Trauma Therapy: What do I do about LDS Mission Trauma?
In my last blog post, I talked to you about LDS Mission Trauma: A Sensitive Topic I shared with you difficult it is for the clients I work with to experience. It’s hard to admit to yourself, and it’s hard to talk about. It can absolutely impact your life whether you want it to or not. What I didn’t mention last time is that calling it “trauma” feels like too intense of a word for many people to describe their mission experiences. It doesn’t matter if it feels like trauma or not because all that matters is that you recognize it’s impacted your life, and you would like to do something about it. We will get into more of this a little later in this post.
Signs of LDS Mission Trauma:
-Increased anxiety when thinking about your mission
-Reoccurring nightmares or flashbacks centering around your mission
-Feeling guilty and ashamed about your mission experience
-Loss of interest in the things you usually are interested in
-Increased anger or irritability
-Avoidance of anything that reminds you of your mission
-Feeling lost in your faith and beliefs
Moving forward from the LDS mission trauma
The most important thing for you to do now is to find a way to heal from what you’ve experienced. You can’t change what happened but ignoring it and invalidating it doesn’t make it better either. There are things that make a difference in helping you heal from it all and focusing on those things is the most important step to getting there. If you are a male, you have likely not been taught that it’s ok to feel your emotions and that can make it that much harder. Here are some important steps to helping you work through the trauma you’ve experienced.
Acknowledge it
The first big and important step is to acknowledge that it happened. Admitting to yourself that your mission experience wasn’t what you hoped it would be. Again pretending it didn’t happen and that it didn’t suck doesn’t actually help. That approach prolongs the painful emotions that are underneath the service. Admit to yourself how disappointing it was to experience that when you had wanted your mission to be so much more.
Learn to talk about it
I totally get how talking about an LDS mission being disappointing and difficult in a non-rewarding way is absolutely an unpopular thing to talk about. People are uncomfortable with this topic and don’t always know how to respond. I assure you there are people out there that can handle your honesty and your experience. Remember this about you and not about them regardless of how they respond. Part of processing an experience is learning to talk about it.
Go to EMDR therapy
EMDR therapy is where the magic happens and where I believe the most progress is made. If you don’t know about EMDR therapy it’s a powerful trauma therapy. EMDR therapy is an effective and efficient form of trauma therapy that helps people work through their past experiences. Imagine your brain as a computer and it’s trying to download a large file ie your LDS mission. When you have a negative experience or still have strong emotions attached to it, it interrupts your brain from being able to download the file and update the file. Years later this is why those experiences and memories are still triggering because your brain continues to be interrupted when it tries to download and update this file. EMDR is a tool that can help your brain finish downloading the file so you can process and move past the experience.
Practice self-care
A big part of doing trauma work is having a lot of self-care and self-compassion. This can look different for everyone but learning to validate your experiences and feelings are essential in the process. Learning to be patient and kind to yourself for what you have experienced can aid in the process of healing. Finding ways of coping with emotions whether it’s through exercise and movement, journaling, meditation, etc can be helpful in dealing with the symptoms of trauma.
Healing from any trauma is hard, and I can understand if you are feeling reluctant to ask for help. I know it can feel easier to not work through it but ultimately you pay for it later. I assure you that it’s worth it to work through this. It doesn’t matter if you are an active member or someone that’s left the church, trauma is still trauma and it deserves your time and attention to overcome it. You deserve to feel happy and content with where you are at in your beliefs and your life by working through these experiences. Trauma can impact the beliefs you have about yourself, the world, the church, and God and you deserve to feel better about all of that.
EMDR therapy in Utah
If you live in the state of Utah and wondering how to find a therapist to help you work through your LDS mission trauma, you’ve come to the right place. I want to provide you with the help and healing that you’re after in a way that feels comfortable to you. EMDR therapy is an approach that can help you work through your experiences in a much faster way than just talk therapy alone.
Looking for an EMDR therapist in Utah to help you work through LDS mission trauma?
You don’t have to let negative experiences and past trauma impact your life regardless of what they are. EMDR therapy can help. This Northern Utah Counseling Clinic has an EMDR therapist that can help you. To begin therapy follow these steps:
Schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation with Marcus Hunt
Meet with a trauma therapist
Begin trauma therapy
Online Therapy in Utah
I know you are busy and might have a difficult time putting yourself first. I also know the value of therapy and want to make it more convenient for you by offering online therapy in Utah. Online therapy is convenient and secure and just as effective as in-person therapy.
Online therapy also means if you live in St. George, Logan, Salt Lake City, Heber City, or Cedar City, we can still work together and help your mental health improve.
Other mental health Services at Marcus Hunt Therapy
Trauma therapy and EMDR therapy aren’t the only services provided at this Utah County Counseling Center. Other mental health services provided by Marcus Hunt Therapy include anxiety therapy, therapy for men, marriage counseling, PTSD treatment, LDS marriage counseling, and premarital counseling in Utah.
About the Author
Marcus Hunt is an associate marriage and family therapist at Marcus Hunt Therapy in Utah County and an online therapist in Southern Utah. Marcus has a bachelors degree from Utah Valley University in Orem in behavioral sciences. He also has a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy. He believes in the importance of working through trauma to have a better life and mental health. Marcus has been utilizing EMDR with clients to help them resolve PTSD symptoms and to find last peace in their lives. When Marcus isn’t doing therapy he is a foodie finding new restaurants like Thai Drift off of State Street in Orem.