Trauma

Trauma can result from any distressing or disturbing experience, and traumatic experiences can leave an unavoidable impact on the tapestry of our lives. Trauma can create stress that causes patients to feel like they are forever altered. Neet Shah, MD, at Shah Psychiatry in Phoenix, Arizona, recognizes that trauma affects everyone differently. His adult psychiatry practice takes a holistic, integrative, and personalized approach to trauma, utilizing innovative tools to promote healing and wellness. Call the office or schedule a consultation online to get help for trauma. Telepsychiatry visits are also available. 

What is trauma?

Trauma is an emotional reaction to a frightening or stressful event. Traumatic experiences have been shown to have a direct impact on physical health, leading to biochemical changes in stress hormone levels, brain activation, and anxiety response. Trauma affects everyone differently but may cause emotional and physical symptoms that are overwhelming or confusing, such as:

• Sadness
• Anger
• Denial
• Shame
• Headaches
• Change in appetite
• Change in sleep
• Gastrointestinal disturbances

These feelings may affect your coping abilities, making it hard for you to recover. Individuals can also suffer from avoidance behaviors, altered or magnified sensations of fear and frustration, and difficulty managing emotions and thoughts in everyday life. Without support, trauma may turn into a chronic health problem.

What are the long-term effects of trauma?

Trauma affects your mental well-being and may lead to long-term mental health problems. Some of the chronic health conditions linked to trauma include:

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

PTSD is a chronic mental health condition that develops following a traumatic event. PTSD causes a range of symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and behave.

Depression

Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent low mood, sadness, and disinterest in activities. 

Anxiety disorder

An anxiety disorder causes feelings of fear, worry, or dread that affect your daily life. 

Dissociative disorders

Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions that affect memory, emotions, identity, and perception. People with dissociative disorders disconnect from their thoughts or feelings.

When should I seek help for trauma?

Dr. Shah recommends seeking help for trauma if you’re struggling to cope with your emotional or physical symptoms. Getting help early may prevent your trauma from turning into a long-term health condition.

He also recommends you schedule a consultation at Shah Psychiatry if you have PTSD or any other mental health issue related to your trauma.

Dr. Shah takes a holistic and integrative approach to psychiatric care. He makes sure he schedules an adequate amount of time for your initial psychiatric assessment to get to know you and create the type of personalized plan that helps you heal.

What can help me recover from trauma?

Dr. Shah customizes your trauma recovery plan based on the severity of your symptoms and underlying mental health conditions. Your plan may include psychotherapy, medication management, or both.

Psychotherapy

For psychotherapy, Dr. Shah works with you, creating a therapeutic curriculum that includes many techniques that improve your mental well-being. Combined psychotherapy and anchoring techniques aim to help you better understand, cope, and heal from the long-standing sensory and physical experience of previous or ongoing trauma.

Medication management

Selective medications have been shown to treat the common symptoms of anxiety, panic, and depression in PTSD. 

Dr. Shah may recommend medication management so he can prescribe psychiatric medications that support your healing. He may recommend genetic testing through Genomind® to find the right medication and dose to bring about change and improvement.

Virtual Reality Treatments

There is substantial evidence that suggests using virtual reality treatments to recreate and expose the patient to the conditions of a traumatic experience can help treat the root of the problem.

To learn more or get treated for trauma, call Shah Psychiatry, or request an appointment online today.