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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
PTSD
PTSD doesn’t only affect combat veterans. It can follow sexual assault, physical or emotional abuse, car accidents, medical crises, disasters, and repeated “everyday” adversity (often called complex or developmental trauma). Outcomes vary widely because the nervous system’s adaptation to threat—shaped by biology, history, and support—matters as much as the event itself. PTSD is linked with higher risks of relationship strain, substance misuse, and suicidal thinking, which is why timely, evidence-based care is essential.
Common symptoms include hypervigilance, sleep disturbance, intrusive memories and flashbacks, exaggerated startle, avoidance, irritability, chronic anxiety, and panic. Many people describe feeling “stuck on high alert,” as if the body never fully powers down even when the danger has passed.
As an adjunct to gold-standard treatments (e.g., trauma-focused CBT, EMDR) neurofeedback aims to recalibrate arousal—reducing sympathetic “fight-or-flight” activation and supporting parasympathetic “rest-and-digest” recovery. In practice, sessions often coincide with slower breathing, lower muscle tension, steadier attention, and a greater sense of safety. We integrate neurofeedback with psychotherapy, skills for grounding and sleep, and collaborative medical care to help the brain and body relearn how to shift from threat to regulation.
Complex Developmental Trauma
Trauma & Attachment
Most people exposed to trauma don’t meet full criteria for PTSD—and a single PTSD label can miss the cumulative, developmental impact of repeated adversity in childhood. Because children’s brains and stress systems are still maturing, early trauma can shape self-concept, worldview, and self-regulation in broad, long-lasting ways.
These developmental effects—often described as complex or developmental trauma—can include chronic difficulty managing emotions, disrupted attachment, sudden regressions or mood shifts, loss of motivation and initiative, aggression toward self or others, and delays in expected skills. Many also experience sleep and appetite dysregulation, persistent bodily complaints (e.g., stomachaches, headaches), heightened threat expectations, risky or self-endangering behaviors, and entrenched self-criticism or shame.
In short, trauma in formative years can reorganize how the nervous system predicts and responds to the world—not just how a person remembers past events. That’s why care must go beyond symptom checklists to address regulation, relationships, and development across time.
Unresolved Trauma & Relationships
When early caregiving is frightening, absent, or inconsistent, the nervous system learns survival strategies—numbing, people-pleasing, vigilance—that can echo into adult relationships. It’s common for survivors to find themselves replaying old patterns with current partners. Partners often want to “fix” things, but no one can heal another person by willpower alone. Both people deserve support, clear boundaries, and skills that make connection feel safer.
Our trauma-informed therapy helps couples and partners understand each person’s story and attachment patterns, reduce reactivity, and build new habits of co-regulation and communication. We focus on practical tools—nervous-system regulation, emotion naming, repair conversations, and healthy limits—so the relationship can move from survival mode to secure connection.