How We Treat Complex PTSD

TherapyCPTSD
Written By Dr. Ruth Gatt

At Woven, we specialize in relational, depth-oriented therapy approaches that provide a solid foundation for the delicate and challenging work of Complex PTSD treatment. Here, I describe 3 Steps we use to address CPTSD for our Clients, sharing in detail what this style of treatment looks like. I also explain the role of grief work in treating complex PTSD.

What is Complex PTSD?

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (Complex PTSD, or CPTSD) is a condition sharing many symptoms of PTSD, with some important distinctions.

It develops in childhood as a response to:

  • Emotional, psychological, or physical abuse

  • Neglect, or abandonment

There are 5 common features of CPTSD:

  1. Emotional flashbacks

  2. Toxic shame

  3. Self-abandonment

  4. Presence of a vicious inner critic

  5. Social anxiety

Three Steps Used to Address CPTSD

  1. Establish safety at every step of the way.

    • This includes establishing safety in your environment (during and outside of session), safety in uncovering and processing difficult thoughts, feelings, or memories, and support with managing emotional flashbacks and other distressing symptoms.

  2. Education

    • The more you understand what’s happening for you emotionally and psychologically, the more empowered you’ll be to walk with confidence in your daily life.

  3. Dive in.

    • For some, trauma work can feel like being lost in the woods. At Woven, we go with you to enter the darkness and help guide you through.

How to Treat Complex PTSD Using Depth-Oriented Therapy 

This approach requires…

  • A high level of commitment from both you and your therapist.

  • Building a relationship that is strong enough to withstand inevitable triggers and challenges that will occur during therapy.

  • Intimate knowledge of CPTSD.

    • This includes expertise in navigating interrelated family system dynamics.

  • Ability to create safety and facilitate grief-work.

  • Unconditional respect and positive regard for the you, even when you has a hard time seeing yourself this way.

Grief and Complex Trauma

For survivors of CPTSD and complex trauma, grief-work is essential to healing. Treating Complex PTSD, therefore, naturally involves diving deep into your past, accessing buried wounds, and learning to grieve. Psychologists specializing in CPTSD treatment work to help you through the challenging and liberating process of discovering and tending to your childhood wounds.

Making the decision to begin treatment for Complex PTSD in Los Angeles can feel daunting. Please, please, please, find a strong enough support system to lean on during this journey. Ideally, this would include working with a professional who is intimately familiar with the world of complex trauma to help you cope and find refuge during the treatment and grieving processes.

Trauma and grief are tightly bound.

Impact of Complex Trauma

  • Arresting and trapping valuable parts of yourself.

  • Developing danger and shame narratives to cope in the absence of appropriate support and caregiving.

  • Limited knowledge or appreciation of yourself.

Benefits of grieving trauma wounds:

  • Rediscovering dormant or damaged parts of yourself.

  • Catharsis of fully feeling.

  • Unlocking vital compassion and self-protection instincts.

  • Acknowledgment, understanding, and appreciation of what has been lost.

  • Learning nurturance and reparenting skills.

For resources that you can use to support your recovery from PTSD right now, head over to my blog, Grief and Complex Trauma.

Want help working through your Trauma? Book a free consultation with our therapist matchmaker to help find the right therpist for you (California residents only). We provide online therapy and have therapists who are trained in EMDR therapy. We also offer many different types of trauma therapy groups. All of our therapists specialize in trauma-informed care, and informed trauma therapy.

All therapists at Woven Together Trauma Therapy are trauma-informed and specialize in treating all forms of trauma. We also offer EMDR therapy, Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, and Brainspotting therapy which all have shown to be extremely effective in treating and healing trauma. Want to read more about our unique therapy options?

These blogs talk more about the basics of EMDR therapy:

You can read more about Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy here:

If you would like to learn more about Brainspotting therapy, check out our blog: What is Brainspotting?

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