CPTSD & Developmental Trauma Recovery

Break Free from the Cycles of Trauma: Flight, Fight, Freeze, or Fawn

One part of CPTSD can include frequent conflict with friends and loved ones. Often these conflict patterns can become commonplace and add to daily stress.

Finding the types of relationships you want can be difficult when a healthy template wasn’t modeled in early life.

If you find yourself withholding your true thoughts or feelings too often, you may be stuck in an old survival skill that can lead to long term emotional depletion.

Relational disconnection and emotional fatigue can be addressed and worked through.

In Therapy with an attachment expert, you can develop the confidence you desire and experience relationships where you feel safe, seen, and supported.

The Root of the Issue

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can feel like an intimidating experience to begin addressing in day-to-day life.

However, as psychotherapy becomes more common, more individuals are realizing that complex trauma is often at the root of many of their perplexing struggles.

Survivors of relational trauma often have difficulty forming secure attachments or feeling good about themselves. Because they started life without a caregiver that could help them regulate their nervous system, they learn to experience life as overwhelming and unfortunately attribute that overwhelm to personal deficits.

The Difference Between PTSD and CPTSD

Put simply, the distinguishing factor between traditional or “shock trauma” PTSD and developmental or “complex” PTSD is the duration of time the trauma has been going on.

Shock trauma (PTSD) is related to a single event, such as an active-duty combat experience, a motor vehicle accident, or a single event physical assault.

Alternatively, Complex PTSD (CPTSD) is a long-term trauma experience specifically related to relational/attachment abuse and/or neglect starting in early life during a child’s developmental years and often persisting well into adulthood.

This trauma, or the body being stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn mode, has many implications for adult survivors of this type of emotional abuse or neglect.

Indicators of CPTSD

One of the most common indicators of CPTSD for adult survivors of childhood attachment injuries is an imposter syndrome feeling or persistent low self-worth despite objective markers of success and achievement.

A second very common indicator of CPTSD for adult survivors of childhood attachment injuries is difficulty finding and keeping the types of friends and intimate relationships they want.

Survivors of CPTSD often have a distorted self-image and a lack of the relational support that we all need. This is where therapy comes into the picture in a very helpful way.

Restore Your Relationships

Through the identification and replacement of harmful self-limiting beliefs, a healthy self-image can be restored. Following this, supportive relationships can be formed in a more natural way.

Therapy will teach you how to develop the tools you need to establish a healthy relationship with yourself and let that self-awareness and self-support translate to better external relationships as well.

This is accomplished by integrating Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (somatic therapy), Internal Family Systems Psychotherapy (therapy working with different parts of the personality), and Object Relations Psychotherapy (attachment and developmental psychology focused therapy). Combining personality, attachment, developmental, cognitive and somatic approaches provides a thorough approach capable of supporting real and lasting positive change.

Grow Toward a Balanced Life and Healthy Relationships

Through the therapy work, clients often report feeling less physical tension, experiencing a slowed sense of time, and gaining mental clarity that improves focus and attention. They develop a stronger sense of self and, perhaps most importantly, enjoy deeply connected, rewarding, and lasting relationships.

Chronic stress is no longer the norm. Unwanted emotional and relational patterns from early life are recognized, and better solutions emerge. Ultimately, a supportive and kind relationship with yourself becomes the foundation for a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Reach out today for your free 20-minute phone consultation to get your questions answered and learn more about the therapy process.