When it comes to resolving complex trauma, many factors are at work. So if you want to progress working with complex PTSD therapist is vital.
Individually, each symptom you have might not seem like much, such as getting a little nervous when you are in a car. However, collectively, complex trauma creates systems that are like strings that are all tangled up. And that make it very hard to heal.
At the root of complex trauma is a history of emotional and/or physical trauma. And some of the symptoms you face have have plagued you for many years. To recover and heal, you can’t just go at this alone. You need the assistance of a complex PTSD therapist to help you get to the root of your trauma.
Here’s how working with a CPTSD therapist can help you.
Understanding Why Complex Trauma Occurred
First, a therapist can help you understand why and how complex trauma has occurred in your life. Oftentimes this means making the connections between your present triggers and your relationship with your parents or other significant adults.
It may be difficult for you to fully appreciate how your relationship with these adults led to PTSD. You might even feel that your parents were loving, caring people. In fact, there may have been times when they did demonstrate these feelings for you. However, there was also likely a difficult or painful side to your relationship.
Your therapist will be able to parse out these experiences and help you to reveal the root of your trauma.
A Complex PTSD Therapist Shows The Way Out
With knowledge can come power. Knowing how the trauma affects you now is key to trauma resolution. Getting emotionally triggered makes life and relationships confusing. And once you can clearly see how you are affected, then you can do to feel better.
So, a therapist who is well-versed in treating complex PTSD will be able to see clearly how this trauma has affected your life.
Again, you might not fully realize the connection between your trauma and your current life. In fact, you might not even remember specific incidents related to your trauma. There are a few reasons that might be the case:
- You your brain may have blocked out those memories in order to protect itself and, in turn, you.
- Some of the incidents may have occurred too early in your life for your brain to create explicit narrative memories
- What you have endured was repetitive in nature, and so you are left with “the feeling of how it was”.
For example, maybe you hate going into homes that have a basement and you are not sure why. The reality may be that growing up in your own home the basement could have been where you experienced trauma. Sometimes your body and your brain pick up on cues that you escape your conscious recall.
Identifying Coping Methods You Use to Deal with the Trauma
A good complex trauma therapist will also be able to identify what coping methods you use to try to deal with the trauma you experienced. Substance use and abuse is a common coping method for those who have complex PTSD.
But that’s not exclusive either. It might be that you have become an over-achiever, trying your best to prove your value and worth to others. Or maybe you bounce from relationship to relationship without fully understanding why things never work out.
Working together with a therapist who specializes in treating complex PTSD will allow you to uncover these connections and make sense of why you do certain things.
Accessing The Advanced Treatment Tools A Complex PTSD Therapist Has
One of the biggest advantages of working with a therapist who is well-versed in treating complex PTSD is being able to utilize the advanced treatment tools at their disposal. And these tools aim to help you to finally heal from complex trauma.
One such powerful tool is neurofeedback therapy. This treatment method uses EEG brainwave training and analysis to coach and encourages your brain to develop new emotional patterns. These, in turn, allow you to better cope with the stress and pain of PTSD.
Another effective tool is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, which combines coaching with bilateral eye movements. This combination allows you to process and resolve your trauma and finally feel safe.
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A therapist treating complex PTSD must understand not just one issue—trauma—but several different systems that are connected to it. That’s because these all play a role in how complex trauma has affected your life and continues to do so.
At the heart of the matter is the root of our trauma, and what to do about it. Utilizing neurofeedback and EMDR therapies can help with this process. If working with a therapist interests you, please reach out to me to learn more about my approach to PTSD therapy.