Complex PTSD Therapy: Understanding and Healing Relational Trauma
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Complex PTSD or C-PTSD) develops in response to ongoing or repeated trauma, often occurring in relationships or environments where escape was limited or safety was inconsistent. Rather than a single overwhelming event, Complex PTSD is shaped by experiences over time—such as childhood emotional neglect, chronic stress, relational abuse, systemic oppression, or long-term exposure to instability or threat.
These experiences can influence how the nervous system organizes itself, how emotions are experienced, and how relationships feel. Many people with Complex PTSD learned early on to stay alert, minimize their needs, or remain emotionally guarded in order to get through what was happening. These adaptations often continue long after the original circumstances have passed.
Therapy for Complex PTSD focuses on helping your system recognize safety in the present, build internal and relational trust, and gently integrate experiences that were never fully processed.
What Complex PTSD Is (and How It’s Different)
Complex PTSD includes the core features of PTSD—such as heightened threat response and trauma reminders—along with additional impacts that tend to affect day-to-day life more broadly.
These may include:
Ongoing difficulty regulating emotions
Persistent feelings of shame or self-doubt
Challenges with identity or a sense of self
Difficulty feeling safe or at ease in relationships
Patterns of emotional disconnection, overwhelm, or shutdown
Rather than viewing these as symptoms to eliminate, trauma-informed therapy understands them as learned responses to prolonged stress. Healing involves supporting your nervous system and inner world in reorganizing toward greater flexibility, connection, and choice.
A Relational, Trauma-Informed Path to Healing
Because Complex PTSD is often relational in origin, healing is also relational. Therapy offers a consistent, attuned space where safety is built over time—not rushed or forced. The work is collaborative, respectful, and paced according to what your system can tolerate.
I integrate approaches that work with both the mind and nervous system, allowing healing to happen without requiring you to relive or retell every detail of your past.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Working with the Inner World
Internal Family Systems (IFS) recognizes that we all have different “parts” that carry emotions, beliefs, and roles shaped by experience. In the context of Complex PTSD, some parts may hold pain, fear, or grief, while others have taken on protective roles such as staying hyper-alert, emotionally distant, or highly self-critical.
IFS therapy helps you build a compassionate, curious relationship with these parts rather than fighting or overriding them. Over time, this can lead to greater internal clarity, emotional balance, and a stronger sense of self-leadership.
IFS can support:
Increased self-understanding and self-compassion
Reduced inner conflict and emotional reactivity
Healing attachment and developmental trauma
EMDR Therapy: Integrating Traumatic Experiences
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps the brain and nervous system integrate experiences that remain unprocessed. For Complex PTSD, EMDR is often adapted to address themes and developmental experiences, not just isolated memories.
Sessions are carefully structured to support stabilization and choice. The focus is on allowing the nervous system to update old responses so that present-day experiences no longer carry the same intensity or charge.
EMDR may help:
Reduce trauma triggers and emotional flooding
Increase nervous system regulation
Support lasting shifts in how past experiences are held
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy: Supporting Flexibility and Perspective
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) can be a supportive option for Complex PTSD, particularly when trauma patterns feel deeply ingrained or when access to emotional space has been limited.
Within a structured therapeutic process that includes preparation and integration, ketamine can temporarily shift rigid trauma responses, allowing for new perspectives, emotional openness, and increased self-connection. When combined with IFS and EMDR, these experiences can be thoughtfully integrated into ongoing healing work.
KAP may support:
Reduced intensity of shame and depressive states
Greater emotional access and self-compassion
Deeper integration of trauma-focused therapy
Healing Happens in Relationship and at Your Pace
Healing from Complex PTSD is not about pushing through or achieving a specific endpoint. It is about developing safety, flexibility, and connection—internally and with others—over time. Therapy can be a space where your experiences are met with respect and curiosity, and where growth unfolds at a pace that feels sustainable.
If you’re exploring therapy for Complex PTSD and want to learn more about working together, you’re welcome to reach out. You don’t have to navigate this process on your own.
to come...