Developmental or Complex Trauma Counseling

Trauma is most recognized in the context of "shock trauma" as defined in the DSM 5-TR.  However, the criteria listed does not fully explain the complexity of chronic exposure to ruptured attachment or complex family of origin issues. Shock trauma is the reaction to a startling threat to safety, vs developmental trauma, the chronic exposure to situations and relationships that compromise the inner sense of self security (or inner identity). 

"PTSD focuses on experiences of safety related to life-and-death threat, and the symptoms associated with physiological dysregulation. C-PTSD focuses on experiences of inner security related to the threat of the Self and the symptoms associated with psychobiological disorganization"--Laurence Heller, PHD

"Connection is our natural state. It is only when connection becomes a threat that humans must rely on strategies for disconnection to survive."---Laurence Heller, PHD

The proposed criteria by Heller for C-PTSD that we treat is: 

1. Interpersonal Disturbances

2. Negative Self-Concept

3. Affect (Emotional) Dysregulation

4. Re-Experiencing

5. Avoidance

6. Sense of Threat

Many of our clients face internal struggles with not feeling their trauma is valid, but often feel that a variety of medications, treatments, and therapies have been unsuccessful. We believe in the NueroAffective Relational Model of treatment, addressing the layers of self-identity, internal shame, and strategies of disconnection (to self and others) that have formed from repetitive and varying attachment traumas. Chronic shame is often at the root of developmental trauma, leading to broken feelings of connecting to self and others. 

Bessel Van Der Kolk in "The Politics of Mental Health" says it best: 

"All these (DSM) diagnose ignore the most common etiology of these disorders: early trauma and disruptions the safety of the attachment system. If we were to acknowledge the social realities that give rise to C-PTSD, we would stop looking for seem mysterious biochemical or genetic origin that keeps innumerable research labs in business and start putting our resources into becoming a public health system that focuses on prevention and repair, creating optimal conditions for children and young adults to develop and thrive." 

Education and attunement are at the heart of this work.  Although C-PTSD is not yet recognized formally in the US, other countries are exploring the idea that trauma has been conceptualized in a context that is one dimensional. Our hope for our clients is that they can more adequately identify their thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, leading to deeper and more secure interpersonal relationships. 

Developing a deeper understanding of your story of development can offer more space to feel a sense of purpose and connectedness to those you love. 

Some of our favorite resources are: 

When The Body Says No by Gabor Mate

The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk

It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter Levine

Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy by Francine Shapiro 

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay Gibson

Mother Hunger: How Adult Daughters Can Understand and Heal from Lost Nurturance, Protection, and Guidance by Kelly McDaniel