Holistic PTSD Treatment Center

Holistic Trauma and PTSD Treatment Center


We understand how exhausting it is to live in a constant state of fear. And we also know how frustrating it is to feel like despite your best efforts, you can’t shake the sleeplessness, anxiety and burnout from living on high alert. Feeling like you’ve tried everything, but can’t seem to make the progress you really want to, can start to paint a picture of hopelessness. 

But that’s not the end of the story. 

It is possible to overcome PTSD and feel like yourself again. The Sanctuary’s alternative holistic PTSD treatment program can help you get there, by healing your trauma in all the places where it lives: your mind, body, soul and spirit.

We do this by: 

  • Creating a safe, supportive environment where you can begin to relax 
  • Offering a host of clinical and holistic therapies and allowing you to choose what feels best to you 
  • Providing a complete roadmap to recovery and guiding you through every step of the process

You deserve not only to be free from PTSD, but to live a full, vibrant and happy life. 

Kelley Alexander JD. Program Director of The Sanctuary at Sedona discusses Holistic
Post-traumatic stress disorder treatment.

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What Exactly is PTSD and How Can I Tell if I Have It? | Who is Most at Risk of Suffering From PTSD? | What are the Common Signs Associated With PTSD Caused by Trauma? | What Treatment Options Exist for PTSD?

 

What Exactly is PTSD and How Can I Tell if I Have It? 

The classic definition of PTSD has, until recently, been based on the severity of the event that caused it. This may have to do with witnessing a death, being seriously injured or feeling physically threatened. But this definition is expanding as we begin to understand more about PTSD and its causes. Now, PTSD diagnoses have more to do with your response to trauma than the form of trauma itself. In other words, PTSD forms when a traumatic event overwhelms your ability to manage it – and that capacity is different for everyone. Post-traumatic stress is considered PTSD when it interferes with your daily life, and lasts for at least a month.

PTSD also commonly co-occurs with addiction and other mental health disorders. If you already have a preexisting mental health condition, you’re more likely to experience PTSD as a result of trauma. It also often leads to addiction, as trauma sufferers may use alcohol and other substances to self-soothe uncomfortable symptoms. Co-occurring PTSD and addiction require specialized treatment that can address both disorders at the same time, in order for complete healing to take place. 

Because trauma is stored in the body, PTSD can also have physical effects. Your cellular memory holds a record of all your past experiences, which is why physically releasing them is so important to the recovery process. The constant state of alertness that PTSD causes also produces a higher level of stress hormones in your brain, which leads to burnout, fatigue and impaired mental functioning. 

Because memory loss is one of its symptoms, PTSD it can occur even when you’re not exactly sure what caused it. New research shows that some survivors of childhood trauma develop symptoms of PTSD as adults even when they have no clear memory of what happened.

What Is Trauma Associated With PTSD?

Anything that interferes with your ability to process information, live life and feel good is classified as trauma. Most adults have been through some form of trauma, with 70% of adults in the U.S. reporting having experienced trauma at one point in their lives.

Trauma won’t impact two people in the same way. That’s because our experiences are very much individual. One person might find an event too overwhelming to cope with while someone else barely notices it at all. The severity of symptoms that show up after a traumatic event also varies from person to person. Of those who reported experiencing trauma, 20% go on to develop PTSD.

Understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD is a set of symptoms that develop after a traumatizing event that leaves you overwhelmed and unable to cope. Not all traumatic events that lead to PTSD are “large-T” traumas — overt events like abuse or combat, for instance. An accumulation of “small-t” traumas, less pronounced yet distressing events, can also develop into PTSD. Examples of these include divorce, financial stress and family conflict, to name a few.

We understand that the thought of revisiting past trauma is intimidating. At The Sanctuary, we place a huge focus on making sure you feel like you’re in a safe environment throughout treatment. Once you’re in a fully relaxed state, you’re better prepared to work on yourself.

Who is Most at Risk of Suffering From PTSD? 

Most people experience trauma at some point in their lives – in fact, it’s estimated that about 70% of people in the US do. But while most people recover naturally, about 20% of those who incur trauma develop PTSD as a result. 

While PTSD was once thought of as a disorder affecting mainly veterans, it’s now known that this set of symptoms can affect anyone who’s been traumatized. This can result from events like: 

  • Car accidents 
  • Sexual abuse 
  • Childhood abuse
  • Childbirth 
  • Witnessing death or injury 
  • Being a victim of violent crime
  • Diagnosis with a life-threatening illness 
  • Natural disaster
  • War

Post-traumatic stress disorder can also result from seemingly less significant events if they have a profound impact on you. PTSD is not an indication of how “strong” or “weak” you are. It’s simply a reflection of your natural attempts to process what’s going on. 

What Are the Common Signs Associated With PTSD Caused by Trauma?

The symptoms and severity of PTSD look different for each person, but often include:

  • Flashbacks
  • Recurring memories
  • Nightmares
  • Social isolation and withdrawal
  • Lack of emotion or numbness
  • Feeling of hopelessness
  • Memory loss
  • Concentration loss
  • Irritability
  • Insomnia
  • Heightened alert
  • Hypervigilance
  • Muscle tension
  • Overwhelming guilt or shame

You’re considered to have post-traumatic stress disorder if one or more of these symptoms last over a month following a traumatic event. In long-term PTSD, these symptoms will show up regularly for over a month or become more severe.

Another form of post-traumatic stress disorder is known as complex PTSD. This related condition has many of the same traits of PTSD along with some additional symptoms, including:

  • Depression
  • Difficulty controlling intense emotions
  • Anger or distrust toward the world
  • Feeling permanently damaged or worthless
  • Seeing yourself as different than others
  • The belief that nobody can understand what’s happened to you
  • Severe physical symptoms, including headaches, chest pain or stomach issues
  • Suicidal feelings

What Treatment Options Exist for PTSD? 

A number of therapies have been proven successful in treating PTSD. Each method approaches trauma from a different angle. Therapies used for PTSD might include:  

  • Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), a technique that uses certain eye movements to help you move memories to a safer place in your brain, so you don’t feel as acutely affected by them 
  • Exposure therapy, wherein you reprocess fearful situations in a safe space, with the help of a therapist 
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps you understand how you mentally process trauma, and change your behavioral responses 
  • Somatic experiencing, designed to help you develop a healthier relationship with the bodily sensations and emotions that arise as a result of trauma 
  • Energy medicine, which guides you on an inward journey to discover and resolve the issues at the core of your wounding

At The Sanctuary, we treat PTSD via a holistic program that’s completely individualized, and integrates a variety of therapies according to your needs. This may include any of the above, in addition to other therapies that your therapist determine are appropriate for you. Here, we encourage clients to continue exploring therapeutic pathways until they find what resonates with them. Our therapists are highly skilled in multiple disciplines, and are happy to guide you through this process.  

How Does Alternative Holistic Treatment for PTSD Work? 

While PTSD can feel like living in a constant state of crisis, the good news is that crisis provides an opportunity for growth. This kind of marked discomfort serves as a signal that something deep within us is in need of our attention. 

At The Sanctuary, we address PTSD using a holistic treatment approach. This means that rather than using a singular treatment method (like talk therapy), we use various healing techniques to treat the whole of you. This includes your: 

Body 

We store traumas, toxins and tensions in our body. In fact, our bodies contain a record of everything that’s ever happened to us. That’s why it’s important to heal physical aspects of trauma, and release it from where it’s held on a cellular level. 

We harness our knowledge of the gut-brain connection to encourage healthy serotonin production using a healing diet. We also provide movement therapies and bodywork to help you physically let go of trauma. This bypasses the retraumatization that talk therapy can sometimes cause.

Mind

Just because we’re holistic doesn’t mean we don’t use medication. Treatment at The Sanctuary includes in-depth psychiatric attention and hands-on support for your prescription needs. But through our holistic process, many of our clients find that they’re able to take less medication, because their symptoms are reduced via other therapeutic methods. 

We understand that in order to get beyond just managing symptoms, you need to understand what’s causing them. And that happens on a subconscious level. Ninety-five percent of your mind is unconscious – that is, it’s behind your awareness. 

Most of the things that drive behaviors and patterns in your life live in this part of your mind. This includes all of your unresolved traumas, wounds and dysfunctional beliefs. To heal these, we have to access the subconscious parts of the mind, so that they’re brought into our awareness. And once that happens, we can process them in talk therapy. Then, we start to see real progress towards feeling better. 

Soul

The demands of the soul are one of the most important aspects of ourselves. Our soul is our essence; our truest and most authentic nature. It’s who we are before all of our wounds, traumas and addictions. Your soul is where you derive your meaning.

Sometimes, through our experiences of trauma, we learn that it’s not safe to be ourselves. We get the message that it’s not okay to express who we truly are, and we begin to separate from that essential self. And the more that happens, the worse we feel. 

At The Sanctuary, we pay special attention to healing your soul from trauma and PTSD. We do this through therapies involving creativity and ritual: the languages the soul speaks. This allows you to reconnect to your true nature, and free yourself to live happily and authentically.

Spirit

The way we interact with the world around us has a lot to do with our own energy system. Peer-reviewed science confirms that our own, bodily electrical systems are connected to a larger energetic field. And when this becomes compromised in some way, it directly hijacks our nervous system. 

Through the use of energy medicine and energy psychology, we’re able to access and heal this system. The Sanctuary is home to highly skilled energy practitioners who play an important role in your recovery journey.

In order for a PTSD treatment program to be truly holistic, it needs to work on all of these things. When we have a problem in one of these areas, it affects all the others. But when we work on all of them together, our chances of full and lasting recovery from PTSD are drastically increased.

The Four Components of The Sanctuary’s Holistic Treatment for PTSD 

 

Our PTSD treatment process takes place through a complete, four-part healing journey that consists of:

  1. Shedding belief systems that are rooted in your past and blocking your progress
  2. Identifying shadow aspects of yourself and empowering you to relate to them differently
  3. Envisioning a life that serves your true purpose in the world
  4. Implementing the changes you’ve made and bringing your vision to fruition  

This all takes place in a completely safe environment in which you’re accepted and supported every step of the way. In fact, many of our clients say that they immediately feel like one of the family, and that this helps tremendously with their ability to unwind, find comfort and thoroughly heal. 

 

I’ve Struggled With PTSD for a Long Time. Is Alternative Holistic Treatment for Me?

What makes alternative holistic PTSD treatment at The Sanctuary so effective is the combined synergy of our program components. 

Recently, more rehab centers have begun offering complementary therapies like yoga and meditation as additions to their program. And we recognize that this is great progress. But unless they’re integrated into a comprehensive program, their full power isn’t being utilized. 

Many of our clients to us after seeing various doctors and therapists for years without having gained any real traction. That’s because, while each of these different pieces may be beneficial, they haven’t been integrated.

At The Sanctuary, everything you do during your stay with us is a progression of what you’ve done before. Each morning, you’ll receive a personal schedule with all of your therapies and activities for the day. And each of these is carefully coordinated by a team of therapists, who work together to serve your recovery process in the most effective way. 

Tying all the pieces together in this way makes our program so much stronger. And this is what alternative holistic treatment at The Sanctuary powerful enough to overcome issues as serious and deeply rooted as PTSD.

Be Recovered with Our Non-12 Step Holistic Treatment Program for PTSD. Call Us. 

At The Sanctuary, we’ve seen countless people find their capacity to reconnect with themselves and with life– even if they’ve suffered from PTSD for decades. Here’s what some of our program graduates say about their experience:   

“This place exceeded my expectations in my healing journey. I was cared for, supported and understood. I am leaving feeling like I have found myself. I have the utmost gratitude and appreciation for every member of the staff here.”

“Everything was more than amazing. I feel like I’ve grown, healed, have become awakened, feel alive, and have learned so much.”

“The staff listens to every need and they do their best to accommodate. I feel they all genuinely care.”

“Completely 100% and beyond satisfied. I am so thankful with all of my heart. “

Now is your time to start living life again. You have an opportunity to find calm, feel safe and change your relationship with the world around you – and we can help you get there.

Our admissions coordinator is available to help you understand your treatment options, make arrangements and answer any questions you might have. Contact us today.  

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