Anxiety and Trauma Therapy plays a crucial role in our lives because Anxiety and Trauma are something that everyone encounters at some point. You may have PTSD after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Your experience with Anxiety, PTSD, and Trauma is unique and shaped by your circumstances. How you react to Anxiety, Trauma, and PTSD can vary widely based on your background, resilience, and the support systems you have in place.
If you or someone you know is facing challenges related to Anxiety, Trauma, or has PTSD, contact our mental health experts at Advanced Counseling and Research Services. Help can be a crucial first step toward your recovery. Our compassionate team of highly qualified therapists is here to help support you. We can and will help you. You don't have to suffer because your healing starts here. Contact Us today.
What Is the Difference Between Anxiety, Trauma, and PTSD?
What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress, characterized by excessive worry, fear, or unease about future situations.
Anxiety is often accompanied by physical symptoms like a rapid heartbeat, sweating, restlessness, or difficulty breathing.
Unlike occasional nervousness, Anxiety can persist even when no immediate threat exists. Anxiety often involves overthinking, a sense of dread, and intrusive thoughts that feel overwhelming and hard to control.
While mild Anxiety may help with focus or motivation, chronic Anxiety can interfere with daily life, impacting your relationships, work, and health.
Common manifestations include Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), panic attacks, and social Anxiety.
Anxiety stems from a combination of factors including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, or traumatic experiences.
Anxiety is manageable with treatments like therapy, breathing techniques, lifestyle changes, or medication.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is a psychological and emotional response to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. It can result from events such as abuse, accidents, loss, violence, or natural disasters.
Trauma often overwhelms your ability to cope, leaving you feeling helpless, unsafe, or disconnected. Trauma can manifest emotionally as fear, anxiety, guilt, or shame, and physically through symptoms like exhaustion, tension, or difficulty sleeping.
Trauma can be acute (from a single event), chronic (prolonged exposure to stress), or complex (multiple, layered events over time).
Trauma affects your brain and body, potentially altering how you process emotions, memories, and relationships.
Everyone processes Trauma differently; for some, the effects may heal with time and support, while others develop conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Healing involves therapy, self-care, and creating a sense of safety and stability.
What Is PTSD?
PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a specific mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event.
While you usually associate PTSD with the military, police, firefighters, and first responders, it can happen to anyone. However, unlike Trauma, it doesn't necessarily happen to everyone.
Symptoms include
intrusive memories,
avoidance of reminders of the Trauma,
negative changes in mood and cognition, and
heightened Anxiety and irritability.
We Understand the Weight of Anxiety, PTSD, and Trauma—and We're Here to Help
When people express a desire to eliminate Anxiety, PTSD, or Trauma, they often articulate a range of feelings, thoughts, and hopes. Here are common themes and sentiments. Do they apply to you?
Desire for Healing
"I just want to feel normal again," or "I want to move on with my life without this pain."
Frustration with Symptoms
"I’m tired of feeling this way," or "I want to stop reliving the past."
Hope for a Better Future
"I believe I can overcome this," or "I want to find peace and happiness again."
Desire for Understanding
"I want others to understand what I’ve been through," or "I wish people would stop telling me to just get over it."
Seeking Control
"I want to take back my life," or "I want to stop feeling like a victim."
Longing for Closure
"I want to put this behind me," or "I need to find a way to let go of the past."
Need for Support
"I need help to get through this," or "I wish I had someone to talk to who understands."
We do understand how you're feeling, and we're here to help you. We can help you.
Our expert and compassionate clinicians understand your feelings, and we can help you. The hope and healing you're looking for is a phone call away.
We utilize evidence-based techniques to address the emotional and psychological effects of Anxiety, PTSD, and Trauma, enabling you to regain control over your life. Evidence-based treatment modalities are therapeutic approaches that have been scientifically validated through research to effectively address the symptoms and effects of Anxiety, PTSD, and Trauma.
While treatment modalities for Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). and Trauma have some similarities, they also have distinct differences due to the nature of the conditions.
The choice of modality, or combination of modalities, depends on your specific needs, preferences, and the nature of your Anxiety, PTSD, or Trauma. Therefore, it's crucial for your therapist to be trained in these approaches and to tailor treatment to your unique circumstances to achieve the best outcomes.
Call Us today to find out which treatment modality is best for you.
Personalized and often luxury approach to mental health care that typically offers you more service, privacy, and customization than traditional therapy settings.
Brainspotting operates on the principle that where you look affects how you feel. A therapist helps you identify "brainspots," which are eye positions linked to stored emotional experiences or trauma in the brain. By maintaining focus on the brainspot while fostering mindfulness and connection, the brain processes and releases unresolved emotions at a profound neurobiological level.
Brainspotting leverages the brain's natural ability to heal, mainly targeting the subcortical regions responsible for emotional and sensory processing. It is effective for a variety of challenges, including PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, chronic pain, and performance issues.
Brainspotting is compassionate, client-centered, and adaptable, making it suitable for individuals of all ages. Brainspotting promotes long-lasting healing and personal growth by fostering self-awareness and emotional regulation.
CBT addresses fears, worries, or irrational thoughts fueling Anxiety, helping you develop coping strategies to manage symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, and Social Anxiety.
CBT is a short-term, goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment that takes a hands-on, practical approach to problem-solving. Its core principle is that your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected, and negative thoughts and behaviors can trap you in cycles of distress. CBT helps you identify and challenge these unhelpful thought patterns and develop healthier coping mechanisms.
Through techniques like cognitive restructuring, behavioral experiments, and exposure therapy, CBT empowers you to change your thinking and behavior, leading to improved mood and reduced symptoms of various mental health conditions like Anxiety and Depression.
DBT is a type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy designed to help you manage intense emotions and improve relationships. It emphasizes the synthesis of acceptance and change, teaching you to accept their your emotional state while working towards positive change.
DBT focuses on developing four core skill sets: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. These skills help you navigate challenging situations, cope with overwhelming emotions, and build healthier relationships.
DBT is particularly effective if you're struggling with borderline personality disorder, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts.
EMDR is used to treat Trauma and other distressing life experiences. It involves recalling disturbing memories while focusing on bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements, taps, or sounds. This process helps your brain reprocess the traumatic memories, reducing their emotional intensity and negative impact.
EMDR aims to desensitize you to traumatic memories and replace negative beliefs with positive ones, fostering healing and emotional regulation.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy
ERP is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related Anxiety Disorders.
ERP empowers you to tolerate uncertainty, manage intrusive thoughts, and develop healthier coping mechanisms, leading to long-lasting relief and emotional well-being.
ERP involves gradually exposing you to feared thoughts, situations, or sensations (exposures) while helping you resist the urge to engage in compulsive behaviors (response prevention). Over time, this process reduces the fear and distress related to triggers, enabling individuals to build resilience and regain control over their lives.
Unlike avoidance, which reinforces anxiety, ERP encourages you to confront your fears in a safe and controlled environment, thereby breaking the obsessive-compulsive cycle.
ERP Therapy is typically conducted with the guidance of a trained therapist and is tailored to each person’s unique needs and goals.
Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy is a type of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) used to treat PTSD and other Anxiety disorders. It involves gradually confronting the feared memories and situations you have avoided since the Trauma. Through repeated exposure in a safe and controlled environment, your Anxiety associated with these triggers diminishes over time.
PE also involves processing your traumatic memory by talking about it in detail, which helps to reduce its emotional power. This combination of imaginal and in-vivo (real-life) exposure enables you to regain control and reduce the impact of Anxiety, PTSD, and Trauma on your life.
Other Therapy Techniques
Narrative Therapy: Encourages you to tell your stories, helping you understand your experiences.
Somatic Experiencing: Focuses on your body’s physical response to Trauma and aims to release stored tension and trauma
Psychoeducation: Educating you about Trauma and its effects can help you understand your experiences and develop coping strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What services does Advanced Counseling and Research Services provide?
Advanced Counseling and Research Services provides support for Trauma, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, OCD, and other mental health concerns.
What is the difference between Psychotraumatology and Traumatology?
Psychotraumatology is the study of psychological trauma, focusing on the emotional and psychological effects of traumatic experiences.
Traumatology is the study, diagnosis, and treatment of physical injuries and wounds caused by trauma, such as accidents, violence, or natural disasters.
"Where can I learn more about Advanced Counseling and Research Services?
"You can visit our homepage at https://www.advanced-counseling.com/index.html for detailed information about our services and contact options.
Who can benefit from the services at Advanced Counseling and Research Services?
Individuals struggling with mental health concerns such as Trauma, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, or OCD can benefit from the services provided by Advanced Counseling and Research Services.
What types of therapy does Advanced Counseling and Research Services offer?
Advanced Counseling and Research Services offers evidence-based therapy modalities, such as trauma-focused therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), EMDR Therapy, Exposure and Response (ERP) Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy for treating Anxiety, Trauma, Depression, PTSD, OCD, and other mental conditions.
Do you provide services for adolescents and families?
Yes, we provide counseling services for individuals, children, and families to help address a variety of psychological and emotional needs.
How can I schedule a session with Advanced Counseling and Research Services?
You can schedule an appointment by contacting us through by phone at 717-394-3994 or email listed on our Contact Us page.
What mental health concerns do you specialize in treating?
Our team specializes in treating trauma-related issues, Anxiety, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and other mental health concerns.
Does Advanced Counseling and Research Services offer online or virtual therapy?
Yes, we provide virtual therapy sessions for clients who prefer online counseling or are unable to attend sessions in person.
What is Trauma-Informed Care (TIC)?
Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) is an approach to understanding and responding to the effects of trauma on individuals. To find out more, click Trauma-Informed Care.
Are your counseling sessions confidential?
Absolutely. All sessions are conducted in a confidential and safe environment, ensuring your privacy.
What qualifications do your therapists have?
Our therapists are licensed professionals with extensive training and experience in providing counseling and therapy for a wide range of mental health issues.
Do you accept insurance for counseling services?
We accept a variety of insurance plans. Please contact us to verify coverage or discuss payment options.
How do I know if counseling is right for me?
If you are experiencing emotional distress, Trauma, Anxiety, or other mental health issues that are impacting your daily life, counseling can be an effective way to get support and work through challenges with a qualified Advanced Counseling and Research Services therapist.
Our Trauma-Informed Clinicians
Cheryl Wilson-Smith
CEO and Chief Clinical Officer
We are reaching out to provide clarity regarding recent news reports involving a similarly named mental health organization.
You may have seen media coverage about **Advanced Counseling and Testing Solutions**, a company located in Wyomissing and Lancaster, whose owners, Dr. and Mrs. Lucas, were recently indicted for insurance fraud.
We want to assure you that **Advanced Counseling and Research Services (ACRS)** has **no affiliation or connection—past or present—with Advanced Counseling and Testing Solutions** or the individuals involved in that matter. Although they opened their practice years after ours, the similarity in name is purely coincidental.
We remain an independent organization with a distinct leadership, mission, and ethical commitment to our clients.
Our team continues to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, clinical care, and integrity. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. We thank you for your continued trust in us.
