How does Trauma Therapy Work?

The first goal is to create a sense of safety in working together. To do that, I emphasize the importance of your autonomy and acknowledge you are the expert of yourself and will go at whatever pace feels most comfortable for you. My therapeutic style is warm, compassionate, curious, and non-judgmental.

Together, we will work both in the here and now as well as draw from your past.

I utilize the following approaches to treating complex and chronic trauma:

  • Bottom-Up Approach: Unlike traditional talk therapy that starts with thoughts, somatic therapy focuses on physical sensations (tightness, heat, trembling) to change how the mind processes traumatic memories.

  • Pendulation: A technique involving gently moving between feeling sensations of safety and sensations of distress to build capacity without overwhelming the nervous system.

  • Titration: The process of revisiting small, manageable parts of a traumatic memory to process it slowly rather than all at once.

  • Grounding and Resourcing: Techniques to help you feel safe and present in your body, such as deep breathing, focusing on physical contact with a chair, or recalling a peaceful memory.

  • Memory Reconsolidation:  Memory Reconsolidation is a neurobiological process that allows long-term memories to become fundamentally unlearned and “erased”. This process is crucial for therapeutic, lasting change in emotional and traumatic memories. I utilize a process called Coherence Therapy (click to read more).

What is Complex Trauma?

For those who grew up in environments that were chronically critical, invalidating, lonely, dismissive, insulting, or all of the above, navigating life can often feel like stumbling through the world wounded by invisible cuts and bruises. Such experiences can often develop into complex trauma, or C-PTSD.

Interpersonal trauma can occur in the context of relationships with parents, caregivers, and authority figures that consciously or unconsciously utilized emotional abuse and emotional neglect.

Over time, a variety of painful and self-limiting beliefs and patterns can result from prolonged emotional abuse or neglect. Common reactions are:

  • Living with chronic shame, self-doubt or self-hatred

  • Identifying as damaged, defective, inadequate, or unworthy of love

  • Feeling invisible, insignificant, or alone in the world

  • Lacking a sense of self or identity

  • Believing they take up too much space in the world

  • Never feeling competent

  • Not feeling like an adult

  • Experiencing the world as unsafe or unpredictable

  • Experiencing others as hard to trust

  • Finding difficulty asking for help or support

  • Believing the world is functioning around them or better off without them

C-PTSD is caused by exposure to prolonged and repeated traumatic events, particularly those that are interpersonal in nature and involve a loss of control and a sense of powerlessness.

Repeated exposure to traumatic events can lead to changes in the brain and nervous system, including alterations in the stress response system and the development of maladaptive coping strategies.

What is Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or C-PTSD?

Traumatic events that are more likely to cause complex PTSD are as follows:

1. Childhood abuse: Childhood abuse can include physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. It can also include physical neglect, such as a lack of adequate food, shelter, and medical care, and emotional neglect such as lack of affection and warmth, ignoring emotional needs, withholding attention, enmeshment, or overinvolvement.

2. Self-esteem issues: People with C-PTSD may struggle with feelings of shame, guilt, powerlessness and a sense of being damaged or broken, which can impact their self-esteem and self-worth. Repeated traumatization also results in deep-seated changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors related to safety, trust, intimacy, and control.

3. Emotional dysregulation: This can look like rapid mood swings or extreme emotional responses that seem disproportionate to the situation. May also have heightened emotional sensitivity, meaning they feel emotions more intensely than others.

4. Relational difficulties: C-PTSD can impact an individual's ability to form and maintain healthy relationships. Adults may unconsciously seek out relationship that mirror their childhood experiences, leading to cycles of emotional neglect or unhealthy dynamics.