Memory, meaning, and the nervous system. How to treat what got stuck.
A working library for trauma-focused practice — EMDR, CPT, PE, IFS, and somatic work; PTSD and complex trauma; the populations and presentations where trauma is the engine; and plain-language client explainers you can share or open in session.
Long-form clinician guides on the core frameworks for this topic.
Structural dissociation, the dissociation continuum, and the four-phase scaffold for trauma treatment (Safety, Activation, Resolution, Integration).
Read guideManagers, firefighters, exiles, and Self-energy — the parts framework that maps onto Phase 2 activation work.
Read guideBottom-up stabilization tools: polyvagal-informed practice, window of tolerance, somatic resources.
Read guideThe therapies most relevant to this topic.
Reprocess stuck traumatic memories using bilateral stimulation while holding the memory in mind.
A 12-session protocol for PTSD that targets stuck points — the beliefs trauma left behind.
Repeatedly approach the trauma memory and avoided reminders until they lose their grip.
The mind is made of parts; underneath them all is Self — calm, curious, compassionate.
Trauma lives in the nervous system; healing happens by completing thwarted survival responses.
Body-led therapies that treat the nervous system, not just the narrative.
First-line picks and clinical guidance for the presentations under this topic.
Re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognition/mood, and hyperarousal following a traumatic event.
Trauma-focused psychotherapies outperform medication for PTSD. Three first-line options have comparable efficacy; choice often depends on client preference and avoidance level. Stabilization and resourcing precede reprocessing in complex trauma.
Prolonged, repeated interpersonal trauma with disturbances in self-organization, affect, and relationships.
Complex trauma requires phase-based treatment: safety/stabilization → processing → integration/reconnection (Herman). Single-shot trauma protocols often destabilize without preparation. Parts-based and somatic approaches are well-suited.
Disruptions in identity, memory, consciousness, or perception — usually trauma-rooted.
Phase-based treatment (ISSTD guidelines): safety/stabilization → trauma processing → integration. Standard trauma protocols without preparation typically destabilize dissociative clients. Specialist supervision is essential.
Free, printable, Quick-Send to clients.
Plain-language explainers you can share or open together in session.
Anonymized vignettes with formulation across 2–3 modalities.
What changes when you sit with this population.
Step-by-step walkthroughs.