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Somatic experiencing or Somatic healing is a form of therapy aimed at treating trauma and stress-related disorders, such as PTSD. The primary goal of SE is to modify the trauma-related stress response through bottom-up processing.

Somatic psychotherapy is an umbrella term for therapies that center on the mind-body connection. The term “somatic” means “relating to the body.”

Using special techniques, a somatic therapist helps you release any pent-up trauma that has become “trapped” in your body.

Although treating the mind-body connection is a relatively new concept in Western medicine (in the West, the mind and body are often treated separately), this concept has long been recognized in Eastern medicine and philosophies.

Somatic therapy is rooted in somatic psychology, a body-oriented approach to psychology. Somatic therapies work by addressing the feedback loop that continually runs between the mind and the body.

Practitioners of somatic therapy know the mind and body as intrinsically linked. They also know that trauma and other chronic negative emotions can get trapped inside our bodies and affect our mental health even further.

Somatic therapy is designed to help you heal on a cellular level.

So how do these emotions get caught in the body? After a traumatic event, the nervous system can get stuck in survival mode. Stress hormones, such as cortisol, are continually released, leading to an increase in blood sugar and blood pressure, which can weaken the immune system.

When the body is under this level of constant stress, physical symptoms begin to emerge.

In addition, some of our bad experiences can produce deeply rooted beliefs that our conscious minds can’t even access. These might include negative or unhelpful thoughts, like “I’m a bad person” or “I’ll never be successful.”

These negative feelings don’t just hide in the body, they emerge quite often. People who’ve experienced trauma have their symptoms reactivated during new stressful experiences. This can cause them to feel traumatized again and again.

Research on somatic therapies is very promising.

In one study, people with PTSD who engaged in a type of somatic therapy called “somatic experiencing” showed significant improvements in PTSD symptoms and depression.

The theory behind somatic experiencing is that PTSD symptoms are an expression of stress activation.

Unlike exposure therapy (a common form of psychotherapy for PTSD), somatic experiencing doesn’t usually require a complete retelling of the traumatic event. Rather, the client thinks about traumatic memories that lead to high levels of stress and then learns to diminish the arousal through body awareness and various techniques.

The somatic healing therapies I use, can help you rapidly process previously unprocessed memories of trauma and also relieve physical complaints such as headaches, IBS, body pain, sleeplessness, fibromyalgia symptoms, morning sickness in pregnancy, fatigue, anxiety etc.

The effectiveness of somatic therapy in the treatment of emotional trauma and other types of negative life experiences shows eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy and brain spotting therapy to produce positive effects more quickly than trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Somatic therapy is different from typical talk therapy. Somatic therapy treats any deeply rooted negative emotion stored in the body. This is typically due to trauma, but the therapy can also help people who have problems with any negative emotion and do not consider themselves to have suffered a traumatic event. In other words, you do not need to know what the event was or a specific memory. These therapies work the whole body and catch whatever is stored. Here are some examples of what I can help you with:

• narcissistic abuse recovery

• grief

• anger

• anxiety

• depression

• trust

• intimacy

• insecurity

• fear

• inner child healing

Unresolved trauma such as narcissistic abuse can leave you feeling drained, exhausted, or in a hyper-vigilant state as you stay in the trauma responses of fight, flight, or freeze. This releases the stress hormone, cortisol, which negatively impacts mood, memory, sleep, focus, digestion, and your immune system.

Unlike traditional talk therapy, Brain Spotting Therapy bypasses the thinking brain (neocortex) and accesses the reactive brain (subcortex), allowing you to resolve trauma responses in a comfortable, controlled setting.

What would it feel like to experience or remember these traumatic events that you have experienced but would no longer be bothered by the emotion of the event?

Brain spotting (BSP) was discovered by David Grand, Ph.D. in 2003. Dr. Grand believes that where people see affects how they feel. He realized that people could access unprocessed trauma in the subcortical brain where brain activity organizes itself around their eye position.

This process of bilateral stimulation down-regulates the amygdala (our fear center) because the eye position accesses somatic capsules in the subcortical brain where this trapped trauma is stuck. Brain Spotting Therapy reveals, disrupts, and releases negative thoughts associated with memories and changes them to positive ones. BSP therapy includes somatic work, neuroscience, interpersonal neurobiology, and the polyvagal theory.

During treatment, you will be guided to look in a certain direction, guided by a pointer. Together, we will find the spots that are triggering a response in your body.

If a particular spot activates a negative memory, we will have found a brain spot, where trauma is stored. Working together in a safe and attuned environment, the trauma can then be processed effectively. The past can’t be changed but your continued emotional reaction can be brought back into regulation within your everyday life.

Brain Spotting is an effective treatment with the following:

• PTSD/Complex PTSD

• Trauma

• Flashbacks – Recurring traumatic memories that interrupt your life

• Relationship Problems and Wounds such as narcissistic abuse

• Being Stuck in Grief and Loss

• Bipolar Disorder

• Crippled by Fears and Phobias

• Fear of Flying

• Performance Anxiety and Overcoming Blocks

• Stress, Panic, and Anxiety

• Sexual Trauma and Abuse

• Anger Management

• Chronic Pain that is not the direct result of a physical injury

• Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors

• Negative Self Beliefs and Criticism

• Depression

• Nightmares and sleep disorders

Brain Spotting is a powerful and deeply transformative therapy and allows for the brains’ natural healing processes to give you the freedom that you want from the triggers that are stopping you living the life you deserve.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness as well as dealing with loved ones with mental illnesses.

Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, or more effective than, other forms of psychological therapy or psychiatric medications.

It is important to emphasize that advances in CBT have been made because of both research and clinical practice.

Indeed, CBT is an approach for which there is ample scientific evidence that the methods that have been developed, produce change. In this manner, CBT differs from many other forms of psychological treatment. Just look at the wide range of things it can help with! From addiction to depression and anything in between, this is very exciting and hopeful to anyone who is just learning about this! I am here to help guide you through.

CBT is based on several core principles, including:

Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.

Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.

People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns. These strategies might include:

• Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them considering reality.

• Gaining a better understanding of the behavior and motivation of others.

• Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations.

• Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities.

CBT treatment also usually involves efforts to change behavioral patterns. These strategies might include:

• Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them.

• Using role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others.

• Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body.

Not all CBT will use all these strategies. Rather, the psychologist and patient/client work together, in a collaborative fashion, to develop an understanding of the problem and to develop a treatment strategy.

CBT places an emphasis on helping individuals learn to be their own therapists. Through positive psychology exercises in the session as well as “homework” exercises or “tools” outside of sessions, patients/clients are helped to develop coping skills, whereby they can learn to change their own thinking, problematic emotions, and behavior and as a result, change your life for the better. What if you were able to make it so that you no longer need that strong medication, to cope any longer or alcohol even… Just for example. Would you be excited to at least try to achieve that? Well, you absolutely can, and it doesn’t take a miracle either.

We may not be able to change your situation, like where you live or work or who you live with. Maybe you live with an individual with narcissistic personality disorder for example, and this person is abusing you emotionally. It doesn’t matter why or how you got to living with this person, the fact is you need to learn how to better cope so that you can improve your quality of life. You cannot change others, but we can change ourselves! Maybe you don’t live with them, but you work for them… CBT is perfect for this because it teaches you how to use what you’ve got within to see it differently and in effect, better cope with the situation in a positive way.

CBT therapists emphasize what is going on in the person’s current life, rather than what has led up to their difficulties. A certain amount of information about one’s history is definitely needed, just to see what we are dealing with and to address everything, but the focus is primarily on moving forward in time to develop more effective ways of coping with life. This approach is why positive psychology is the foundation of CBT. We can focus on what is right and positive about ourselves and learn to work with our strengths and not against them! We do not need to keep drilling our traumatic experiences in to our brains in order to heal. We identify our strengths instead of our weaknesses. In fact, we literally do not dwell in the past, but are looking to how we can use our present situation to better our lives, moods, or whatever needs to be worked out.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is helping so many people in so many ways, and myself included! Remember how I got here, to helping others! It was by CBT and other healing practices that I offer now. I had no clue these existed until years after I needed to heal. Which eventually led me to a desperate situation with emotional and physical pain to deal with. But once I learned as you can also, that is when the healing began for me. Now I am here to help you and others learn what I wish we had all known from the start. Let me help you use these tools to get things sorted out for you as well!

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing therapy is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that is the result of disturbing life experiences and trauma such as narcissistic abuse and childhood trauma. It is recognized as one of the best treatments for processing trauma, PTSD & Complex PTSD which many people who have past trauma will have. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal and years of talking therapy. There is a lot of research now that says that talking therapy can keep a person stuck in a trauma cycle because constantly talking about it keeps triggering the person bringing up all the somatic feelings in the body. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma as the body recovers from physical trauma. Memories of traumatic events can get stuck in the body. It is called somatic memory. This can lead to physical and emotional reactions causing the effects of PTSD and CPTSD.

This is where the brain had not, yet time stamped the event into the past, every trigger will bring up an emotion or physical response. In the present, the brain then thinks it is in danger and the nervous system reacts with the fight, flight, freeze response to protect you.

Even though you are not in danger, but are safe, the memory has been stuck in the body and it causes the same reaction as if you were right back in the traumatic event. This is when your body starts to produce cortisol that causes numerous illnesses and diseases. Once the memory has been unstuck and now an adult adaptive response can be made, the brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering.

Once the block is removed, healing can resume by treating trauma and other symptoms by reconnecting the traumatized person in a safe and measured way to the images, self-thoughts, emotions, and body sensations associated with the trauma, and allowing the natural healing powers of the brain to move toward adaptive resolution. It is based on the idea that symptoms occur when trauma and other negative or challenging experiences overwhelm the brain’s natural ability to heal, and that the healing process can be facilitated and completed through bilateral stimulation while the client is re-experiencing the trauma in the context of the safe environment with a therapist.

It identifies and addresses traumatic experiences that have overwhelmed the brain’s natural coping capacity, and, as a result, have created traumatic symptoms, such as flashbacks or anxiety, or harmful coping strategies, such as isolating behavior and self-medication with alcohol or drugs.

Through EMDR, individuals safely reprocess traumatic information until it is no longer psychologically disruptive to their lives. Over time, exposure to traumatic memories will no longer induce negative feelings and distressing symptoms.

During EMDR, the person being treated focuses on a disruptive memory and identifies the belief they hold about themselves. If it is connected to a negative memory the technique teaches the person to change their view of themselves by learning to associate it with a positive belief instead.

For example, it is common for victims of abuse to feel they “deserved” the abuse. EMDR helps the person to see that as self-destructive thinking. So “I deserved it” becomes “I am a worthwhile and good person in control of my life.”

The process continues until the trauma has been processed and the memory is no longer disturbing to the individual. The selected positive belief is then “installed”, via bilateral movement, to replace the negative belief.

Sessions typically last for an hour. It is theorized that EMDR works because the “bilateral stimulation” bypasses the area of the brain that processes memories and has become stuck due to the trauma. When a difficult/traumatizing memory is stuck, it prevents the brain from properly processing and storing the memory.

During EMDR, individuals process the memory safely and that leads to a peaceful resolution. The experience results in increased insight regarding both previously disturbing events and the negative thoughts about themselves that have grown out of the original traumatic event.

EMDR is very relaxing, and the effects of a session feel like magic. The results are simply unbelievable and seem like such a gift to anyone who has ever suffered relentlessly from traumatic events in their lives. It is my wish that more of us will come to experience this effective treatment and begin to live their lives and flourish.

EMDR Helps with symptoms of:

• Childhood trauma and abuse

• Sexual Assault

• Narcissistic Abuse

• Domestic Abuse

• Anxiety

• Grief

• Bullying

• Neglect and Abandonment

• Addiction and more…

Hypnotherapy is a type of mind-body intervention in which hypnosis is used to create a state of focused attention and increased suggestibility in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern.

The unconscious mind is like a mobile phone’s operating system when it needs updating from time to time.

When was the last time that you updated your younger self or past stuff? Processing it into the past or filed away.

What if we could update that for you? We can!

We can store or save your memories and experiences and change them and how we feel about them or how we remember them, with new suggestions. We don’t change the past, it just changes how we feel about these memories and experiences.

Internal Family Systems – IFS is a powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy. The mind is naturally multiple, and our inner parts contain valuable qualities, and our core True Self or what is call, “The Self” knows how to heal, allowing us to become integrated and whole. In IFS all parts are welcome. The parts that you may perceive as negative in your life, have a driving force to try and protect you. They are a good thing! Naturally designed within us to protect us.

For instance, a part of you that is an inner critic is there because it is trying to protect you from feeling what the brain perceives to be an even BIGGER pain from a wound that has got stuck and not processed effectively, usually from your childhood.

In internal family systems, a person may internally take on several different familial roles when they’re in an environment they perceive to be unsafe. This forms an “Internal Family System” and these subpersonalities, or parts, act separately from the center True Self. The True Self is one’s truest version when the parts or subpersonalities still have a positive purpose. It is only when the parts become extreme that issues arise.

IFS Therapy categories these roles into three broad subpersonality types:

• The Exile (Childhood Wounds)

• The Manager (Protectors)

• The Firefighter (Reactors)

The Exiles – When one of the Exiles becomes so upset or triggered that it may make the Self feel vulnerable, the Firefighters may jump into action, impulsively finding some stimulating activity.

The Managers – keep the Self safe, protecting it from becoming dependent, and pushing the individual to be better. It is a very practical protector part trying to stop you feeling the wound of the negative emotion or belief such as I am not good enough, I am not loveable, I am not worthy. Often, this involves keeping especially difficult feelings such as shame, fear, humiliation, or pain out of consciousness in order to avoid feeling vulnerable.

The Firefighters – These suppressed and wounded parts are a very reactive protector part, almost trying to stop that bleeding of the core wound, so to speak and that has been activated to distract or soothe from the overwhelming vulnerable feelings.

In IFS therapy, we look at all the parts that are stopping you from living as your True Self and using a process, we unburden the wounds and unblind those parts from the True Self so you can live your life as the True Self without the negative actions of the protector parts as we give them an alternative role in your life to a more positive one.

Meditation offers practitioners powerful benefits, yet many people are confused as to what exactly those benefits are. Meditation can help with trauma by focusing the attention in a deliberate way, and taking you from a state of noisy mental chatter to calm and quiet inner peace.

While meditation has been practiced for thousands of years to grow spiritually, modern medicine is now finally realizing the numerous health benefits that meditation brings.

Meditation can reduce stress hormones by calming the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. These systems are what activate our main panic responses “fight,” “flight,” “freeze” to stressful situations. Because of this, meditation can be a wonderful coping strategy for those suffering with trauma.

I will guide you through calming meditations in the beginning of our sessions or when ever we need to refocus. The benefits of even the smallest meditation and breathing exercise are unbelievably effective and will make the outcome of our sessions very beneficial to you.

Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies “positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions…it aims to improve quality of life. Perspective Positive psychology focuses on the positive events and influences in life, including positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love). Positive states and traits (like gratitude, resilience, and compassion). Theorist It builds on the humanistic movement by Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, James Bugental, and Carl Rogers, which encourages an emphasis on happiness, well-being, and positivity, thus creating the foundation for what is now known as positive psychology. Five pillars There are five building blocks that enable flourishing – Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (hence PERMA™) – and there are techniques to increase each. Different people will derive well-being from each of these five building blocks to varying degrees. Five Pillars of Positive Psychology. Positive psychology’s main aim is to encourage people to discover and nurture their character strengths, rather than channeling their efforts into correcting shortcomings. Positive psychology highlights the need for one to shift their negative outlook to a more optimistic view to improve quality of life.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5). The disorder is classified in the dimensional model of “Personality Disorders. NPD is highly comorbid (Comorbid = denoting or relating to diseases or medical conditions that are simultaneously present in a patient – “medically complex patients with severe comorbid conditions”) with other disorders in mental health. Persons with NPD can often present with impairment in maintaining work and relationships. NPD is highly prevalent in society. It is under the umbrella of Cluster B personality disorders, which include antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Cluster B typically presents with overtly emotional and unpredictable behavior.

Traits such as aggression, reduced tolerance to distress, and dysfunctional affect regulation is prominent in persons with NPD. Developmental experiences, negative in nature, being rejected as a child, and a fragile ego during early childhood may have contributed to the occurrence of NPD in adulthood. In contrast, excessive praise, including the belief that a child may have extraordinary abilities, may also lead to NPD.

Obtaining an accurate history can be somewhat challenging for persons with narcissistic personality disorder, given the variability of the individual. In the outpatient setting, individuals can be well related and high functioning, while in the inpatient setting, they can be some of the most aggressive and challenging patients. Most of the time, NPD patients encountering clinicians during emergencies, were more often than not, reported to behave aggressively. The aggression indicates the severity of the personality disorder, for example, the more aggression detected, the personality disorder is considered more severe. If you are a spouse of an individual with NDP then you will take the worst treatment from them as opposed to someone who is unfamiliar with the narcissist, and they deem fit to charm.

As Per the DSM, NPD includes: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and with lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood, as indicated by at least five of the following:

• Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements, expects to be recognized as superior without completing the achievements)

• Is preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, brilliance, beauty, or perfect love.

• Believes that they are "special" and can only be understood by or should only associate with other special people (or institutions).

• Requires excessive admiration.

• Has a sense of entitlement, such as an unreasonable expectation of favorable treatment or compliance with his or her expectations).

• Is exploitative and takes advantage of others to achieve their own ends.

• Lacks empathy and is unwilling to identify with the needs of others.

• Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of them.

• Shows arrogant, haughty behaviours and attitudes

No standardized treatment has been established for persons with narcissistic personality disorder. There are no FDA-approved medications for the treatment of NPD, but some patients may benefit from the treatment of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, mood lability, transient psychosis, and impulse control issues. Antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, have been used. Risperidone, an antipsychotic, has shown benefit in some patients. Some patients are given mood stabilizers like lamotrigine.

The prognosis, as discussed above, depends on the presence of comorbid disorders and the level of functioning of the patient. Aggression is often directly related to the severity of the disease; rather, the more aggressive the patient appears, the more severe is the personality disorder.

It has been well documented and those who experience regular interaction with a person with NPD will confirm that it is almost never heard of to have anyone with narcissistic personality disorder ever admit there is a single thing wrong with themselves. Therefore, it is considered impossible to hope for any positive change or acceptance of any kind of treatment.

Inner child work is an approach to recognizing and healing childhood trauma. It recognizes that our behaviors as an adult stem from our childhood experiences. Inner child work focuses on addressing our unmet needs by reparenting ourselves. In other words, the needs that were not met for us as children. Healing your inner child, then, focuses on uncovering and releasing the causes for the childlike aspects of your personality, so you can react to challenges in your adult life as an adult, rather than a kid. Examples of this can be codependent personality type. The good news: Healing your inner child can feel a lot like self-care.

Your “inner child” is a part of your subconscious that has been picking up messages way before it was able to fully process what was going on (mentally and emotionally). It holds emotions, memories, and beliefs from the past as well as hopes and dreams for the future.

Signs that your inner child needs healing:

• Having big feelings about small things.

• Self-sabotaging behaviors.

• Unhealthy coping mechanisms.

• A difficult relationship with your family.

• Self-criticism and low self-esteem.

• Relationship issues.

• Mental, physical, and emotional issues including codependency.

Get to know your inner child by speaking kindly to your inner child regularly. We can do this through EMDR and Somatic Relief Reprogramming. Connect with a good trauma informed therapist who can do these practices with you safely and effectively. Return to play, imagination, and creativity when doing these practices or even when writing in a journal or simply in your positive thoughts about yourself.

We heal our inner child by using somatic relief reprogramming to process our trauma that is stuck in our body and brain. I use practices such as EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, Brain Spotting Practices and Hypnotherapy to process the trauma locked in the body. Helping with the healing of your inner child, also associated with CPTSD – Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Healthy relationships are mutually beneficial, providing love and support to both parties. Codependent relationships, on the other hand, are one-sided, casting one person in the role of constant caregiver. By being caring, highly functional, and helpful, that person is said to support, perpetuate, or “enable” a loved one’s irresponsible or destructive behavior. For example, helping a jealous partner control every situation and allowing their partner to prevent you from living your own life or providing money for a substance-using adult child is said to be counterproductive, a way of forestalling recovery and actually perpetuating the problem. According to this way of thinking, creating emotional distance from the troubled loved one is necessary and beneficial for the codependent partner: It is a way to expose them to the negative consequences of their behavior. In being reliable, caring, and nurturing, the codependent partner is perceived to be exhibiting any number of weaknesses of his or her own—from low self-esteem and an excessive need to please others to poor interpersonal boundaries that make him or her feel responsible for the other’s problems. Often, people who struggle with codependency are said to have been raised amidst dysfunctional family dynamics. They may have had a family member or close friend with an addiction or mental illness. They may also have experienced childhood trauma which led them to feel anxious or insecure about relationships. However, it’s important to remember that anyone can fall into an unhealthy relationship pattern.

What are some common signs of codependency? In unhealthy codependent relationships, the codependent tends to be overly responsible, making excuses for the non-codependent individual and taking over their obligations. Codependents are self-critical and often perfectionistic; fixing or rescuing others makes them feel needed. They focus so much on pleasing others that they neglect their own wants and needs. Codependents generally have low self-esteem, find it hard to set boundaries and be assertive, and struggle with asking for help when they need it. Non-codependent individuals are often struggling with serious issues, such as emotional immaturity, mental health problems, and addiction. Therefore, we say that a codependent personality type individual is like a magnet to someone with narcissistic personality disorder and therefore I feel it is important to address both equally as ones who are dealing with a narcissistic partner is almost always a codependent personality type. Codependents can help this disorder with cognitive behavioral therapy and other practices, but narcissists cannot cure themselves of narcissism. I am here to make these changes with you no matter what reason you desire. I can relate as a recovering codependent, that it is a very frustrating, lonely, and sabotaging disorder to live with.

To sum up codependency, it is a psychological concept that refers to people who feel extreme amounts of dependence on certain loved ones in their lives, and who feel responsible for the feelings and actions of those loved ones. I assure you that there are ways to overcome this and attract healthy relationships in your future.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event. Either by experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may start within one month of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event. These symptoms cause significant problems in social or work situations and in relationships. They can also interfere with your ability to go about your normal daily tasks. PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person. Intrusive memories Symptoms of intrusive memories may include:

• Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event

• Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks)

• Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event

• Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of a traumatic event

Avoidance Symptoms of avoidance may include:

• Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event

• Avoiding places, activities or people that remind you of a traumatic event

Negative changes in thinking and mood Symptoms of negative changes in thinking and mood may include:

• Negative thoughts about yourself, other people, or the world Hopelessness about the future

• Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event

• Difficulty maintaining close relationships

• Feeling detached from family and friends Lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed

• Difficulty experiencing positive emotions

• Feeling emotionally numb

Changes in physical and emotional reactions Symptoms of changes in physical and emotional reactions (also called arousal symptoms) may include:

• Being easily startled or frightened

• Always being on guard for danger

• Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast

• Trouble sleeping

• Trouble concentrating Irritability, angry outbursts, or aggressive behavior

• Overwhelming guilt or shame

Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.

Getting effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can be critical to reduce symptoms and improve function.

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is a stress-related mental disorder generally occurring in response to complex traumas. Experienced trauma is commonly prolonged or repetitive exposures to a series of traumatic events, within which individuals perceive little or no chance to escape. It is perceived because it is prolonged and there may be an end to the event(s) but there is no end in sight.

In the ICD-11 classification, CPTSD is a category of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with three additional clusters of significant symptoms:

• emotional dysregulations

• negative self-beliefs (e.g., feelings of shame, guilt, failure for wrong reasons)

• interpersonal difficulties

You might suffer from CPTSD if you are in a marriage or in a family where prolonged abuse is present or you are trapped in a situation where you cannot escape, for whatever reason. A relationship where a family member(s) is narcissistic. The most severe situation would be in an emotional relationship with a narcissist, even if it was not prolonged as a parental relationship would be.

Examples of CPTSD’s symptoms are prolonged feelings of terror, worthlessness, helplessness, distortions in identity or sense of self, attachment disorder and hypervigilance.

Important to Note: CPTSD’s symptoms share some similarities with the symptoms in borderline personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder and somatization disorder. It is common to be wrongly diagnosed with these disorders. Especially in the case where you have not provided accurate information about your relationship and or family or if you do not know about narcissism, for example so that you can report this side of your situation. Anyone dealing with narcissistic upbringing or a romantic relationship / marriage, will be sure to suffer from CPTSD. Therefore, if you have been diagnosed with these personality disorders, you may want to get another opinion or forget that all together, so that you can get the proper treatment for CPTSD. I AM HERE TO HELP YOU WITH THIS!

There also exist strong relationships between CPTSD and narcissistic abuse, repetitive adverse childhood experiences. Especially among survivors of harmful foster care. In fact, the trauma model of mental disorders associates CPTSD with chronic or repetitive: sexual, psychological, physical abuse or neglect, intimate partner violences, bullying, kidnapping and hostage situations, indentured servants, slavery or other human trafficking, sweatshop workers, prisoners of war, concentration camp survivors, solitary confinement, defectors from authoritarian religions. Cults. The undergone situations generally last during long periods of time. As well as mentioned above, any situations involving captivity or entrapment (for example: perceived situations lacking easy and viable escape routes) can lead to CPTSD.

PTSD failed to account for the cluster of symptoms that were often observed in cases of prolonged abuse, particularly that which was perpetrated against children by caregivers during multiple childhood and adolescent developmental stages. Such patients were often extremely difficult to treat with established methods. PTSD descriptions fail to capture some of the core characteristics of CPTSD. This includes captivity and psychological fragmentation. The loss of a sense of safety, trust, and self-worth, as well as the tendency to be revictimized. Most importantly, there is a loss of a coherent sense of self: this loss, and the ensuing symptom profile, most pointedly differentiates CPTSD from PTSD.

Psychological Fragmentation - is a term used to describe the separation or division of something into pieces or fragments. It is a psychological disturbance where thought and actions are split apart. In the context of complex trauma, dissociation and fragmentation of the self are central themes. Dissociation is a phenomenon that is found in many survivors of trauma, which separates the part of their personality that experiences the abuse from the parts that experience other aspects of life.

A lot of what you are feeling daily is because of CPTSD. Although, you may suffer from PTSD also. You can recover from these disorders. It takes a trauma informed coach to help you deal with this and in addition, somatic healing will help you recover a lot faster. I assure you that if you want to relieve yourself of this burden, you can! I am a trauma informed somatic healing coach, using positive psychology practices. You are in the perfect place to be right now! I can help you get to a speedy recovery if you desire to heal!