A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD

Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

Arielle Schwartz

• Publisher: Callisto
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781646116157
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Research-based strategies, tools, and support for individuals working to heal from their childhood trauma. You don't have to be a prisoner of your past.
Repetitive trauma during childhood can impact your emotional development, creating a ripple effect that carries into adulthood. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is a physical and psychological response to these repeated traumatic events.
Learn the skills necessary to improve your physical and mental health with practical strategies taken from the most effective therapeutic methods, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and somatic psychology. When appropriately addressed, the wounds of your past no longer need to interfere with your ability to live a meaningful and satisfying life.
This book will have you:

• Understanding C-PTSD—Get an in-depth explanation of complex PTSD, including its symptoms, its treatment through various therapies, and more.
• Addressing your symptoms—Discover evidence-based strategies for healing the symptoms of complex PTSD, like avoidance, depression, emotional dysregulation, and hopelessness.
• Relating to real stories—Relate to others' experiences with complex PTSD with multiple real-life examples included in each chapter.
• Let go of the pain from your past with A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD!

"Schwartz's clear, gentle, trauma-informed guide provides detailed instructions, examples, and exercises on how to begin to heal chronic physical and mental health conditions. Schwartz normalizes complex PTSD symptoms and emphasizes why it's not your fault. An encouraging, empowering set of how-tos that will change lives for those struggling with symptoms as well as for their therapists and other health care professionals." ?Veronique Mead, MD, MA, Somatic Trauma Therapist, Founder, Chronic Illness Trauma Studies

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Understanding Complex PTSD
• 2. Healing Avoidance Symptoms: “I Am Learning to Be Here Now”
• 3. Healing Invasive and Intrusive Symptoms: “I Am Finally Able to Feel Safe”
• 4. Healing Depressive Symptoms: “I Feel Connected to Myself Again”
• 5. Managing Emotional Dysregulation: “I Am Learning to Find Balance”
• 6. Healing from Dissociative Symptoms: “I Am No Longer Afraid of My Past”
• 7. Cultivating Healthy Interpersonal Relationships: “I Am Learning to Trust Myself and Others”
• 8. Healing Self-Perception Issues: “Now I Realize that It Was Never My Fault”
• 9. Healing from an Over-Identification with an Abuser: “I Am No Longer Defined by My Past”
• 10. Overcoming Feelings of Hopelessness and Despair: “I Am in Charge of My Life Now”
• 11. Keep Up the Momentum
• Resources
• References
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author