IFS Therapy 
Real Results 

WHAT IS COMPLEX CHILDHOOD TRAUMA & C-PTSD 

Complex Childhood Trauma, means that you suffered distress in childhood that was difficult enough that it altered your nervous system to feel very unsafe. And most likely you were put in harms way, either abusively or neglectfully, by those that were your caregivers, or by close community members that your family normalized as trustworthy. In these situations, your body, mind and brain; just did not have the capacity, as a child, to process through it.

Children need safe adults to help them regulate through emotions and distress. If the adults were not safe or were not supportive when you needed it, you may have felt all alone in that distress. That is the overwhelm that happens in any type of traumatic stress. What makes it complex, is that the cause of the trauma, and the lack of safe adults to support you, got coupled together with your developing brain. This caused you to learn ways of coping (or lack of coping), and also caused you to conclude beliefs about yourself and your place in the world. Most often negative, due to not having a supportive positive mentor to guide you through it all.  As you become an adult, you were left with skewed conclusions about whether or not you mattered, or if you are good enough. You may lack confidence in yourself, struggle with agency, or have a hard time feeling centered and grounded.  

Complex Developmental Trauma is also another term used. It is the same. Both terms refer to experiences where there was either obvious abuse that was normalized as "just how it is in our family;" or lack of support at crucial times pointing toward a more neglected growing up experience. These experiences are woven right into the fabric of who you are.

But that is only a skewed perception of who you are. It is not the final chapter in your story.  That distress caused a nervous system hi-jack that can still happen due to those experiences. That's because you were a developing child, and you were not able to process how a healthy family should respond to you. Nor did you have the knowledge of what optimal care looks like. You only had the one example of a family that shaped all the impact on you.

Even if you could see other families were different and seemed more kind, or supportive; you could not do anything about it. Or, even process that fact fully with only a child's brain development level at the time. Therein lies the big issue. With one main example (your own family) behind closed doors, this shaped your world view. Your small self had to make conclusions to survive through it, and then soaked that up like a sponge. However, that does not mean that you have to be stuck there forever. 

Those traumatized & skewed perceptions of the world and your place in it; are conclusions that can be repaired. However, you do need a powerful therapy model to be able to access the nervous system simultaneously, as you get to know those childhood parts who carry those old conclusions. That is why the regular talk therapy you most likely tried in the past, did not work. 

In IFS Therapy, we can do that. Once we get to that place of deep access, we then can update the child part on the new supports available (You the adult) and help that part get his or her needs met, that they could not get met long ago.

IFS Therapy is very effective at unwinding and repairing Complex Childhood Trauma, and instilling new confidence for coping. Childhood parts find safety, process the old pain in a way that literally unburdens the skewed self-perceptions.  This leads to resolving old issues and patterns, that have lingered due to difficult childhood experiences.  Clients report gaining a new sense of their own center and more confidence in their lives.  

Patti Bee is a seasoned IFS Therapist, with 11+ years of providing the unwinding and unburdening process for her clients, that bring lasting results.  

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Patti Bee, LPC, IFS Therapist,  Complex Childhood Trauma, C-PTSD, Developmental Trauma, Mental Health Services, Resources, Psychotherapy that offers real results. Internal Family Systems, anxiety, depression, PTSD. Trauma Therapy, : Oconomowoc Lake WI, 53066, Waukesha County, Village of Chenequa WI, 53029, Lac La Belle WI, 53066, River Hills WI, 53217, Shorewood Hills WI, 53705, Maple Bluff WI, 53704.