TRAUMA & PTSD PSYCHOLOGY | GOLD COAST | BRISBANE*
Trauma can affect the way you feel, think, respond to situations and relate to other people — sometimes long after the traumatic experience has ended.
At Onemind Psychology & Wellness, we provide trauma-informed psychological therapy for adults experiencing PTSD, complex trauma, childhood trauma, occupational trauma, military and first-responder trauma, and difficulties associated with prolonged or repeated adversity.
Therapy is tailored to your individual history, symptoms and goals, with a focus on creating safety, understanding your responses and working through experiences at a pace that feels manageable . We aim to help you feel like yourself again.
Gold Coast | Brisbane | Telehealth Australia-wide
What can trauma look like?
Trauma doesn’t affect everyone in the same way. Some people experience obvious memories, nightmares or anxiety, while others notice changes in their relationships, emotions, behaviour or sense of safety.
You may know exactly what is bothering you, or you may simply feel that something has changed and you don’t fully understand why.
You may experience:
Hypervigilance
Feeling constantly alert, watchful or on guard, even when there is no immediate danger.
Avoidance
Avoiding people, places, conversations, memories or situations that remind you of what happened.
Intrusive memories
Unwanted memories, images, thoughts or sensations connected to traumatic experiences.
Nightmares or disrupted sleep
Recurring nightmares, difficulty falling asleep, waking frequently or feeling unsafe at night.
Emotional numbness
Feeling disconnected from emotions, other people or experiences that you would previously have cared about.
Irritability or anger
Having a shorter fuse, becoming easily frustrated or feeling anger that seems difficult to control.
Feeling unsafe
A persistent sense that something bad might happen, even when you logically know you are safe.
Dissociation
Feeling detached from yourself, your surroundings, your emotions or your memories.
Difficulty regulating emotions
Experiencing emotions that feel particularly intense, overwhelming or difficult to settle after becoming activated.
Relationship difficulties
Struggling with trust, closeness, communication, boundaries or feeling emotionally safe with others.
These responses are not necessarily signs that something is “wrong” with you. They can be understandable responses to experiences that your nervous system has learned to perceive as threatening.
Trauma-focused therapy can help you understand these responses and work towards feeling safer, more regulated and less controlled by the past.
Trauma isn’t always one event
When people hear the word trauma, they often think of a single catastrophic event. Trauma can certainly occur following one overwhelming experience, but it can also develop through repeated, prolonged or interpersonal experiences.
Sometimes the impact of trauma is obvious. Other times, people have spent years adapting to what happened without recognising how strongly those experiences may still be affecting them.
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Trauma following an experience such as a serious accident, assault, natural disaster, medical event or other life-threatening or overwhelming experience.
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Experiences that occur repeatedly or over an extended period of time, particularly when there is limited opportunity to escape or recover.
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Experiences during childhood that may include abuse, neglect, instability, exposure to violence, loss, disrupted attachment or other significant adversity.
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Trauma occurring within important relationships, where experiences such as betrayal, abuse, abandonment or chronic emotional insecurity can affect trust and connection.
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Exposure to traumatic or distressing situations through work, including emergency services, healthcare, corrections, military service and other high-risk occupations
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Trauma associated with military service, deployment, combat, injury, witnessing traumatic events, moral injury or other experiences during service.
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Experiences occurring within institutions or systems where people may experience prolonged exposure to threat, powerlessness, neglect, violence or loss of control.
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Complex trauma generally refers to repeated or prolonged traumatic experiences, particularly experiences that occur in relationships or during important developmental periods.
People affected by complex trauma may experience PTSD symptoms alongside difficulties with emotional regulation, relationships, self-worth, trust, boundaries or a persistent sense of danger.
Possible experiences
chronic hypervigilance
difficulty trusting others
emotional overwhelm
emotional shutdown or numbness
shame or persistent self-criticism
difficulty identifying or expressing emotions
relationship difficulties
difficulty maintaining boundaries
feeling disconnected from yourself
dissociation
difficulties with anger
persistent feelings of unsafety
patterns of avoidance
Complex trauma does not mean that your experiences have to fit neatly into a particular category for therapy to be helpful. Your individual history and current difficulties are considered together when developing a treatment approach
When the past still feels present.
One of the confusing things about trauma is that you can intellectually know something happened in the past while your body and nervous system continue to respond as though the threat is still present.
You may find yourself reacting strongly to situations that seem relatively minor, becoming highly alert to changes in other people’s behaviour, shutting down during difficult conversations, avoiding situations that remind you of the past, or experiencing physical and emotional reactions that seem disproportionate to what is happening now.
Trauma-focused therapy can help you make sense of these patterns rather than simply trying to suppress them.
Understanding why you respond the way you do can be an important part of changing the way you respond.
The good news is…
The good news is you don’t have to keep feeling this way. Even when trauma has built up over years, or your reactions have become part of your everyday life, the brain and the nervous system have the capacity to change. Trauma focused therapy can help reduce the intensity of memories, reactions, settle the nervous system and restore a greater sense of safety, control and connection.
You don’t need to erase what happened or become a different person - the aim is to help your experiences stop having such a strong hold over you, so you can feel more like yourself again.