Trauma Care for Veterans

Many veterans carry “invisible wounds” from their service, especially those that saw combat. PTSD and moral injury are all too common among veterans, and they make it difficult to go from high-stress, high-stakes situations to “normal” life.

However, life doesn’t have to be defined by its darkest moments. Trauma-informed care helps veterans process what they’ve been through, manage symptoms, and rebuild a sense of stability and connection in everyday life.

PTSD—The Long-Term Effects of Trauma

When someone is in the middle of a traumatic experience, their brain isn’t focused on fully processing what’s happening and storing it away as a memory. Instead, it’s typically focused on survival. For veterans, their brains may also be focused on recalling their training or completing the task at hand.

Normally, the brain can gradually process a traumatic event and file it away as something that happened in the past. Sometimes, this process gets disrupted and the traumatic event isn’t stored correctly, which leads to unresolved or “unprocessed” trauma.

Unresolved trauma can remain active in the brain and continue to affect someone as if they’re still experiencing the traumatic event. This ongoing pattern is a core feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where past experiences continue to influence someone’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior in the present.

Signs and Symptoms of PTSD

According to a study published by the National Institute of Health, PTSD is one of the most prevalent mental disorders among US veterans. In the same study, roughly 87% of veterans reported exposure to at least one potentially traumatic event.

While PTSD can appear differently from person to person, some of the common signs and symptoms include:

• Anxiety triggered by reminders of trauma
• Hypervigilience (feeling constantly on alert)
• Avoidance of emotions, situations, or activities linked to trauma
• Dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
• Harmful behaviors used to cope with trauma (such as substance use or self-harm)
• Intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares

Although time can put distance between a person and their traumatic experience, the internal wound it created can continue to harm them until it’s properly treated.

Healing Trauma—Trauma & PTSD Therapy for Veterans

Trauma therapy helps people reprocess their traumatic memories so they no longer cause distress in the present. It can be especially helpful for veterans who suffer from PTSD, as it helps alleviate their symptoms and restores a sense of control over their troubling thoughts and emotions. 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR is sometimes considered the gold standard for trauma therapy. It’s designed to mirror what happens during REM sleep, which is the sleep cycle phase where the brain sorts and stores experiences that didn’t get fully processed.

This specialized trauma therapy uses bilateral stimulation, like guided eye movements or rhythmic tapping, to help the brain reprocess unresolved trauma. As this happens, those intense, “stuck” memories can finally be stored correctly. Instead of feeling like they’re still happening, they start to feel more like events from the past. 

Over time, the emotional and physical distress tied to them fades, which makes it easier to remember what happened without feeling overwhelmed.

Forward-Facing Trauma Therapy

Forward-facing trauma therapy (FFTT) is based on the idea that trauma isn’t just what happened in the past. Instead, it’s how the body and mind hold onto it and react to it. Rather than trying to “fix” those reactions, FFTT helps people recognize that they can choose how to respond to them. 

In practice, this starts with identifying triggers and learning ways to reduce symptoms in the moment. From there, clients work on facing trauma rather than avoiding it, which gradually changes how those memories are experienced. 

FFTT helps people develop new, intentional ways of reacting to trauma, rather than being stuck in past patterns of avoiding and suffering from it.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy

Accelerated resolution therapy (ART) draws on techniques and philosophies from other therapy modalities, such as EMDR and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Similar to these other modalities, ART is based on the idea that traumatic memories feel overwhelming because they aren’t stored properly in the brain.

ART uses techniques like bilateral stimulation and guided imagery to help someone reprocess and reframe their traumatic experiences. As the memory is reworked, the emotional intensity tied to it begins to decrease and it gradually gets moved from the brain’s working memory to its long-term memory. 

Levels of Care—Treatment Options for Veterans

One of the most important considerations when developing a treatment plan is determining the appropriate level of care you need. 

While therapy alone can be helpful for veterans with mild to moderate symptoms, there are more intensive levels of care that are designed to support those with more complex or severe mental health needs.

Intensive Outpatient Treatment

As the name suggests, intensive outpatient treatment is a more intensive, or thorough, alternative to traditional therapy sessions. 

Instead of meeting once a week, intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) involve multiple therapy sessions each week, often for several hours at a time. These programs typically include a combination of individual therapy, group therapy, and skill-building sessions that focus on coping strategies, emotional regulation, and trauma processing.

IOPs are designed to provide a higher level of support while still allowing you to maintain your daily responsibilities, such as work, school, or family commitments..

Residential Treatment

When someone’s symptoms are too severe or persistent to the point they may be a danger to themselves, many mental health professionals will recommend residential treatment where they can fully focus on healing.

Residential treatment provides intensive care in a safe, structured environment. It allows someone to take a step back from their daily life to receive constant monitoring and care. 

Most residential facilities, such as Sequoia’s residential facility, provide a relaxing, supportive space for you to rest, recover, and start healing. 

Partial-Hospitalization Treatment

Partial-hospitalization programs (PHPs) combine aspects of both outpatient and residential programs. 

Similar to being in a residential program, clients in PHP spend most of their day receiving intensive care in the form of individual and group therapies. However, rather than living at the treatment facility, PHP allows you to return to the comfort of your own home each night.

This level of care is particularly helpful for people who haven't experienced significant improvements with outpatient treatments. It can also be used as a stepping stone to reintegrate with daily life for people who are leaving a residential treatment program.

Specialized PTSD & Trauma Recovery for Veterans

Veterans in Arizona deserve quality mental health care from a team that specializes in severe trauma care.

At Sequoia Behavioral Health, our team of mental health experts has years of experience in helping veterans recover from trauma. Each level of care we offer takes a holistic, trauma-informed approach that heals underlying trauma so you can live the life you deserve.

Reach out today to connect with a mental health professional here at Sequoia.