Childhood Trauma and Attachment Therapy
You learned how to survive. Now you can learn how to feel safe.
Healing from childhood trauma, attachment wounds & complex PTSD is possible.
When the past keeps showing up in the present, understanding why can be the first step toward healing.
Sometimes the things that are affecting you most in the present began much earlier in your life. Some people grew up feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions, or learned that love was conditional, unpredictable, or difficult to trust. Maybe there was neglect, criticism, emotional abuse, or a parent who wasn’t able to provide the safety and connection you needed. Or maybe you can’t point to one specific experience—you just know that something has felt difficult for a long time.
You may struggle with relationships, self-worth, boundaries, or feeling safe enough to truly relax. You may find yourself people-pleasing, shutting down, overthinking, becoming hyperaware of other people’s moods, or feeling overwhelmed by emotions that seem bigger than the situation. These responses aren’t signs that something is wrong with you. They may be ways you learned to adapt to what you experienced.
What is Complex PTSD?
Complex PTSD, sometimes called CPTSD, can develop following prolonged or repeated experiences of trauma, particularly when those experiences happen in relationships or during important periods of development.
Unlike a single traumatic event, complex trauma can affect many areas of life.
You might notice:
difficulty regulating your emotions
chronic shame or self-criticism
feeling disconnected from yourself or your emotions
difficulty trusting other people
intense fear of rejection or abandonment
patterns of people-pleasing or over-functioning
difficulty knowing what you need or want
feeling responsible for other people's emotions
persistent anxiety or hypervigilance
relationship patterns that feel familiar but painful
feeling stuck between wanting closeness and wanting to pull away
You may understand intellectually that your childhood wasn't your fault, while still carrying the emotional and physical effects of those experiences today.
Healing involves more than simply understanding what happened. It means creating new experiences of safety, connection, self-trust, and compassion.
Healing Attachment Trauma
Our earliest relationships teach us important things about ourselves and other people.
Attachment trauma refers to the wounds that can develop when our early relationships with caregivers don’t provide
the safety, consistency, attunement, or connection we need.
When caregivers are consistently responsive, emotionally available, and safe, we have opportunities to develop a sense that relationships can be trusted and that our needs matter.
But when those relationships are unpredictable, unavailable, critical, or unsafe, we may develop ways of relating that help us protect ourselves.
These patterns can follow us into adulthood.
You might find yourself craving closeness while simultaneously feeling uncomfortable when someone gets too close. You might become anxious when someone pulls away, or shut down when relationships become emotionally intense. You may struggle to set boundaries because saying no feels selfish or unsafe.
Together, we can explore where these patterns came from and begin creating different ways of relating to yourself and the people around you.
When Childhood Neglect Leaves an Impact
Not all trauma comes from something that happened. Sometimes trauma comes from what was missing.
Childhood neglect can include the absence of emotional attunement, comfort, protection, encouragement, or consistent attention to your needs. You may have grown up with caregivers who provided for you physically but struggled to connect with you emotionally.
As a child, you may not have had the words to understand this.
You may simply have learned that your feelings were too much, your needs were inconvenient, or that you had to figure things out on your own.
As an adult, this can look like difficulty identifying your emotions, discomfort receiving care, chronic self-reliance, low self-worth, or a tendency to dismiss your own needs.
Healing can begin with learning to notice those needs again—with curiosity rather than judgment.
Healing After Narcissistic Abuse
Some people come to therapy after growing up with a parent or caregiver who was highly controlling, critical, emotionally unpredictable, or consistently centered their own needs.
Others are healing from a more recent relationship with someone who was emotionally abusive or manipulative.
Narcissistic abuse can leave you questioning your own perceptions and wondering whether your reactions are justified. You may have learned to constantly monitor another person's mood, explain yourself, second-guess your needs, or take responsibility for things that weren't yours to carry.
After these experiences, rebuilding trust in yourself can be an important part of healing.
Therapy can provide a space to make sense of what happened, reconnect with your own perspective, strengthen boundaries, and develop a more compassionate relationship with yourself.
I don't believe healing means erasing your past or becoming a completely different person.
The goal isn't to get rid of the parts of you that developed in response to difficult experiences. Those parts were trying to protect you.
Instead, therapy can help you understand these patterns, develop greater emotional regulation, and create new ways of responding that feel more aligned with who you are now.
My approach to trauma therapy is collaborative, compassionate, and developmentally attuned. I draw from EMDR, parts work, CBT, DBT, narrative therapy, and other approaches depending on what feels most helpful for you.
We won't rush into difficult memories before you're ready.
Together, we'll work at a pace that feels manageable, building the skills and sense of safety you need to do deeper work.
A different way forward
