Therapy for Complex PTSD (CPTSD): Moving from Surviving to Living

You know your diagnosis. You've read the books, listened to the podcasts, and probably explained your symptoms to people who looked at you blankly. You understand, on a cognitive level, what happened to you and why you respond the way you do. And yet — you're still stuck.

That gap between knowing and feeling, between understanding your trauma and actually healing from it, is exactly where Complex PTSD lives. And it's exactly where this work begins.

What Is Complex PTSD?‍

Complex PTSD (CPTSD) is a trauma response that develops when a person experiences prolonged, repeated trauma — often interpersonal in nature and often beginning in childhood. Unlike single-incident PTSD, CPTSD emerges from environments where escape was impossible: abusive homes, neglectful caregiving systems, chronically unsafe relationships.

CPTSD is not simply "more PTSD." It involves a distinct constellation of symptoms that reflect not just fear responses, but disruptions to identity, relationships, and the capacity to feel safe in one's own body.

Common Symptoms of CPTSD

• Emotional dysregulation — intense reactions that feel out of proportion, or a complete shutdown of emotion
• Negative self-perception — deep shame, self-blame, and a persistent sense of being fundamentally broken or worthless
• Dissociation — feeling detached from your body, your emotions, or reality; memory gaps; feeling like you're watching your life from outside
• Relationship difficulties — chronic difficulty with trust, fear of abandonment, patterns of connection that feel unsafe even when they aren't
• Distorted sense of the perpetrator — continued preoccupation with the person or system that caused harm
• Loss of meaning — a sense that the world is permanently dangerous, that safety is an illusion, that healing isn't actually possible

Why Traditional Talk Therapy Often Falls Short

If you've been through CBT or standard psychotherapy and walked away feeling like you understand your trauma but don't feel better, you're not alone — and it's not your fault. CPTSD is held in the body and in the nervous system, not just in the thinking mind. Insight alone rarely produces the kind of lasting change that actually shifts how you feel day to day.

Effective CPTSD treatment needs to work at the level where the trauma actually lives: in somatic responses, in nervous system patterns, in the parts of you that learned to survive by staying small, hypervigilant, or numb.

How Liz Treats Complex PTSD

Treatment for CPTSD at Embodied Living Counseling integrates three evidence-based approaches, tailored to your specific nervous system and your specific history:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): Targets traumatic memories and the negative core beliefs that formed around them — working to desensitize distress and build new, adaptive neural pathways without requiring you to talk through every detail of what happened.
• Ego State Therapy (Parts Work): CPTSD often produces internal fragmentation — parts of you that learned to cope in very specific, very protective ways. Parts work helps you develop a compassionate, curious relationship with those parts rather than fighting against them, so healing can happen from the inside out.
• Somatic Therapy: Your body has been keeping score. Somatic approaches help you track and gently work with the physical sensations that carry trauma — releasing stored stress responses, building the capacity for presence, and returning you to a body that finally feels livable.

What Healing from CPTSD Actually Looks Like

Healing from Complex PTSD doesn't mean the past is erased or that you'll never have a difficult moment. It means your past stops running your present. You develop the capacity to feel your emotions without being overwhelmed by them. You recognize when you're in a trauma response and you have tools to return to yourself. Your relationships begin to feel safer — and so does your own company.

You start living in a way that finally feels like your own.

Is CPTSD Therapy Right for You?

This work may be a fit if you:

• Have a CPTSD diagnosis or relate strongly to the symptoms described above
• Have done talk therapy before and found it helpful but insufficient
• Are ready to work at the level of the body and nervous system, not just the mind
• Are located in California or Illinois and are comfortable with online therapy

Currently accepting new clients. Liz accepts Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, Oxford, and Blue Shield of California.

Frequently Asked Questions: Complex PTSD Therapy

Q: How is CPTSD different from PTSD?

PTSD typically develops after a single traumatic event, like a car accident or assault. Complex PTSD (CPTSD) develops from prolonged, repeated trauma — particularly trauma that was interpersonal and that occurred when escape wasn't possible. CPTSD tends to produce more pervasive disruptions to identity, emotion regulation, and relationships. It's also more likely to involve dissociation and deep-seated shame. The treatment approaches overlap, but CPTSD generally requires a longer course of therapy and more attention to relational safety and internal systems (parts work).

Q: How long does CPTSD therapy take?

CPTSD is a complex, layered condition, and healing is not a linear process. Many clients begin to notice meaningful shifts within 3–6 months of consistent weekly therapy. Full integration of traumatic material and stable, lasting change often unfolds over 1–3 years, depending on the severity and duration of the original trauma, co-occurring conditions, and the individual's unique nervous system. Liz will collaborate with you regularly to assess where you are and adjust the pace accordingly.

Q: Do I need a formal CPTSD diagnosis to work with you?

No. CPTSD is not yet an official diagnosis in the DSM-5 (though it is recognized in the ICD-11), and many people who carry the lived experience of complex trauma have received other diagnoses like PTSD, BPD, or major depression. What matters more is a shared understanding of your history and your goals. If you've experienced prolonged interpersonal trauma and relate to the symptoms on this page, that's a meaningful starting point for an initial consultation.

Q: Does Liz work with dissociation as part of CPTSD?

Yes. Dissociation is extremely common in CPTSD, and Liz has advanced training in dissociation-informed care. She is skilled at working with clients who experience dissociative symptoms — including derealization, depersonalization, emotional numbing, and amnesia — at a pace that feels safe and manageable. See the Dissociative Disorders page for more detail on this aspect of her work.