If you've been through something that changed how safe the world feels, you probably already know the experience doesn't end when the event does. You might startle at sounds that never used to bother you. You might go numb in moments that should feel ordinary. You might avoid certain places, people, or situations without being able to fully explain why, even to yourself.
PTSD is one of the more complex presentations that comes through trauma therapy, partly because the symptoms, including hypervigilance, avoidance, and intrusive memories, are the nervous system's attempt to protect you from something it never fully processed. Olive Branch Family Therapy offers PTSD therapy in Denton, TX, in person and via telehealth throughout Texas, with sessions ranging from $95 to $150. Most new clients are seen within a week.
PTSD symptoms don't follow a schedule. A smell, a sound, or something as ordinary as a date on the calendar can bring everything back without warning.
For some people, the symptoms are loud: nightmares, flashbacks, feeling like they're reliving it in real time. For others, they're quieter but just as disruptive: trouble concentrating, feeling disconnected from people they love, or a low-level sense that something is always about to go wrong.
Both patterns are real. Both deserve real support. And both respond to treatment.
One of the most frustrating parts of PTSD is that retelling what happened can sometimes make things worse, not better. Recounting the story without the right structure can reactivate the distress without helping the brain actually move through it.
Of the approaches used to treat PTSD, EMDR therapy has one of the strongest evidence bases. It works by helping the brain reprocess distressing memories rather than requiring someone to talk through them repeatedly.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, typically guided eye movements, to help the brain complete the processing it couldn't finish at the time of the event. The goal is that the memory stays accessible, but stops pulling your nervous system back into crisis every time something touches it.
We start with safety and stabilization before any processing begins. That means building grounding skills and emotion regulation strategies first, so you have something solid to stand on before we move toward more difficult material.
From there, we draw on EMDR and IFS (Internal Family Systems) depending on what fits your history and how you're presenting. IFS is particularly useful when PTSD is layered with shame, self-criticism, or protective parts that have been working hard for a long time to keep the pain contained.
The pace is yours. Nothing happens before you're ready for it.
The clinicians who work with PTSD at Olive Branch, including Jill Davis, Brittany Klabunde, and our licensed therapists trained in EMDR, bring both the clinical credentials and the trauma-specific experience that this kind of work requires.
Jill Davis is a certified EMDR therapist who has worked with trauma across a range of presentations, including grief, anxiety, and addiction rooted in past experience. Brittany Klabunde is EMDR Certified, with a background in crisis centers, shelters, and hospitals that gives her particular depth with trauma involving abuse, violence, or acute crisis. Both are based in Denton and see clients in person and via telehealth.
No. EMDR and IFS, the primary approaches we use for PTSD at Olive Branch, don't require you to recount the full story of what happened. EMDR works with the memory through a structured bilateral process, and IFS works with the parts of you shaped by the experience. Some people share very little about the content of the trauma and still do meaningful, lasting work.
Come in and tell us that. Not every approach fits every person or every type of trauma, and a previous experience that didn't work doesn't mean therapy can't work for you. EMDR was specifically developed for people whose trauma wasn't resolving through traditional talk therapy, and many people who come to Olive Branch have tried other things first.
A formal diagnosis isn't required to start. If something happened in your past and you're still feeling its effects in your daily life, that's enough to come in. We complete a comprehensive trauma assessment in the early sessions to understand your history and build a treatment plan from there.
If you've been living with symptoms long enough that they feel like just the way things are, that's often where this work begins. You can reach out to us to get scheduled, and most new clients are seen within a week.
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