“... every therapist must develop enough personal maturity, clinical wisdom, and capacity for good judgment to effectively and safely conduct psychotherapy, an imperative that is especially important in the treatment of this population. The emotion dysregulation and insecure and disorganized attachment of complex trauma clients elicit strong emotional reactions from others, even those in their support network, including therapists. Reactions can range from sympathy, sorrow, fear, and guilt to frustration, impatience, anger/rage, hostility, and disgust or contempt.” TherapyComplex PtsdComplex TraumaInterpersonal TraumaTherapeutic RelationshipTherapist ResponsibilitiesInterpersonal Abuse Book:Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach Source: Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach
“... the silent client may be experienced as withholding, oppositional, and sulking or as holding the therapist "hostage" in ways that elicit resentment and other negative responses. Because it is not unusual that relational and other forms of traumatization began when the client was preverbal, he or she may not have words. The lack of access to emotions or to words to describe them is known as alexithymia and is a common response to trauma. What the client is likely to have instead is somatosensory, behavioral, dissociative, and relational manifestations that therapists must seek to understand and translate into words, a process that involves hard work and intense focus.” TherapyChildhood AbuseTherapistComplex TraumaInterpersonal TraumaTherapeutic RelationshipEarly Trauma Book:Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach Source: Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach