Trauma Therapy in Kansas City, MO

It takes the smallest thing to send you into a spiral of the past.

Maybe a smell, sound, or even taste can do it. One minute you’re in the present, the next thing you know you’re back there reliving it for the umpteenth time. If you had a quarter for every time someone said, “but it’s over now, you should move on”, you could probably buy a brand new car. If only it was that easy. Very few things over any relief; your dreams aren’t safe, people and places aren’t safe, you aren’t even safe. But, despite all of this, you try to carry on and act like everything is normal. Sometimes it even looks and feels that way. But it doesn’t last long. Something always brings you back, shakes you to your core, and reminds you that you can’t forget or move on. If this sounds familiar, you may have experienced trauma. 

What is Trauma?

Trauma, in simple terms, is a normal response to an abnormal situation. Trauma is the physiological response our body goes through when experiencing a situation that is perceived as threatening. Once this occurs, our body and brain work on overdrive to respond to the situation. There are multiple bodily systems involved, including our nervous system, limbic system, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal systems. That’s fancy therapist jargon for ‘different areas of our brain.’ These areas release chemicals and initiate responses to help us make it out of the situation as safely as we can. 

However, there’s a catch. These  systems don’t always go back to normal functioning after the event is over. For some people, they will stay in overdrive long after the event has ended. To illustrate this, consider a smoke detector. The job of a smoke detector is to alert us in response to smoke so that we can stop a potential fire before it happens. Now, consider that you have a highly sensitive smoke detector that beeps any time you start the microwave, turn on the oven, or turn on the stove. Annoying, right? The smoke detector is no longer doing what it was designed to do, instead it’s interrupting your day. At some point you may be able to ignore it. The more likely outcome is that you would stop cooking in your kitchen altogether.

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“To live in the body of a survivor is to never be able to leave the scene of the crime. I cannot ignore the fact that I live here.”

— Blythe Baird

Common Symptoms of Trauma

The symptoms of trauma look different for each person. Many factors can influence their presentation, including the type of event, when the event occurred, or even how many times it happened. With that in mind, below is a list of how trauma can show up for us: 

  • Feeling exhausted, confused, and/or anxious,

  • Feeling numb to your emotions and/or surroundings, 

  • Noticing that you are on edge or more jumpy than usual, 

  • Experiencing less enjoyment in activities you typically like to do,

  • Noticing that your emotions feel more intense than usual, 

  • Having negative beliefs about yourself, others, and/or the world around you, 

  • Having nightmares. 


What happens if I avoid trauma reminders?

Avoiding reminders of our trauma can have a multitude of consequences. If we consider the previous example of avoiding using your kitchen so that you don’t have to deal with the overactive smoke detector, your eating habits would drastically change. You would likely order out food way more often, and that leads to health and financial hardship.

Additionally, you’ll likely avoid other situations that involve a kitchen or smoke detector that have. The situations you avoid will begin to pile up, and before you know it you’re avoiding a lot of situations that have nothing to do with the smoke detector! This pattern of avoidance will likely lead to the diagnosis of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder).

What is PTSD?

PTSD, or posttraumatic stress disorder, is a mental health condition that can occur after experiencing a traumatic event(s). PTSD is characterized by a group of symptoms that occur longer than one month after a traumatic experience. There are four categories of symptoms for PTSD, including:

  • An intrusive symptom is essentially an unwanted thought and/or dream related to the event. For people with PTSD, intrusive symptoms can disrupt their daily. It’s also common for people to experience nightmares and flashbacks.

  • These can feel like we are on edge, also called hypervigilant. Some people notice that they are more irritable or angry, have a hard time concentrating, and may experience a hard time sleeping.

  • Autobiographical symptoms relate to our thoughts and emotions. Oftentimes, someone with PTSD can feel guilty or blame themselves for the traumatic experience regardless of their responsibility in the situation.

  • Avoidance symptoms related to purposefully avoiding thoughts, feelings, people, activities, etc. that remind us of the traumatic event. Sometimes, people will go to extreme lengths to avoid any reminder of the event that occurred. 

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“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness."

— Dr. Bressel van der Kolk

Trauma Therapy in Kansas City, MO can help.

It can feel isolating dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic experience. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone. The great news about the effects of trauma and PTSD is that they do not have to last forever. Recovering from trauma and PTSD is possible with the help of a trauma therapist well-versed in many different therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Processing Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy. 

  • Person writing in a notebook with a white pen, a glass of iced coffee nearby, on a wooden table.

    CPT for Trauma Therapy

    CPT, cognitive processing therapy, is a form of therapy designed to treat PTSD and trauma by challenging our thoughts and beliefs surrounding the event. Often, our beliefs about ourself, others, and the world are drastically impacted by experiencing trauma. Through CPT, we work together to begin challenging those beliefs that are keeping us stuck as well as learning skills to challenge unhelpful beliefs independently. 

  • Three small paper pieces with the words "dialectical," "behaviour," and "therapy" on a plain white background.

    DBT for Trauma Therapy

    DBT, dialectical behavior therapy, is a form of therapy that is designed to increase our awareness, build distress tolerance, and regulate emotions. DBT is focused on behavioral strategies to improve our ability to cope with challenging situations. Through a variety of skills and principles, DBT aims to provide us with tools to manage our triggers and effectively process emotions.


  • An open blank notebook with a pencil resting on the pages on a wooden surface.

    Prolonged Exposure for Trauma

    Prolonged Exposure, PE, is a form of therapy designed to assist us in gradually addressing our trauma-related memories, feelings, and situations. In PE, the goal is to be able to experience reminders and memories to fully process the experience. This approach is aimed at lowering anxiety related to the experience, leading to less avoidance. 

 Begin Trauma Therapy in Kansas City, MO

Living with trauma and/or PTSD is exhausting. Thankfully, we can help. Our trauma therapists are trained in a variety of interventions to assist you in getting your life back. Our trauma therapists are happy to help in our conveniently located therapy office in Independence, MO or through online therapy in Missouri. When you’re ready to get started, follow these steps:

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Fill out our easy to use online questionnaire to schedule a free consultation. 

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Get to know our team of trauma therapists.

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Allow the past to stay in the past and regain control of your life.