What Is Complex Trauma (C-PTSD)?
Growing up in a chaotic home environment due to caregivers' mental illness or substance use, or suffering physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as a child or adult can profoundly affect your sense of self. You may not even realize how profoundly these experiences affect you.
Living through traumatic experiences, especially prolonged traumatic experiences inflicted by people who you trust and care for, impacts your mind, body, and emotions and can seem impossible to heal. You may be constantly and unpredictably triggered by things that happened to you in the past. You may feel out of control, spiraling into intense feelings of shame, anxiety, anger, depression, fear, and self-blame. You may even turn to substance abuse, cutting, and other harmful or impulsive behaviors to cope.
Trauma can profoundly affect fundamental aspects of yourself and your ability to relate to others, resulting in problems in the areas of:
Living through traumatic experiences, especially prolonged traumatic experiences inflicted by people who you trust and care for, impacts your mind, body, and emotions and can seem impossible to heal. You may be constantly and unpredictably triggered by things that happened to you in the past. You may feel out of control, spiraling into intense feelings of shame, anxiety, anger, depression, fear, and self-blame. You may even turn to substance abuse, cutting, and other harmful or impulsive behaviors to cope.
Trauma can profoundly affect fundamental aspects of yourself and your ability to relate to others, resulting in problems in the areas of:
- Emotion regulation difficulties such as too much or too little emotion, limited awareness of feelings, difficulty with self-soothing
- Chronic feelings of fear, anger, shame, sadness, helplessness, hopelessness
- Impulsive or self-destructive behaviors related to difficulties managing emotions (addictions, self-harm, disordered eating)
- Being in a persistent state of arousal; startling easily/being jumpy
- Sense of self as bad, inadequate, worthless, weak, powerless, undeserving
- Self-critical and self-blaming; hypersensitivity to criticism & rejection
- Identity problems such as not feeling whole, lacking a clear, stable sense of self, inner sense of confusion, frequent changes in career, life goals, etc.
- Alterations in memory and attention
- Problems with trust and intimacy in relationships
- Difficulty with boundaries, self-assertion, and setting limits in relationships
- Difficulty connecting with others; sense of isolation or alienation
- Frequent physical health problems such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, hypertension, sexual pain and dysfunction
- Hypersensitivity to stimuli such as physical contact, sounds
- Difficulty with sleep; falling asleep/staying asleep
How can therapy help?
Therapy can help you identify parts of your self and patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that are actually survival responses to trauma triggers. These responses once served you, but now get in the way, and are often just as damaging as the initial event. I can help you create adaptive self-care and coping skills to manage and heal deep trauma and attachment wounds so that you can feel safe, calm, and thrive in life. Together we will build and strengthen your sense of self-worth, self-acceptance, and ultimately self-love.
work with a therapist who deeply understands complex trauma
My specialty in working with relational and complex trauma is informed by neuroscience, attachment research, and nearly two decades of providing psychotherapy to people who have survived complex trauma and transformed their lives. This background provides insight into not only why trauma has such a profound effect, but also how exactly to heal. I have advanced training and certification in treating complex trauma (Certified Complex Trauma Professional - CCTP-II) from the International Association of Trauma Professionals and have trained with experts in the treatment of complex trauma such as Bessel van der Kolk and Janina Fisher, as well as Daniel Siegel, the creator of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), a theory and working model of how we are shaped by the interplay of genes in the context of relationships.
Together we can restore your sense of safety, help you begin to feel more stable and secure, and build healthy relationships with the people that matter most to you.
I welcome diverse populations in individual therapy, including all sexual orientations, genders, and relationship structures.
Together we can restore your sense of safety, help you begin to feel more stable and secure, and build healthy relationships with the people that matter most to you.
I welcome diverse populations in individual therapy, including all sexual orientations, genders, and relationship structures.
"We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions."
~Brene Brown
~Brene Brown
Begin your healing journey
Schedule a free 15 minute video consultation or an initial 50 minute therapy session to get a sense of what our working relationship might feel like. Sometimes my practice is full. If no times are available for online scheduling and you'd like to work together, send me a message.