Therapy for Complex Trauma (CPTSD)

Living with complex trauma often doesn’t feel like a single event you can point to.

It can feel like patterns that repeat — in your emotions, relationships, body, or sense of self — even when you’ve worked hard to understand them.

You may function well on the outside while feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or chronically on edge inside. Or you may notice the same relational or emotional loops showing up again and again, no matter how much insight you have.

You Might Be Here Because…

You may recognize yourself in some of the experiences below — even if you’ve never been given a diagnosis, or if the word trauma doesn’t fully resonate.

  • Your emotions feel intense, unpredictable, or hard to regulate — or you feel numb and shut down instead

  • You struggle with persistent self-criticism, shame, or a sense that something is “wrong” with you

  • Relationships feel confusing, activating, or unsafe, even when you want closeness

  • You notice repeating emotional or relational patterns that don’t seem to change, even with insight or self-work

  • Your body feels on edge, exhausted, or stuck in cycles of anxiety and collapse

Many people arrive here after years of trying to understand themselves — yet still feeling stuck in the same emotional or relational loops.

What Is CPTSD?

Complex trauma refers to the impact of ongoing or repeated experiences that overwhelm a person’s ability to feel safe, supported, or emotionally held over time. These experiences are often relational in nature and may not involve a single, clearly defined event.

Because complex trauma develops gradually, its effects tend to show up as patterns — in emotions, relationships, self-concept, and the nervous system — rather than as isolated memories.

CPTSD is not a sign of weakness or something you failed to “get over.” It reflects how the nervous system adapts in order to survive prolonged stress, instability, or unmet relational needs.

How CPTSD Can Show Up

CPTSD can affect many areas of life, often in subtle or interconnected ways. You may notice patterns in one area more than others, or find that they shift depending on stress, relationships, or context.

Emotionally

  • Intense emotional reactions that feel hard to regulate, or periods of emotional numbness

  • Feeling overwhelmed by emotions that seem disproportionate to the situation

In Relationships

  • Wanting closeness but feeling unsafe or activated when it happens

  • Repeating cycles of conflict, withdrawal, people-pleasing, or emotional shutdown

In Your Sense of Self

  • Feeling fundamentally flawed, different, or “too much”

  • Difficulty trusting your own perceptions, needs, or worth

In the Body

  • Shifting between states of anxiety + hypervigilance and exhaustion + shutdown

  • Physical tension, pain, or stress-related symptoms without a clear cause

Not everyone with CPTSD experiences all of these patterns. What matters most is not the number of symptoms, but how they impact your sense of safety, connection, and choice in daily life.

How Therapy for CPTSD Works Here

Therapy for CPTSD begins with safety and stabilization. Because complex trauma often affects the nervous system and relational patterns over time, the work is paced intentionally and guided by what feels manageable for you.

Ways This Work Can Take Shape

This work can take place in different therapeutic formats, depending on what level of support feels most appropriate:

  • Individual therapy provides space to work with trauma responses, emotional regulation, and internal patterns at a steady, supported pace
    → Learn more about individual therapy

  • Couples therapy can help address how complex trauma impacts attachment, communication, and emotional safety within the relationship
    → Learn more about couples therapy

  • Intensive formats offer extended time and structure to support deeper processing and integration when weekly therapy feels insufficient or stalled
    → Learn more about EMDR intensives

Key Elements of the Work

  • Understand how your system learned to adapt to long-term stress

  • Build greater capacity to regulate emotions and bodily responses

  • Develop a more stable and compassionate relationship with yourself

  • Notice and shift relational patterns that no longer serve you

Rather than pushing for insight or emotional release before there’s enough support, the work emphasizes regulation, choice, and gradual integration. This helps create the conditions where change can happen without overwhelm or shutdown.

Frequently Asked Questions about Complex PTSD

  • There’s no single timeline. Because complex trauma develops over time, healing is often gradual and nonlinear. The focus is on steady progress, increased capacity, and integration — not rushing toward an endpoint.

  • Not necessarily. Therapy is paced carefully, and you are never pushed to share more than feels manageable. Much of the work focuses on how past experiences show up in the present, rather than revisiting events in detail.

  • That’s a common experience for people with complex trauma. CPTSD-informed therapy often works differently by addressing underlying trauma responses and pacing the work more carefully, rather than relying on insight or coping strategies alone.

  • Fit is explored collaboratively. An initial consultation allows space to talk about what you’re looking for, ask questions, and get a sense of whether this approach feels supportive and aligned for you.

Next Steps

If therapy for CPTSD feels like it might be a fit, the next step is a brief consultation. This is a chance to talk about what you’re dealing with, ask questions, and get a sense of whether this approach feels supportive and appropriate for you.

Therapy is never assumed or rushed. Fit, readiness, and pacing are considered together, with care and transparency.

You can learn more about ongoing therapy options or request a consultation below.

→ Learn More About Therapy Services

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