This is a very difficult question toanswer, because everyone is different, everyone’s story is different, andeveryone’s trauma is “stuck” in a unique way.
But clients have a right to know howlong things might take. So to show I’m not avoiding the question altogether, I’lltalk about it a little bit.
First of all, many people have spent many years suffering. It’s natural to want a quick fix, and our society specializes in quick. Unfortunately, it’s more difficult to do that with therapy than with other things. That said, trauma therapy used to take many years, and with more modern and powerful therapies, it usually doesn’t. Trauma therapy length depends on a number of factors, so let’s start there.
What influences how long it takes?
What are the factors?
There are many factors that go intodetermining this; before our first session, I don’t know any of them, and someof them we’ll never know, or at least not until afterwards. The good news is that there is an afterwards. Some things that influence how long it takesto get there:
Your goals
Some people want a deep healing of their symptoms, others are satisfied with some significant changes that help them in their everyday life; sometimes people just want to be well enough to function in a job or a relationship. This part depends on you.
The type and severity of the trauma
If we’re just working on a single event that happened when you were an adult, then it could be fairly short—possibly between 1-3 months. The research on childhood trauma recommends 15-30 months, but I’ve had clients who were satisfied with what they accomplished sooner, sometimes much sooner. But no matter what, we can’t know how it will go until we get started.
How “stuck” is the trauma?
If you’ve read my pages on PTSD, you know that the symptoms we see are natural and reasonable responses to threat. However, the threat is now over. (If it’s not over, trauma therapy might not be exactly the right thing, or it might not work so well.) So the body seems stuck in a place where it responds as if the trauma is still going on. We don’t know why. We just know that there are some things that might help get it unstuck. If we can do that, the healing process will proceed naturally, although that takes some time. We can’t know exactly how much time, but we do know that it seems to continue even after therapy is completed, if the therapy was effective.
Resources
There are other factors that make a difference. We don’t know what they all are, by any means. We know that having one trauma often makes it more difficult to recover from a second one. Also, we know that having social resources (good relationships with some family and friends) helps. There are other things that make a difference, too. (see my blog on Resources)
How soon will we know?
Not right away. Sometimes we’ll know a little bit after a fewsessions, sometimes it will take longer to determine. It takes what it takes. But I’m not interested in dragging things outunnecessarily—the suffering has lasted long enough.
Here’s my suggestion. Let’s give it a chance. Let’s have a few sessions together. The first thing that should happen is thatyou should start feeling more comfortable in our session. If that doesn’t happen by the third session,we’re probably not a good fit. By thenwe will have started the first phase of trauma treatment—what I callresourcing. We’ll work on that for awhile, finding and using the tools that seem to work best for you. When that’s finished and we start into themiddle part of treatment, then we will begin to know more about how your systemis responding to the things we do. Then,of course, we’ll keep adjusting as we go along, based on what we find out andwhat your goals are.
Here’s my promise to you: I’ll always be open about my opinion and my reasons for it. I’ll also try not to speculate too much when I don’t know. That’s my professional commitment to being open with my clients about what we’re doing. You’re always in charge.
If you’re in or near Colorado Springs, you can contact me by calling 719-377-4577 or emailing [email protected]
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PTSD Treatment and Trauma Therapy: How Long Does It Take to Heal?
You are probably not surprised to learn the short answer is “depends”.
Still, it makes sense that you’d like to have some kind of ballpark answer. As well, once you know something about what the duration depends on, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you fit in.
It may also help you to know that most people who enter PTSD treatment do some work, and then go off to experience life with their new sense of relief and confidence.
Some time later, they may re-enter trauma therapy because new issues have come up, or they want to deepen the gains they made earlier.
When Therapy Can Be Quick:
Trauma therapy can be very quick if you experienced a single incident trauma, such as a car-accident. For many clients, the impact of these kinds of experiences can resolve in just a few sessions.
Things that complicate the recovery from single incident trauma are lack of supportive people your life or the one-time trauma is connected to other traumas, or if you are a person who reacts strongly to distressing events.
Therapy can also be fast if the trauma you experienced was more than a one-time incident, but relatively minor, and you received effective support immediately after the trauma. Relatively minor traumas can include bullying, divorce, and non-contact sexual abuse by a stranger.
A third way that trauma therapy can be speedy is if the goal you want to reach is limited. For instance, if your only goal through trauma therapy is to sleep better, it is possible to achieve that in a short period of time. Again, this depends on what the trouble with sleep is connected to. If you have trouble sleeping today because your safety depended on staying awake, then until you feel safe today, that trouble will likely remain. If you have trouble sleeping because your mind is racing, that may be faster to curtail.
Recovery can also be speeded up if you have a strong support system today, such as trusted, caring friends or a supportive life-partner. If you have a healthy, positive spirituality, that can also be a powerful aid in your healing journey. As well, if you are able to engage in good self-care, such as eating well, sleeping enough, and spending lots of time in nature, these will help speed up the benefits of therapy.
When Therapy Can Take Longer:
Trauma therapy often takes longer if you experienced multiple instances of maltreatment. This includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and chronic physical or emotional neglect.
If you were very vulnerable when the maltreatment happened, the harm will likely have gone deeper. Consequently, the younger you were, the greater the likelihood that therapy will take longer.
Also, if the person who hurt you was someone you were supposed to be able to trust, the harm is intensified. This includes a parent, step-parent, caregiver, a teacher, or other adult in a position of trust. These kinds of “betrayal traumas” typically take time to recover from.
Similarly, healing can take longer if someone was supposed to protect you and failed to do so. Or, when you disclosed the abuse, the response was poor. If you were blamed or not believed, recovery may take time.
How Long is “Longer”?
In many Aboriginal cultures, there is a custom of cutting off one’s hair when faced with a major loss such as the death of a spouse. Part of the purpose of this ritual is to help mark the time needed to recover. Once the hair has grown back out, the person is more likely able to move on. That length of time is about two years.
There is a similar time-line for deep recovery from significant trauma. These days trauma specialists know how to help people heal as quickly as possible. As a result, people can complete the bulk of their healing journey in a shorter time period.
Although healing is a life-long journey for many, most don’t work with a therapist for extended periods. After a while, you re-gain enough of your own healing resources to go it alone, with the natural supports available to you.
My goal is to help you recover as quickly as is feasible, and to get you to a place where you no longer need a therapist to support you as fast as possible.
Please explore the other great materials on my website. When you are ready, I invite you to call me at 250-515-2123 or use the pop-up box to schedule a free 15-minute consultation. It would be my great pleasure to support you on your healing journey!
