You may have a teen in your life who has had a sudden, difficult life experience or multiple, chronic challenging life experiences. You may be wondering, are they dealing with trauma? If so, what can you do to help them handle it?
Trauma is, in essence, the feelings and experiences from an event continuing in a person well after that event ends. Having a hard time after a difficult event is a normal part of working through life, but symptoms that persist and disrupt a teen’s life long after the event can point to trauma.
It can be so hard to watch a teen in your life struggle; you know you want to help, but talking with teens can be tricky. You may be worried about making things more complicated or being shut out completely, and then what? Right now, you and the teen in your life could use some extra support. Trauma therapy can be that support, and it can make a tremendous difference in healing for your teen.
What does trauma look like for teens?
If you‘ve noticed symptoms of trauma in a teen in your life, you’re likely worried about them. Noticing is the first step toward helping; from here, you can start the conversation, and find them extra support.
Here are some common symptoms of trauma in teens:
- Dwelling on, or dreaming about, the traumatic event
- Feeling empty, losing interest in things they used to enjoy
- Withdrawing from their relationships with others
- Having high anxiety, feeling hypervigilant
- Changes in sleeping patterns; sleeping a lot more or a lot less
- Acting out with behaviors that show a teen is struggling to handle heavy emotions
- Skipping school, ignoring homework, and otherwise abandoning responsibilities
- Avoiding situations that might remind them of the traumatic event
- Panic attacks
How do I support my teen after trauma?
An excellent starting point for helping your teen is showing them you believe them, understand, and want to help, without judgment. This opens the door to having open-hearted and open-minded conversations about the possibility of them attending trauma therapy. But first, it can be helpful to understand just what happens during trauma therapy, so you can answer your teen’s questions as you talk with them.
Your teen may be resistant to therapy at first, even openly hostile to the idea; trauma makes it feel very unsafe to try to reduce its symptoms because those symptoms are an attempt to feel safe in response to the traumatic, unsafe situation. Being patient and talking openly with your teen over multiple conversations can be the best way to help them get used to the idea that change is possible, safe, and needed.
What happens in trauma therapy for teens?
Your teen’s therapist will start their time together by developing a feeling of trust with your teen. Teens can’t safely open up to an adult they don’t trust. Creating a warm, welcoming, non-judgmental environment where your teen knows they’ll be heard, and also that what they say will be held in confidence, is always the starting point in trauma therapy.
Their therapist will talk with them, get to know them, ask about what they’ve been experiencing, and ask about what their own goals are in therapy. This approach is intentional; offering teens structure and autonomy together can help them feel supported, while also showing their growing independence is respected.
Once your teen and their therapist have a trusting dynamic, they can start working to address the roots of their trauma and work on healthy coping skills that help calm the symptoms of trauma. Some teen trauma therapy modalities include:
Dialectical behavior therapy for teen trauma
Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT for teens, includes individual therapy to delve into underlying trauma and group therapy to practice skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, middle-path thinking, and interpersonal effectiveness. It also includes on-call support from their therapist when life gets tough between sessions. This structure allows your teen to talk through their trauma in a trustworthy environment and to tackle their symptoms in a group with their peers, so all sides of trauma are addressed at once.
Alongside functional skills that help throughout their lives, DBT helps address trauma by helping your teen understand themselves and their emotions better. They may be asked to track their emotions and experiences during the week and discuss them in individual therapy so they can better see how they operate. This introspection is valuable on its own and can guide your teen and their therapist in deciding what skills will help your teen the most to reduce the impacts of trauma.
Group therapy for teens
Connection is key for teens, and seeing and sharing experiences with peers can make all the difference. Group therapy can include many different methods, from sharing experiences and coping methods to practicing skills together to reduce the impacts of anxiety, hypervigilance, avoidance, and other trauma symptoms.
Therapist-led groups tend to benefit teens greatly in terms of healing and may be used in addition to individual therapy as well. Community—especially one that is understanding and supportive—can make a huge difference in progress in therapy, particularly for teens.
Feeling less alone and seeing others their age make progress makes therapy more relatable, and can help your teen feel that progress is really possible. That hope—that motivation—can go a long way toward supporting progress.
Therapy for teens is a whole-family experience
Your teen’s therapist will not share a lot of details from their sessions together. Therapy is confidential, even for minors. However, it is common for therapists to encourage family members to participate in a teen’s therapy experience by learning skills and practicing them with their teen between sessions.
You may be asked to occasionally attend sessions with the therapist to discuss how things are at home, to see what additional work may be needed, and to receive parenting coaching for tough situations. Family support sustains therapy progress for your teen, and your involvement can make all the difference in your teen remaining committed to therapy and to their healing.
Getting started with trauma therapy at Suffolk DBT
If you’re ready to discuss how trauma therapy can help your teen, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our care coordinators at Suffolk DBT. Helping teens work through their trauma and develop the skills to build a life that feels right for them is something we consider a privilege to be able to do. We are here to help your teen truly thrive!