Why traditional talk therapy falls short for trauma survivors: Finding a deeper path to healing

Dear beautiful healers, 

The women in my research identified as narcissistic abuse survivors and scored four times higher than normative statistics for the presence of early-life trauma. 

Three-fourths of them also met the clinical threshold to be diagnosed with C-PTSD, though less than 5% of them had been diagnosed. This has huge implications for treatment and means that traditional talk therapy probably isn’t going to cut it. 

Women with early-life trauma who have been in abusive adult relationships tend to live in an ongoing state of hyper-arousal or hypo-arousal, which can interfere with the ability to make good decisions, as well as block the resolution and integration of the trauma. 

That’s why a mind-body approach to trauma recovery is the gold standard for women who have survived narcissistic abuse, specifically resilience-focused therapies. These include EMDR, Somatic Therapy, Parts Work, and DBT, as well as therapeutic yoga, mindfulness, and integrative healthcare.

With warmth and support,

 Michelle