If you are someone who has experienced consistent traumatic experience, especially childhood and relational trauma, it is important that you find a therapist who can specifically work with CPTSD.

The difference between CPTSD and PTSD is that with PTSD, there is a very clear before and after the traumatic event (I.E. “Before the traumatic event, I felt a sense of safety and security, and now I don’t) whereas with CPTSD, core schemas of how you navigate the world are informed by trauma (I.E. “I have to perform for love because if I don’t, I will lose love”). Sometimes we may not even be aware that those schemas shape the way we are until we burnout or experience a relational trauma in the present that mirrors past trauma patterns.

Shame and the presence of shame is a big indicator of CPTSD. In our work together, we will look at your nervous system responses, the core schemas associated with those responses, and the childhood experiences associated with that shame learning. You will then learn how to increase a sense of nervous system safety, and areas where your nervous system responds with functional freeze/avoidance or controlling yourself or the external environment (fawn, freeze, or fight responses) to try to regain a sense of nervous system safety.

A large part of trauma work is learning about who you authentically are outside of shame. When you can increase positive relationships and your relationship to yourself, authenticity and a sense of belonging are no longer at odds, and you can focus on creativity, curiosity, and connection instead of a survival response.