It wasn’t “too much”…it was too much for too long, with no one there to help.

If you’ve been living with chronic anxiety, emotional numbness, shame, or feeling like you’re always “on edge,” it may be more than just stress or depression. For many people, these symptoms are actually signs of Complex PTSD (CPTSD).

What Is Complex PTSD (CPTSD)?

Unlike PTSD, which is usually tied to one major traumatic event, CPTSD develops from ongoing, repeated, or relational trauma over time.

CPTSD is often the result of:

  • Childhood emotional neglect or abuse

  • Growing up in a home with addiction, mental illness, or instability

  • Emotional or physical abuse in relationships

  • Religious, cultural, or systemic oppression

  • Being in situations where you felt trapped, helpless, or constantly unsafe

Instead of one overwhelming event, CPTSD forms when the people or places that were supposed to be safe weren’t—and your nervous system learned to stay in survival mode.

Therapy for CPTSD in San Diego

Common Signs of CPTSD

  • Constant feelings of shame, guilt, or worthlessness

  • Difficulty trusting others or feeling emotionally close

  • Emotional flashbacks (big reactions to small triggers)

  • Feeling numb, disconnected, or like you don’t know who you are

  • Chronic anxiety, depression, or feeling “broken”

  • Perfectionism, people-pleasing, or shutting down in relationships

It’s not that you’re “too sensitive.” These are survival strategies your mind and body created to help you cope.

How Therapy Can Help

CPTSD is treatable. Therapy gives you a space to unlearn survival patterns that no longer serve you and reconnect with your sense of self, safety, and worth.

At our practice, we use:

  • Trauma-informed care to meet you where you are, with no rush or judgment

  • EMDR therapy to help process stuck trauma memories safely and gently

  • Attachment-based therapy to rebuild trust in yourself and others

  • Parts work (Internal Family Systems) to connect with the different “parts” of you, especially the ones that feel scared, angry, or numb

  • Mindfulness and somatic (body-based) work to help regulate your nervous system and feel more at home in your body.

You Don’t Have to Carry This Alone

Healing from CPTSD isn’t about “getting over it”, it’s about coming home to yourself, safely and gently, with a therapist who understands complex trauma.

We’ll move at your pace. You’ll be in control of the process. And we’ll hold space for both the pain and your deep capacity to heal.

Let’s work together

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