship instability

Long-term effects of childhood trauma

So, we know that childhood trauma can affect you throughout adulthood, but what exactly are the long-term effects you could experience?

PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) is the most common effect of childhood trauma. 3.5% of adults in the U.S. experience symptoms every year (enough to fill the entire city of Miami). 

It can show up as flashbacks, like a war vet might experience when they hear fireworks; intrusive thoughts; guilt; withdrawal; difficulty sleeping; dissociation; irritability; or reckless behavior, like binge-drinking.

Childhood trauma can go beyond mental health, too, crossing over into your physical health. 

Some physical effects you may struggle with after childhood trauma can include:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)
• Obesity
• Thoughts of suicide
• Generalized anxiety
• Phobias
• Panic disorders

Rest assured, just because your childhood wasn’t good to you, doesn’t mean the rest of your life can’t be either. As you dive into therapy and overcome your traumas, every area of your life will improve. Physical health, finances, relationships, social life, and more. That’s one of our favorite things about our IOP programs—you can start to see change in 3 days, and massive effects in only 6 weeks. It’s a short commitment for life-long relief.

How does childhood trauma affect your social life?

You might’ve met the partner of your dreams, only to find that you still have a hard time trusting them and start questioning their intentions. Or you might get a gut feeling that you go against, only to beat yourself up later because it was right. Especially when it involves setting boundaries.

The truth is, unresolved childhood trauma in both partners can cause challenges in relationships.

But can those feelings that you can’t trust anyone, that everyone’s out to get you or will leave you…can those show up in your friendships too? Yes, and they’ll improve as you do the inner work.

Ways childhood trauma can show up in your social life as an adult:

You might…

• Have a hard time building healthy connections and “attachments” with others and choose to isolate yourself instead
• Struggle in the classroom or at work, fearing harsh comments, or the what-ifs of turning in work that’s subpar
• Snap or shut down when you feel stressed
• Experience feeling drained, exhausted, and chronically ill, leading to more isolation

Can you heal from childhood trauma without medicine?

While medicine certainly has its time and place, therapy is long lasting, and can be done in tandem with medicine if needed.

If you’re looking to explore your options, going to therapy multiple times a week might get you the results you’re seeking. We’re big fans of EMDR therapy and include it in our programs for that reason. According to The Permantene Journal, a Kaiser Permanente study “reported that 100% of single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple-trauma victims no longer had PTSD after a mean of six 50-minute EMDR therapy sessions”.

Oftentimes we’re not only mixing different therapy approaches together based on your needs. We recommend different healing practices like yoga, neurofeedback, acupressure, and beyond.

Your mind and body work together in the healing process, so quality trauma treatment will make sure of that. Other therapy mind-body modalities you can experience in our programs are: somatic practices, psychodrama, art therapy, sand tray therapy, music therapy, and ego state therapy.

What’s the next step to overcoming your childhood trauma?

If you’re ready to reclaim your life and start experiencing just how good it can get, you can contact us to book your consultation.

Here’s what you can expect from your sign up process:

1. You’ll call in, and our admissions team will help you schedule your initial consultation within 48 hours
2. During your in-person or virtual consultation, one of our therapists will help determine which program (or trusted partner) will be the best fit for you
3. You’ll show up to your first session (probably a little freaked out, and that’s totally fine), listen to others’ stories, and start gaining tools you can apply that same day

Get in touch with us here!

Sanare Today is a mental health provider offering IOP, PHP, and outpatient therapy programs for adults dealing with childhood trauma, depression, anxiety, and more. We offer therapy in Philadelphia, PA; Wilmington, DE; Raleigh, NC and beyond.