Specialty
Medical Trauma Therapy
When a medical experience left more than physical scars
A frightening diagnosis. An emergency. Surgery, an invasive procedure, a stay in the hospital where you felt powerless and afraid. Medicine may have treated your body, but the fear can stay long after discharge. Many people leave a medical crisis physically recovered and emotionally shaken in ways no one prepared them for. *
You may flinch at the smell of a hospital, put off appointments you know you need, panic at routine tests, or feel unable to trust your own body anymore. Others around you may see only the good outcome, you survived, the treatment worked, which can make the lingering fear feel even lonelier. *
This is medical trauma, the lasting emotional imprint of a frightening medical experience, and it is distinct from health anxiety, which centers on fear of becoming ill. Medical trauma is about something that actually happened to you. It is common, it makes sense, and it is very treatable. *
Healing means being able to care for your health without dread, and to live in your body as a place of safety rather than a site of alarm. That is genuinely within reach. *
Signs medical trauma may be affecting your life
- Intrusive memories or nightmares about the diagnosis, procedure, or hospitalization
- Anxiety or panic before medical appointments, or avoiding them entirely
- A racing heart or dread in hospitals, clinics, or at medical smells and sounds
- Feeling unsafe in your own body
- Hypervigilance about physical sensations connected to what happened
- Distress when others discuss illness or medical procedures
- Difficulty trusting doctors or the medical system
- Guilt or anger about how your care was handled
- Feeling that no one understands why you are still shaken
- A changed sense of yourself since the medical event
Our approach to medical trauma
A medical crisis can be traumatic in a specific way: the threat came from inside your body or from the people meant to help you, and you may have had little control over any of it. Treatment begins with steadying your nervous system and rebuilding a basic sense of safety in your body, before any deeper processing of the experience itself. *
We then work with the memories directly. EMDR is well suited to reprocessing frightening medical events so they stop replaying with full force. Clinical hypnosis can help with procedure-related fear and with restoring calm in medical settings. Somatic and experiential approaches rebuild trust between you and your body. Where ongoing medical care is part of your life, therapy also helps you face appointments and treatment with more steadiness. *
This work complements your medical care, it never replaces it. The goal is for your health, and the care it requires, to stop being a source of fear. *
Clinicians who specialize in medical trauma
ACT · EMDR · Hypnosis
Dr. Faiwiszewski has particular strength in medical trauma and the mind-body dimensions of health. She works with the emotional aftermath of frightening diagnoses, procedures, and hospitalizations, and with rebuilding a sense of safety in the body and in medical settings. *
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EMDR · Hypnosis · Insight-Oriented Therapy
Dr. Citrin brings broad trauma and PTSD expertise to the emotional effects of medical experiences, helping clients process what happened and recover their footing after a medical crisis. *
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Therapy approaches that may help
We integrate these techniques, custom-tailored to you, in the order your nervous system can use first.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is medical trauma?
- Medical trauma refers to the lasting emotional effects of a frightening medical experience, a serious diagnosis, an emergency, surgery, an invasive procedure, a hospitalization, or care that felt unsafe or dehumanizing. It can produce trauma responses much like any other overwhelming event: intrusive memories, avoidance, and a body on constant alert. *
- How is medical trauma different from health anxiety?
- Health anxiety centers on fear of becoming ill: monitoring your body, worrying about symptoms, seeking reassurance. Medical trauma is a response to a frightening medical event that actually happened. They can overlap, a traumatic medical experience can spark new health fears, but the starting point differs, and we have a separate Health Anxiety page for that concern. *
- My treatment was successful. Why am I still so shaken?
- A good medical outcome does not erase how terrifying the experience was while it was happening. Your body registered a threat to your life or bodily integrity, and that alarm can persist long after the danger has passed. Ongoing distress after successful treatment is common, and it is exactly what trauma therapy addresses. *
- I keep avoiding medical appointments. Can therapy help with that?
- Yes, and this is one of the most important reasons to seek help, because avoidance can put your health at risk. Therapy works through the fear underneath the avoidance and rebuilds your ability to attend appointments, undergo tests, and receive care with far less distress. *
- What treatments do you use for medical trauma?
- We integrate evidence-based approaches around your experience: EMDR to reprocess frightening medical memories, clinical hypnosis for procedure-related fear and calm in medical settings, and somatic work to rebuild a sense of safety in your body. Therapy complements your medical care and can be coordinated with it where helpful. *
- Can therapy help if I still need ongoing medical treatment?
- Yes. Many of our clients are in the middle of ongoing care. Therapy can run alongside treatment, helping you manage fear around appointments and procedures, process difficult moments as they arise, and keep the medical part of your life from consuming the rest of it. *
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