Comments on: Treating Complex PTSD (Parts 1 & 2)

By: RB

RB — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 05:54:25 +0000

I now comprehend why life is so hard for me. It is impossible to “just let it go,” or “move on,” because it, the trauma, is mixed into the concrete of my foundation.

By: Brian Henley

Brian Henley — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 20:37:49 +0000

In reply to Kathy. Please don't give up! A good therapist can be hard to find, but it's never too late to heal. Your story is heartbreaking.

By: Brian Henley

Brian Henley — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 20:35:01 +0000

In reply to Jan Ogle. I'm sorry! It is detailed in parts 3 and 4 of this article, which I'm told are going to be published in a few days.

By: Lesley Vlietstra

Lesley Vlietstra — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 19:54:36 +0000

This makes absolute sense to me in my journey thus far in therapy. Here in New Zealand, those of us who have suffered childhood sexual abuse are able to freely access therapy when symptoms arise at whatever age or stage in life. At different times through this process those involved as a client are obliged to recount the abuse as fully as possible, to show that they are still entitled to the help of a therapist. As a recipient, and a truly grateful one, of this help, I have found the remembering and recounting to be as harmful as the actual abuse, especially so as I’m beginning to feel the feelings I learned to suppress and dissociate from during my childhood and adolescence. Understanding what is happening makes it easier to deal with. So thank you for such articles as this one.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 17:28:14 +0000

In reply to Linda Thompson. Thank you for these excellent insights. They resonate deeply. I look forward to reading more. I've already ditched CBT as a therapy and am doing inner child work with my current therapist. She has also suggested emdr. Your article raises some very interesting talking points.

By: Jan Ogle

Jan Ogle — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 16:58:53 +0000

So, what is the best treatment option for CPTSD, in your opinion?
As someone diagnosed with CPTSD, it was frustrating to read what doesn’t work, without offering alternatives.

By: erin

erin — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 16:15:28 +0000

Yes, thank you for this piece! I suppress my trauma/cPTSD by moving, doing & giving. My frenetic pace holds the demons of my cPTSD away. I don’t feel or remember anything when I’m not paying attention to myself. Thank you again! Erin (Canada)

By: Linda Thompson

Linda Thompson — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 02:30:52 +0000

Brian Henley, I can’t thank you enough for this article. There are so many things that resonate. Childhood abuse and neglect by a raging mother who would burst into my bedroom as I read, pull me out of bed and come at me with a knife saying she would kill me for reading. How can an 8-9 year old’s nervous system handle that type of abuse? It can’t. I learn to be hypervigilant. By 11 had developed cystic acne which I now think was body’s respond to constant trauma. Began dating at 15 looking for love. Found it and he began beating me at 16. Stayed, married him and talked myself out of leaving until severe trauma at age 44. Was free but still searching for elusive love, choosing men who latched onto my people pleasing nature. At 58, met and married someone who doesn’t physically abuse me but has denied my major needs for 14 years. His life became my life. I was blind to my patterns until recently. How could that be? Am fairly intelligent. But the need to be loved seemed to supersede all intelligent reasoning in my brain. And at 72, still searching for a therapist who can help. Have spoken to half dozen over the years, but they never really listened; feels like lip service. With this website (and hopefully more insightful articles by you) I will find solace. My heart is so worn out from all the years of trying to be validated and loved. When I was around 4-5, my mother would pack a bag of my clothes, pick up the phone and call ‘the home’ to send me away. I’d plead, ‘please, please Mommy, don’t send me away. Let me stay’. That inner child has never left me. You don’t know me but somehow you heard me. Thank you Brian.