What is Intensive Trauma Therapy? A Crash Course in Conquering Your Battles

As a therapist, I'm often asked about my preference for intensive therapeutic approaches, especially when dealing with trauma. The truth is, there's something incredibly powerful about an intensive format that allows you to confront your deepest struggles head-on, without the endless delays, and distractions of weekly sessions.

Think about it this way - when was the last time you tried to learn a new language by spacing out lessons over months? Chances are, the lack of immersion made it far too easy to lost steam and fall off the wagon. Trauma work can require a similar full-body dive into dismantling the cognitive patterns and ingrained beliefs that keep you trapped.

With cognitive processing therapy (CPT) done 1-hour per day for 10 consecutive days, we hit the ground running from day one. There's no time for your avoidance ninja skills to kick in as we delve straight into confronting the stuck points and challenging the cruel beliefs your mind has come up with to make sense of the trauma and your part in it.

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.

-Brené Brown

An intensive format provides the ultimate journey where you finally get to dismantle the vindictive inner voice that's been tormenting you.

One of the beautiful things about intensive CPT is that it creates a temporary sanctuary where healing becomes the top priority. Some people choose to take the entire time off of work, others choose to take half-days. Either way, for as much time as you want to set aside and your hyper-focus on healing, you get to fight back against your inner critic without expecting yourself to juggling jobs, relationships, and the bottomless pit of life's responsibilities. It's you versus your trauma in a ringside battle to breakthrough (metaphorically speaking, of course).

The intensive model also capitalizes on a nitty-gritty aspect of brain science - our gray matter is essentially a recording studio laying down fresh neural tracks with each new experience. By condensing that experience into a powerful 10-day window, we're able to rewire deeply rooted patterns more rapidly before they get overgrown by the weeds of old habits.

It's akin to sprinting through cognitive restructuring rather than taking the long-distance trail that allows your Inner Doubter far too many opportunities to insert vicious whispers of self-sabotage.

Now don't get me wrong, intensive trauma work is no walk in the park. In fact, it's one of the most challenging journeys a person can undertake. You'll experience profound emotional releases as you finally allow yourself to feel the depths of your pain and heal from them.

But here's the thing - by tackling your trauma head-on for that concentrated period, you'll finally get to bear witness to your incredible strength and resilience. You'll be amazed at how swiftly your mind begins to embrace radical new perspectives once you silence the deceptive voice that's been misleading you. And perhaps most importantly, you'll develop a swift intimacy with vulnerability, allowing yourself to experience the existential crisis of feeling your feelings for once.

So if you've been stuck in the cycle of avoiding the experiences you've been avoiding, I can't recommend an intensive trauma approach like CPT enough. It's essentially reclaiming your power back from the trauma that's been holding you hostage. Just be prepared to do some of the hardest work of your life – decade's worth of unpacking compressed into a single kick-ass showdown with your inner world. Luckily, you've got one badass therapist (me) in your corner to guide you through every battle scar and victory.

Interested in learning more about the journey to healing? Learn more about Trauma Therapy or contact me now with any questions.