Do I have to have “PTSD” for trauma therapy to help?

No. Many people experience trauma responses without a formal diagnosis. If you feel affected by past experiences in the present, therapy can help.

Will I have to talk about everything that happened?

No. Therapy is paced and collaborative. You won’t be forced to share details before you’re ready, and early work often focuses on stabilisation and coping.

Why do I feel unsafe when I know I’m safe?

Because trauma is stored in the nervous system as threat learning. The body reacts quickly, sometimes before the thinking mind catches up. Therapy helps your system update over time.

What if I feel numb rather than anxious?

That can be a trauma response. Numbness or disconnection is often a protective shutdown. Therapy helps you reconnect safely and gradually.

Can trauma affect relationships and intimacy?

Yes. Trauma can affect trust, closeness, boundaries, and emotional regulation. Therapy can help you understand patterns and build safer connection.

Do you offer PTSD and trauma therapy in London and online?

Yes. We offer therapy in London and online across the UK.

PTSD and Trauma Therapy

Trauma can change how safe the world feels. Even when the event is over, your nervous system may still behave as if danger is present. You might feel on edge, easily startled, emotionally numb, overwhelmed by memories, or as though you can’t fully relax. Many people also feel confused about why they’re still affected, especially if they “know” they’re safe now.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop after a single incident or after repeated experiences over time. Some people experience clear flashbacks and nightmares. Others notice more subtle trauma patterns: chronic alertness, relationship difficulties, shame, disconnection, or feeling as though life is happening behind glass.

At Hampstead Psychology, we offer trauma-informed, evidence-based therapy for PTSD and trauma in London and online across the UK. We work at a pace that feels safe, helping you understand what your system is doing and gently change the patterns that keep you stuck.

This page is for information and does not replace a clinical assessment, diagnosis, or medical advice.

When trauma responses start to take over

You might recognise some of these experiences:

You feel on edge, vigilant, or easily startled, as if you can’t fully relax.
You have intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, or unwanted images.
You avoid reminders — places, people, conversations, or feelings — because they feel too much.
You feel emotionally numb, disconnected, or as though you’re not fully present.
You notice irritability, anger, sudden fear, or emotional overwhelm.
Your sleep is disrupted and you feel exhausted and wired at the same time.
You feel unsafe in your body, or sensitive to touch, closeness, or certain situations.
You struggle with guilt, shame, or self-blame about what happened.
You find relationships harder: trust, intimacy, conflict, or feeling understood.
You feel like you “should be over it,” but your body doesn’t agree.

If this fits, it doesn’t mean you’re weak. Trauma responses are often a sign that your system adapted to something overwhelming. Therapy helps your mind and body update, so the past stops intruding on the present.

How trauma and PTSD can show up

Re-experiencing

Some people re-experience trauma through flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive memories, or sudden emotional and physical surges. It can feel as if it’s happening again, even when you know it isn’t. Therapy helps reduce the intensity and frequency of re-experiencing and supports the nervous system to reorient to the present.

Hypervigilance and threat sensitivity

After trauma, your threat system can become highly sensitive. You might scan for danger, feel tense, struggle to relax, or be easily startled. Therapy helps calm this ongoing alarm response and rebuild a sense of safety in your body.

Avoidance and life shrinking

Avoidance is understandable. It can include avoiding places, people, memories, emotions, intimacy, or anything that might trigger the feeling state. Avoidance reduces distress in the moment, but it often keeps trauma symptoms going. Therapy helps you reduce avoidance carefully and regain choice and freedom.

Numbness, shutdown, and disconnection

Many people don’t feel “anxious” — they feel flat, disconnected, spaced out, or cut off from emotion. This can be a protective response. Therapy helps you reconnect safely, without forcing intensity.

Shame, guilt, and changes in self-belief

Trauma can reshape how you see yourself and others. You might feel defective, unsafe, unlovable, or responsible. Therapy helps you work with these beliefs compassionately and rebuild a steadier sense of self.

Related difficulties we often see alongside trauma

Trauma and PTSD often overlap with anxiety, depression, panic symptoms, insomnia, health anxiety, relationship strain, compulsive coping habits, and stress and burnout. Some people also experience difficulties with concentration, confidence, and a sense of identity.

Therapy considers the whole picture while keeping the work grounded and paced.

Safety and pacing in trauma therapy

Trauma therapy should not feel like being thrown back into the worst moments. Good trauma work is paced. It often begins with stabilisation: helping you feel safer in your body, strengthening coping, and building a sense of control over triggers. Only then do some people choose to work more directly with traumatic memories, when it feels appropriate and manageable.

If you are currently in an unsafe situation, or if there is ongoing risk, the focus of therapy is safety and support rather than memory processing.

What keeps trauma responses going?

Trauma symptoms are often maintained by a loop that makes sense in the nervous system.

Reminders or triggers appear (sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle).
Your body reacts as if danger is present: alarm, panic, shutdown, or numbness.
You cope by avoiding, suppressing, or trying to control feelings and memories.
Short-term relief follows, but the brain doesn’t get the chance to learn “it’s over.”
The trigger-response pattern stays sensitive, and the past keeps intruding.

Therapy helps the system update. You learn to notice triggers, regulate your body, reduce avoidance, and process what your mind has been holding, so the present can start to feel safer again.

How therapy for PTSD and trauma helps

At Hampstead Psychology, we use trauma-informed approaches that are widely used in evidence-based psychological practice. Depending on your needs, this may include CBT-informed trauma work, ACT, compassion-focused work, and schema-informed therapy, alongside stabilisation and nervous system regulation strategies.

In practice, therapy often involves making sense of your trauma responses, reducing triggers and avoidance patterns, working with shame and self-blame, and rebuilding grounding, boundaries, and safety in relationships. For some people, therapy also includes carefully structured work to process traumatic memories in a way that reduces their emotional charge and helps your mind file them as “past.”

The aim isn’t to erase what happened. It’s to reduce the ongoing impact, so your life is not organised around threat.

What to expect from sessions

We begin by understanding what you’ve been experiencing, what triggers it, what helps, and what feels most difficult. We will agree goals and pace together, and we’ll prioritise safety and stabilisation.

Sessions are collaborative and contained. You’ll leave with clearer understanding and practical steps to support regulation between sessions. We review progress regularly so the work stays supportive and never feels like too much, too fast.

How long does therapy take?

This varies. Some people want focused work on performance anxiety, confidence, or desire differences. Others need longer, particularly when pain, trauma, relationship repair, or major life transitions are involved.

We review progress together so therapy stays purposeful and aligned with your goals.

PTSD & Trauma therapy in Hampstead and online

We offer trauma therapy in person in London and online across the UK. Many people prefer online sessions for consistency and privacy. We’ll help you think about what setting feels safest and most workable for you.

Take the next step

If trauma has been leaving you on edge, disconnected, or stuck in the past, you don’t have to carry it alone. With the right support, it’s possible to feel safer in your body, less hijacked by triggers, and more able to live in the present again.

Contact Hampstead Psychology to enquire about OCD therapy in London or online.

Useful links: Anxiety Therapy, Depression Therapy, Panic Attacks, Insomnia and Sleep Problems, Stress and Burnout, Couples Counselling, Fees, Meet the Team, Contact.

Urgent Help

If you are worried about immediate risk to your safety, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent support but it isn’t an emergency, contact NHS 111 or your GP. You can also contact Samaritans on 116 123 (24/7).

Meet The Team

At Hampstead Psychology, all of our psychologists have extensive training to doctoral level and decades of experience in their field of expertise. You will be matched with a psychologist that has the knowledge and skill to help you understand and overcome your problem - not just in the short term but for good.