Medical Trauma Therapy in WA & CA
Healing After Healthcare Experiences That Felt Overwhelming, Violating, or Unsafe
When Medical Care Leaves a Lasting Wound
For many people, medical experiences are supposed to bring relief or healing.
But for you, it may have done the opposite.
Perhaps you were dismissed, rushed, or not believed.
Maybe procedures happened without enough explanation, consent, or emotional support.
You may have felt powerless, exposed, frightened, or alone—while being told “this is normal” or “you’re fine.”
Medical trauma often happens inside systems meant to help, which can make it especially confusing, isolating, and angering.
Common Signs of Medical Trauma
Anxiety or panic around doctors, hospitals, needles, or medical settings
Feeling frozen, dissociated, or numb during appointments
Strong bodily reactions (tight chest, nausea, dizziness) when thinking about medical care
Avoidance of healthcare—even when you know it’s important
Difficulty trusting medical professionals or advocating for yourself
Shame, self-blame, or minimizing what happened (“others had it worse”)
Sleep disturbance, hypervigilance, or sudden emotional flooding
A sense that your body no longer feels safe or predictable
For some people, medical trauma overlaps with chronic illness, fertility struggles, pregnancy or birth trauma, surgeries, cancer treatment, childhood hospitalizations, or experiences of medical racism or bias.
What Healing From Medical Trauma Can Look Like
✅ Your body no longer going into survival mode around medical reminders
✅ Being able to attend appointments with more choice, grounding, and self-trust
✅ Releasing stored fear, helplessness, or shame held in the nervous system
✅ Reconnecting with your body as yours again
✅ Feeling more empowered to set boundaries and advocate for yourself
✅ Developing compassion for the parts of you that learned to protect you
At its core, healing medical trauma is about restoring a sense of safety, agency, and dignity—both internally and in the world.
Medical Trauma I Help With
Medical trauma can look very different from person to person. Here are some of the experiences I most often support clients in healing, in person in Lynnwood, WA and online across Washington and California.
Birth Trauma Therapy
A birth that felt frightening, rushed or out of your control can leave lasting marks, even if everyone told you "at least the baby is healthy." You might replay moments from labor, feel panic around hospitals or future pregnancies, or feel disconnected from your body since giving birth. Birth trauma therapy helps your nervous system process what happened, so you can feel safe in your body and present with your child and yourself.
Fertility & Pregnancy Loss Trauma
Infertility, IVF, miscarriage, stillbirth and pregnancy loss can bring repeated medical procedures, waiting, hope and grief, often carried silently. Many people feel their body "failed" them or struggle with anxiety at every appointment. Therapy offers space to grieve, release the trauma held in your body and gently rebuild trust with yourself, at your own pace.
Trauma After Surgery, ICU or Hospitalization
Surgery, an ICU stay, a medical emergency or a long hospitalization can leave you with flashbacks, nightmares, fear of needles or doctors, or a body that no longer feels safe. This also includes childhood hospitalizations you may not fully remember but still feel. Using EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, we help your body complete the survival responses it never got to finish, so medical reminders lose their grip.
Medical Racism & Being Dismissed by Doctors
Being ignored, disbelieved or treated differently because of your race, gender, size or background is its own kind of trauma, especially when it happens in a place that's supposed to help. You may now avoid care, second-guess your symptoms or feel your body tense at every appointment. In a culturally attuned space, we'll honor what happened, address the shame and anger it left behind, and help you feel more grounded advocating for yourself.
How I Work With Medical Trauma
We focus on how your body and inner system learned to survive, and how to help it update now that the danger has passed.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Using Internal Family Systems, we explore the different “parts” of you that formed around medical experiences—such as parts that stay hyper-alert, avoid care, shut down, or push through at all costs.
Instead of judging these responses, we approach them with curiosity and respect.
These parts are not problems—they’re protectors that learned from real experiences.
IFS helps you:
Understand internal conflicts around healthcare decisions
Build compassion for protective survival strategies
Create internal safety before addressing traumatic memories
EMDR Therapy
With Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, we gently process medical memories that still feel “stuck” in the nervous system.
EMDR helps the brain and body:
Release the intensity of past medical experiences
Reduce emotional and physical reactivity to triggers
Integrate memories without reliving them
We move slowly and intentionally, with strong resourcing, so your system is never overwhelmed.
Somatic Experiencing
Medical trauma is often stored in the body, especially when you couldn’t move, speak, or stop what was happening.
Through Somatic Experiencing, we work directly with bodily sensations—tracking subtle signals of safety, tension, and release.
Somatic work helps:
Restore a sense of agency in your body
Complete interrupted fight-or-flight responses
Build capacity for regulation and presence
This approach is especially supportive if talk therapy alone hasn’t felt enough.
Medical Trauma Therapy FAQs
1. WhatWhat is medical trauma?
Medical trauma is the emotional and physical stress response that can follow a frightening, painful or overwhelming healthcare experience. It can come from a single event, like an emergency surgery, a difficult birth or an ICU stay, or from repeated experiences, like chronic illness, fertility treatments or feeling dismissed by doctors. Signs include anxiety or panic around medical settings, avoiding appointments, flashbacks, feeling numb or frozen during care, and losing trust in your body. Medical trauma is real, common and very treatable.
2. Can EMDR help with fear of doctors or needles?
Yes. EMDR is a well-researched trauma therapy that can reduce intense fear of doctors, needles, hospitals or medical procedures. Many of these fears are rooted in past experiences your nervous system still remembers, sometimes from childhood. EMDR helps your brain reprocess those memories so they stop setting off alarm bells, and Somatic Experiencing helps your body feel calmer in the moment. Many clients find they can attend appointments, get blood drawn or schedule care they've been avoiding with much less distress.
3. Can therapy help me prepare for an upcoming procedure?
Yes. If you have a surgery, birth, medical test or treatment coming up, therapy can help you feel more grounded before, during and after. Together we can process past medical experiences that may be fueling your fear, practice body-based calming tools you can use in the waiting room or on the table, and create a plan for advocating for your needs with your care team. If your date is close, ask about a focused EMDR intensive to make meaningful progress in a shorter time.
4. Can medical trauma therapy be done online?
Yes. I offer medical trauma therapy online for adults anywhere in Washington and California, and in person in Lynnwood, WA. For many people with medical trauma, working from home feels safer because there's no waiting room or clinical setting to trigger the body. EMDR, IFS and Somatic Experiencing all work well online.
Virtual
Lynnwood WA
Hybrid
Medical Trauma Therapy
in WA & CA
I offer medical trauma therapy for adults across Washington State and California via secure Telehealth, as well as in person service in Lynnwood WA.