Childhood Trauma Therapy:
For ADULTS who have experienced chronic distress or abuse starting in childhood
In Columbus, Ohio and throughout Ohio and Michigan (virtually)
In the case of childhood, developmental or complex trauma, trauma which is usually relational and repetitive overtime, you may not be aware of how your past experiences can be linked to your present issues. Especially with trauma which started in childhood, when you didn’t get what you needed, and your environment was less than protective or nurturing (to say the least).
Childhood trauma often entails prolonged exposure to fear, threat or instability. This often includes caregivers who were frequently unresponsive, explosive, unpredictable, physically, verbally, or emotionally abusive, unsafe, or neglectful. It may also include persistent bullying by peers or siblings, and other forms of shame, humiliation and abuse.
To survive the pain, and stay safe, you learned to disconnect from your feelings and your authentic self. This is often done be developing survival strategies such as self-shaming, people-pleasing, problem-solving, detaching, silencing your voice, anything that wasn’t the truest version of yourself but was necessary to survive your environment, eliminate the emotional pain, and stay connected to your caretaker(s) who you needed.
It helped you then, so we honor it, though often these patterns are brought into adulthood and are no longer needed or serving you. In fact, they are causing disconnection - from your feelings, your authenticity, and from connecting to others.
You routinely bottled up your feelings because that worked for you long ago, though now they are billowing out, or coming out sideways…
…and they are showing up as symptoms causing you misery, the symptoms you have now, and the reasons you are likely seeking therapy today.
These symptoms and strategies are likely getting in the way of what you most want for yourself:
Such as peace, inner calm, joy, confidence, connection.
Good news is that you don’t need to suppress your feelings anymore.
You can respond differently now that you are in place of safety and have more control over your surroundings.
But now you need to know how to be with your feelings when they come up so they don’t feel overwhelming.
That is something you can learn in therapy.
