~ About ~
Dr Sarah Ullman
In addition to her academic and clinical work in neuropsychological assessment, PTSD, and the addictive disorders, Dr Ullman holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology, two Master's degrees in Clinical Psychology and Community Counseling and a professional counseling license to practice in the state of Pennsylvania. Dr Ullman holds Diplomate status with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress in conjunction with the National Center for PTSD, and is a trained Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) member of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation with decades of emergency deployments including New York City and the Pentagon during and after the 9/11 terror attacks. She is uniquely qualified academically, clinically, and in the field to work with individuals, those in the armed forces, governmental agencies, and small business and corporate organizations during and after traumatic events.
Dr Ullman has had the privilege to train under world-renown neuroscientists, academicians, psychiatrists, trauma first responders, and clinical and counseling psychologists, and for the past 30 years has been a practicing psychotherapist specializing in the assessment and treatment of PTSD, complex (developmental) trauma and addictive disorders with children, teens, adults, and those in their senior years. She has been the invited guest speaker for public, private, and global organizations, as well as the Georgia Bar Association, multiple hospitals and universities, and charity functions, on issues concerning crisis intervention and preparedness, sexual addiction, PTSD in the military, and addictive disorders.
Dr Ullman's clinical and academic focus is specific to disorders of arousal dysregulation and complex trauma (C-PTSD), with increasing attention paid to the global crisis of refugee trauma, and the peri-traumatic dissociative disorders related to what was historically referred to as shell shock specific to soldiers returning from battle and what we now call PTSD, as well as childhood maltreatment and PTSD in adults that have been maltreated or abused during their childhood.
Our men and women in the armed forces, whether from recent OEF/OIF deployment, or those that served in any capacity and in any conflict, whether one tour or more, are especially susceptible to depression, anxiety and the signs and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress as a byproduct of war and conflict, and not as a byproduct of the individual. It is important to understand that post-traumatic stress is the result of a normal, psychologically healthy individual, that no matter how well prepared, having experienced or witnessed one or multiple difficult, often unspeakable or catastrophic events, becomes susceptible to trauma and stressor-related disorders. No one is immune, including and sometimes especially local law enforcement and fire personnel who, on a continual basis, oftentimes day-after-day, return to the streets, horrific accidents, and/or the ravages of a devastating fire, whether risking one's own life or trying to save others, put themselves in harrowing and danger-filled situations as part of their job description.
Childhood maltreatment and developmental trauma is specific to the populations that include children and adults that have experienced predominantly early childhood trauma such as sexual abuse, neglect, and/or violence. Unfortunately and through no fault of their own, a great many of these children are unable to self-regulate their feelings secondary to to their maltreatment and resultant developmental impairment. When unable to recognize and manage what would otherwise be a normal range of emotion and levels of daily stress, these mild to moderate stressors are experienced as catastrophic. Consequently, these children develop significant inter-and intra-personal issues that without intervention, persist throughout the lifespan. As they approach their adolescence and early adulthood, these disturbances generally coalesce around issues pertaining to pathological shame and fear of abandonment and betrayal, intimacy and attachment, uncontrollable anger, explosive rage reactions, and personality and dissociative disorders. These are such problematic and painful issues of daily living that more often then not and dependent upon the type, duration, and intensity of the traumatic event or events and the resilience of the child, the need to tamp down and self medicate these emotions can easily lead to alcohol and drug abuse, and the process addictions such as sex addiction, gambling, eating, cutting, and gaming.
Currently, Dr Ullman is completing a series of video productions, works of non-fiction, e-courses, webinar series, and seminars related to the myriad difficulties associated with complex trauma and the process addictions.
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