Trauma therapy
Memory, meaning, and the nervous system. How to treat what got stuck.
In this guide
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.
Deep dives
Long-form clinician guides on the core frameworks for this topic.
The ultimate guide to parts work
Pillar guide to every parts-based model — IFS, Ego State Therapy, Voice Dialogue, Schema Modes — and a model-agnostic 7-step protocol.
Read guideDissociation & the SARI model
Structural dissociation, the dissociation continuum, and the four-phase scaffold for trauma treatment (Safety, Activation, Resolution, Integration).
Read guideIFS parts work
Managers, firefighters, exiles, and Self-energy — the parts framework that maps onto Phase 2 activation work.
Read guideUnderstanding ego states (client guide)
A warm, plain-language overview of ego states, introjects, and the goal of parts work — designed to share with clients.
Read guideNervous system regulation
Bottom-up stabilization tools: polyvagal-informed practice, window of tolerance, somatic resources.
Read guideModalities
The therapies most relevant to this topic.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Reprocess stuck traumatic memories using bilateral stimulation while holding the memory in mind.
Cognitive Processing Therapy
A 12-session protocol for PTSD that targets stuck points — the beliefs trauma left behind.
Prolonged Exposure for PTSD
Repeatedly approach the trauma memory and avoided reminders until they lose their grip.
Internal Family Systems
The mind is made of parts; underneath them all is Self — calm, curious, compassionate.
Somatic Experiencing
Trauma lives in the nervous system; healing happens by completing thwarted survival responses.
Somatic Therapy — an umbrella guide
Body-led therapies that treat the nervous system, not just the narrative.
Disorders
First-line picks and clinical guidance for the presentations under this topic.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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.
Complex Trauma / C-PTSD
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.
Dissociative Disorders
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.
Worksheets
Free, printable, Quick-Send to clients.
For clients
Plain-language explainers you can share or open together in session.
Worked cases
Anonymized vignettes with formulation across 2–3 modalities.
Populations
What changes when you sit with this population.
How-to
Step-by-step walkthroughs.