Auto or Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVAs) Therapy and Treatment

MVA accidents, as well as all kinds of accidents, can frequently result in PTSD, not only because of the accident itself, but also due to additional trauma such as:

• Uncaring or harsh treatment by someone at the scene of the accident
• Death of someone in your vehicle or the other
• Problems with health care treatment
• Continuing pain, such as whiplash pain
• Potential for abuse of pain medications
• Insurance trauma (i.e., the other driver first took blame, but then changed his/her mind)
• Legal trauma regarding a court case

PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) symptoms include flashbacks, anxiety attacks, nightmares, numbing, or crying.Other potential results of an MVA include phobia of driving and fear of medical personnel. Though the accident can range from minor to serious, either kind can result in long-lasting pain.

Once the pain moves from acute to the chronic stage, pain messages are now traveling through the negative emotional processing centers of the brain (the insula and anterior cingulate). Thus, when dealing with chronic pain, it is essential to deal with the emotional trauma. EMDR is ideally suited to treat pain memories from motor vehicle accidents because it target the negative experiences and assists the brain to naturally let go of material that serves no useful purpose. Talk therapies rely on sheer will power and repetition in the form of homework to overcome negative thoughts. EMDR goes beyond talk, and assists the brain to get into a more optimum, adaptive mode in ways clients describe as “fast” and “amazing.”

Witnesses to an accident may also have flashbacks of the disturbing sounds, sights, and even smells that they experienced. This is called “secondary traumatization.” One need not simply be a witness to have secondary traumatization. For some people, including children, hearing the story of the gruesome details can give them trauma.

The treatment assessment for a victim of a motor vehicle accident includes listing all the aspects of the incident that the client may find stressful or traumatic. Physical discomfort and pain associated with difficult memories, as well, can be processed and desensitized so that the client is again freer to move forward in his life.

Though a number of clients may fear going back to painful memories, once they experience the release of symptoms through EMDR, they are more eager to clear out any remaining remnants of the distress. Pain and fear can move out of that “front and center” place in a person’s life.  Freed from the highly activated emotions and sensations of the memory, you can move forward to seek and create fresh, positive new experiences.

Here is what one victim of an MVA said after her EMDR treatment was complete:

I feel like I’m returning to myself more and more, and maybe even better.  I found our sessions very helpful both in helping me deal with the accident situation and in learning some techniques and ways of thinking to deal with difficult situations in the future.

I also liked working with you as you have a caring, calm, nonjudgmental way that put me at ease.  I only wish I would have sought your help earlier.       — Cathy

We hope you will call today to get going in this healing direction.  All of our EMDRIA-Certified EMDR Therapists specialize in PTSD and can assist you with MVA.