Complex PTSD Symptoms:

Interpersonal Difficulties

A core dilemma of C-PTSD is that your longing for a relationship is in direct opposition to memories that tell you relationships aren't safe. As a result, developing healthy relationships can be challenging

Sections:

How CPTSD Can Affect Relationships

Written by Annie Tanasugarn Ph.D., CCTSA
 

Relationships can be challenging for individuals with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD). Past trauma can greatly affect your emotions and relationships, making them feel challenging and unsafe at times.

Feeling unsafe is one of the biggest signs of complex PTSD. When feeling safe is compromised, hypervigilance or shutting down are common. Knowing the signs and symptoms can help with healing and improving relationship quality.

Because traumatic events have the ability to shatter how we once saw the world, they become life-changing. What we experience may differ depending on the type of trauma, yet the end result is often the same: fears, triggers, emotional dysregulation, feelings of worthlessness, emotional numbness, sleep/wake issues, avoidance behaviors, and hypervigilance.
 

8 Ways the impact of CPTSD can appear in relationships:
 

1. Hypervigilance and Trust Issues

CPTSD can cause sense of hypervigilance and a heightened awareness of potential threats, leading to difficulties in trusting others. Survivors may struggle to feel safe and secure in relationships, often attributing their hypervigilance to past traumas.

2. Attachment Wounds

Trauma can impact how you form connections, resulting in insecure attachment styles like anxious, dismissive, or fearful. These attachment wounds can manifest as challenges in forming and maintaining secure, healthy relationships.

3. Emotional Triggers

CPTSD survivors may experience emotional triggers that stem from past trauma, causing intense emotional reactions in interpersonal settings. These triggers can disrupt communication, deepen emotional wounds, and create barriers to intimacy and connection.

4. Self-Worth and Self-Compassion

Experiencing trauma can lead to feeling less valuable and kind towards oneself. This can make it challenging to accept and believe in the love, care, and support of others. This can interfere with your ability to engage in reciprocal, nurturing relationships.

5. Communication Challenges

CPTSD can impact your ability to communicate needs, set boundaries, and express emotions effectively. This can result in misunderstandings, conflict, and difficulties in establishing open communication within relationships.

6. Fear of Rejection and Abandonment

Past rejection, neglect, or abandonment can instill a strong fear of rejection or abandonment in current relationships. This fear can lead to behaviors that either push others away or create barriers to connection.

7. Relational Triggers

People with CPTSD may face triggers that remind them of past trauma, causing fear, shame, or feeling unworthy.

8.Impact on Intimacy and Vulnerability

Trauma can create barriers to intimacy and vulnerability, making it challenging for CPTSD survivors to engage in emotionally close, deeply connected relationships.
 

The Issue with Feeling Safe

"Many traumatized individuals are too hypervigilant to enjoy the ordinary pleasures that life has to offer, while others are too numb to absorb new experiences—or to be alert to signs of real danger.

When the smoke detectors of the brain malfunction, people no longer run when they should be trying to escape or fight back when they should be defending themselves." 
―Bessel Van Der Kolk

Safety is defined as a state of feeling secure, safe, and where risk, danger, or injury are reduced from occurring. Safety exists not only in the physical sense, but also includes feeling safe emotionally, mentally, and psychologically.

Yet when a person is battling the effects of C-PTSD, feeling "safe" gets skewed. Those with complex PTSD often report feeling unsafe in their homes, around family, friends, or their significant other, and especially in public, including in familiar places.

The reason that a sense of safety is compromised so significantly is that those with C-PTSD have experienced severe and often repeated betrayal from those closest in their lives. This may stem from chronic childhood abuse or consistent neglect.

Additionally, it may happen in our adult lives from having been betrayed by a friend or significant other through "smear campaigns," cheating, "discards," or other experiences that can exacerbate earlier trauma. 

When trust is shattered, the end result is to feel unsafe, threatened, and on guard.

Intimate relationships are often the most damaged when someone is battling C-PTSD because those who are closest to them are often the same people who trigger their vulnerabilities and fears.

As a result, many will run, push away, shut down, or lash out. This in turn can trigger depression, self-doubt, and further shame which adds to symptoms experienced by those with C-PTSD. This pattern can become cyclic if left unchecked.

Signs & Symptoms of Feeling Unsafe in Relationships

It's commonly known that those who have histories of severe and/or chronic trauma in childhood will often grow into adults who unconsciously seek out connections with others—especially intimate relationships—that allow them to "reenact" their unresolved childhood conflicts. 

Repetition compulsion where an adult with unprocessed trauma will attempt to resolve the trauma through reliving the traumatic experiences in relationships.
 

Other signs include:

🔹Repeating the same relationship over and over.

Those who have experienced severe trauma in their lives often gravitate to situations that not only trigger their unhealed core wounds, but that are often unsafe (yet get confused as "comfortable"). 

This is what can perpetuate a cycle of toxic intimate relationships based on repetition compulsion, unhealed core wounds, and confusing what's "familiar" as safe.

🔹Emotional avoidance.

People who have C-PTSD are often emotionally disconnected and engage in emotional avoidance as a coping strategy. Many may shut down, push those away who are closest to them such as a partner, family, or friends, or try to superficially smooth things over instead of dealing with more vulnerable feelings.

Unfortunately, because feeling unsafe is at the core of emotional avoidance, many with C-PTSD may feel misunderstood by those in their lives, which can cause them to further isolate themselves.


🔹A lack of trust.

Anyone who has experienced chronic, repeated, or severe trauma in childhood has often lost the ability to unconditionally trust those in their lives, including themselves. As children, their parents or caregivers who were supposed to protect and love them may have abandoned them, ignored their needs for their own, or abused them. 

Needless to say, if a person has experienced a betrayal of trust in their formative years, they carry this with them into their adult relationships. As such, the closer a person is to someone with C-PTSD (such as a romantic partner), the more of a threat to their safety that person becomes, often triggering their trust issues and fear.

🔹Relationship avoidance.

For some with C-PTSD, relationships can be too overwhelming and a threat to their safety, which may include intimate partners or family. Because of their fears of feeling unsafe, those with C-PTSD may choose to be alone, self-isolate to protect themselves and to preserve their sense of autonomy, or may avoid intimate relationships altogether as they feel too threatening.

Symptoms of C-PTSD can be difficult to manage and may trigger feelings of shame. It's important for partners and support systems to understand the challenges associated with C-PTSD and to provide understanding, compassion, and patience as individuals navigate their recovery journey. 

Those who have survived complex trauma don't need judgment. They don't need shaming. They need understanding, compassion, and time in (re)building their lives and empowering themselves.

ATTACHMENT THEORY

Attachment theory describes how young children respond when they're separated from their primary caregiver. Attachment is defined as an emotional bond between two people, initially a caregiver and an infant, which provides a foundation for healthy relationships later in life.

Secure attachment forms when we can depend on a safe, predictable, attuned, and loving caregiver during infancy and early childhood. When caregivers are attuned, they are able to read the cues that signal a child's needs.

"Good enough" caregivers will inevitably misattune to their children on occasion, and these mistakes provide healthy opportunities to learn that ruptures in connection can be repaired. This type of parenting produces what is generally referred to as secure attachment. 

Secure attachment provides the home base that allows a child to feel confident to explore their world. 

Healthy attachment is associated with the ability to learn emotion regulation, stress tolerance, and the development of healthy boundaries. The neglect and early childhood abuse that often accompany complex PTSD are not associated with secure attachment.
  

Patterns of insecure & anxious attachment styles:

• INSECURE AMBIVALENT -
  The insecure ambivalent child has grown up with an inconsistent primary caregiver, who is at times highly responsive and perceptive, but can also be intrusive and invasive. The child cannot depend upon the caregiver for predictable attunement and connection, and consequently develops uncertainty and anxiety. Insecure ambivalent adults tend to feel overly dependent and suffer from abandonment anxiety and an overall sense that relationships are unreliable.
     

• INSECURE AVOIDANT -
  The insecure avoidant child has grown up with a distant or disengaged caregiver who is repeatedly emotionally unavailable and rejecting. As a result, this child adapts by avoiding closeness, disconnecting emotionally, or becoming overly self-reliant. Insecure avoidant adults tend to have grown up to be dismissive of their own and other people's emotions and face challenges when their partners long for a deeper, more intimate connection.
   
• DISORGANIZED -
  The most disturbing attachment settings result in a disorganized attachment style. This child has grown up with a primary caregiver whose behavior is overwhelming, chaotic, and/or abusive. The caregiver is a source of alarm and confusion, resulting in a paradox related to the child's biological drive to seek closeness from the very source of the terror that they are trying to escape. This is often referred to as "fright without solution," an unsolvable dilemma for the child. Disorganized adults tend to rely upon impulsive or aggressive behaviors to manage uncomfortable emotions. Relationship interactions can mimic the abuse they experienced during childhood with caregivers. They might act abusive themselves or choose abusive partners because it feels familiar.
   

CPTSD is associated with all of these attachment styles.

Boundaries & Conflict Resolution 

Interpersonal difficulties or losses can leave you feeling vulnerable and destabilized.

Importantly, living in the midst of ongoing relationship strife interferes with healing. Relationship crises can reenact painful relationship patterns that you learned in childhood. 

You can feel re-victimized or at risk of victimizing others. It is imperative that you feel safe in order to open the doors to your wounds from the past.

In even the healthiest of relationships, there will be moments of disconnection or unintentional misunderstanding. DBT skills that support interpersonal effectiveness will help you learn how to have healthy boundaries and resolve conflicts.

Sometimes, this process involves admitting when you have caused harm and taking responsibility for your actions. At other times, you might need to refrain from taking responsibility for another person's harmful behaviors.
 

BOUNDARIES

Having a boundary is an aspect of self-respect that allows you to assert your "no" and your "yes." Without a boundary, you will be more likely to give in to others because you long for approval.

Maintaining successful boundaries involves accepting the fact that you cannot please others all of the time. Boundaries are also meant to be flexible enough to allow for intimate connections with others.

Ultimately, healthy boundaries require that you tolerate both closeness and separateness. Let's take a look at the three most common ineffective boundary patterns:

• Unbounded: 
  If you have an unbounded boundary style, you may be hesitant to set clear limits with others for fear of rejection. You may tend to merge with others and in doing so, lose a sense of yourself for the sake of a relation-ship. You might be prone to taking care of others in lieu of yourself. If your boundaries are undefined, you might be prone to overriding your true feelings, which can result in resentment and anger. Healing involves a commitment to self-care and identification of your limits. Watch for a tendency to say yes without thinking things through.
   

• Rigid: 
  If you have a rigid boundary style, you may have a tendency to withdraw from relationships. You might feel safest when you're self-reliant. Maybe you have constructed walls around your vulnerable feelings. When boundaries are too rigid, you can become isolated or carry a burdening belief that you always have to take care of things yourself. Healing involves allowing yourself to be vulnerable and recognizing that you have needs that others can and want to provide. Asking for what you need may feel uncomfortable at first, but doing so is a sign of growth and progress.
   

• Combined:
  The third and most common boundary style is actually a combination of the previous styles. You might alternate boundary styles between feeling a needy longing for connection and pushing people away when they get too close. Healing involves increasing your self-awareness about what boundary style is dominant at any given time. The need for closeness and space are both valid; however, you will feel greater satisfaction if you can advocate for those needs in healthy ways to your loved ones, such as speaking up when you need alone time to think, rather than pushing a loved one away. Healthy advocacy might involve saying, "I really need some alone time right now. I am going to go for a walk. I will be more available to connect with you when I get back."
   

Steps you can take to develop healthy boundaries include: 

— Self-awareness: 
Mindfulness skills can help you develop awareness about what is motivating your behaviors. If you are acting out of fear of rejection or fear of intimacy, allow yourself to slow down and connect to your breath and your body.
 

— Practice saying no:
An essential boundary skill is the ability to say no when something doesn't feel right to you. Absolving yourself of feelings of guilt and getting good at upholding your limits can take practice. Recognize that others may be disappointed with your choice, but this does not necessitate you giving in or getting angry.
 

— Practice asking for what you need:
It is equally important to learn assertive ways to express your wants and needs. Practice asking for things and making requests. This process requires tolerating your own disappointment when requests are denied. Moreover, if your request is honored, you may need to challenge yourself to tolerate the closeness of someone taking care of you. 

Respectful self-advocacy for your needs is a way of acknowledging that you are worth being cared for.
 

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Dialectical behavior therapy skills for interpersonal effectiveness include learning to address conflicts in an assertive yet caring manner. Effective communication skills involve "I statements" that do not blame or judge the other person.

Healthy communication asks that you be aware of your own needs and have the ability to articulate them in an understandable way.

In addition, healthy communication involves a desire to understand the other person's perspective and investment in a continued relationship.

Conflicts happen even in the best of relationships. 

*Strategies that facilitate successful conflict resolution:

• Stay descriptive:
  Describe your situation by naming the facts and avoiding judgmental statements. Notice a tendency to fall into the trap of statements that start with "You always..." or "You make me feel..." Here's an example of more effective descriptive language: "When I come home from work, I am aware that you want to talk with me about your day."
   
• Name your feelings
  Talk about feelings, rather than assuming that the other person knows how you feel. For example, "I am tired when I come home, and it is hard for me to connect right away."
   
• Ask for what you want
  Nobody can read minds. Express yourself by telling that person what you need. For example, "I would like to take 15 minutes after getting home to settle down after work. Then I can give you my full attention." 
   
• Ask what they need
  Asking the other person about their needs and wants shows that you care. It can be valuable to repeat back what you've heard to ensure that you understand them correctly. For example, "I hear that you want to connect with me at the end of the day. Is that correct?"
     
• Give and take
  Healthy relationships generally involve some negotiation of both parties' needs. Let the other person know that you are willing to attend to their needs while continuing to advocate for your request. For example, "I will make sure that we have valuable and meaningful time together."
    
• Back off as needed
  If you find yourself feeling rejected or defensive, it is important to take a few minutes and calm down. When taking a "time out," it is effective to make an agreement about how long you need and assert your commitment to resolve the conflict. For example, "I am starting to feel defensive. I am committed to you and to our conversation, but I need to catch my breath. Can we take a break and agree to come back in 10 minutes?"
   

Healthy interpersonal relationships are supported by communications that are clear, fair, and kind. Refrain from putting other people down and calling them names. Do your best to be respectful and truthful.

If you have acted in a hurtful manner, being willing to admit it and apologize goes a long way to soothe hurt feelings.

Building Healthy Relationships with Complex PTSD

Since relational trauma plays an important role in the development of CPTSD, many of the symptoms may be triggered in relationships.

For example, some people may find it easy to brush off a hurtful comment and move on with their day. However, for someone living with CPTSD, it may not be so simple. These events may trigger a strong emotional response and possibly an outburst, leaving your romantic partner shocked and confused.

You may feel skeptical about your partner's words and actions, or perhaps look for signs of dishonesty where there aren't any. A fear of abandonment may also fracture the foundation of a relationship.

While these symptoms may present challenges, remember, healing and forming healthy attachments with CPTSD is possible.



To cultivate a healthy relationship with someone who has Complex PTSD prioritize open communication and emotional validation to foster a safe and supportive environment.
 

How to Navigate Relationships with CPTSD:

🟢 Understanding CPTSD & Its Impact

• Recognize the Challenges: CPTSD can lead to difficulties with emotional regulation and attachment issues.
   
  
• Educate Yourself and Your Partner: Understanding the condition and its potential effects can help both partners navigate challenges more effectively.
   
• Seek Professional Support: Trauma-informed therapy, either individually or as a couple, can provide valuable tools and strategies for managing CPTSD and improving relationships.
   

🟢 Communication & Empathy

• Open and Honest Communication: Establish a safe space for open and honest communication about feelings, triggers, and needs.
   
• Active Listening and Validation: Practice active listening and validate each other's emotions, even when it's difficult.
   
  
• Use "I" Statements: Express feelings using "I" statements to avoid blame and promote understanding.
   
• Empathy and Compassion: Approach interactions with empathy and compassion, recognizing that CPTSD can lead to heightened reactivity and difficulty in expressing emotions.
  

🟢 Managing Triggers & Boundaries

• Identify Triggers: Work together to identify triggers that can negatively impact the relationship.
   
• Establish Boundaries: Set healthy boundaries to protect emotional well-being and prevent triggers from escalating into conflicts.
   
• Avoidance of Triggers: Collaboratively avoid situations or topics that are likely to trigger negative reactions.
   
  
• Emotional Regulation Techniques: Practice emotional regulation techniques, such as deep breathing, grounding exercises, or mindfulness, to manage emotional dysregulation.

🟢 Building Trust & Intimacy

• Consistency and Reliability: Provide consistent and reliable interactions to build trust and a sense of security.
   
• Rebuilding Trust: Rebuilding trust after trauma takes time and requires patience and understanding.
   
  
• Shared Activities: Engage in shared activities that foster connection and strengthen the bond.
   
• Self-Care: Prioritize self-care practices to maintain physical and emotional well-being, which can help in managing C-PTSD symptoms and improving relationships.
   
  
• Know your worth: Try to recognize that you're worthy of happiness and a loving relationship.

🟢 Seeking Professional Help

• Trauma-Informed Therapy: Seek out trauma-informed therapy, either individually or as a couple, to address underlying trauma and develop healthier coping mechanisms.
   
• Couples Therapy: Consider couples therapy to improve communication, resolve conflicts, and strengthen the relationship.
   
  
• Support Groups: Join support groups for individuals with C-PTSD or their partners to connect with others who understand the challenges.
   
  

How to Help a Partner Living with CPTSD:

🔵 Be consistent

You may find it useful to be deliberate and consistent in your actions and communication. Being predictable may make it easier for your partner to trust you and build a secure attachment.
 

🔵 Hold space for their emotions

Acknowledge their emotions so that they feel supported and heard. You can try mirroring language and asking questions. For example, "I hear you saying you want to be left alone. Do I have that right?"
 

🔵 Learn coping techniques

It may make you feel empowered to find helpful ways to support your partner when they're having a triggered moment or a flashback, such as deep breathing exercises or going for a walk together.

If your partner is in active treatment, you can also support them as they learn coping strategies and new techniques, and practice new behaviors with you.

🔵 Depersonalized conflict

Try to remember not to take things personally. If your partner has an angry outburst or withdraws after a triggering event, know that it's not about you. They've been through a lot, and they are doing the best they can.

🔵 Practice self-care

Loving someone with any mental health condition can be, at times, overwhelming. Be sure to establish your own boundaries and practice regular self-care. Recognize that not every day will go perfectly or be without difficulties.

If you or someone you love has symptoms of CPTSD, you are not alone and treatment is available. Healing often takes a long time, but there is hope. 

Loving Someone with CPTSD

Written by Maxine Dolma, CPTSDFoundation.org
How to Support a Loved One with CPTSD

If you were to ask me what I would want a romantic partner to know about loving and lending support while dealing with the reality of CPTSD, this is what I’d say:

I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Yes, I have a mental illness and you need to know that my CPTSD doesn't mean I'm broken. It means I have a brain injury from trauma because someone I loved and trusted -who was supposed to take care of me- abused me instead. 

The abuse happened again and again over days, months, and years. I lived in a constant state of terror that caused my brain and body to be soaked in stress hormones. Living like this meant my nervous system and brain got wired to be sensitive to anything that reminds me of the abuse. These reminders are called triggers.

I could be triggered by anything: it could be the way that you breathe or shuffle your feet. It could even be the sunshine, a man with a beard, or a bite of a cookie that reminds me of my abuser or the abuse.

I don't always know when I'll be triggered or how those triggers will affect me. I'll do my best to let you know what my triggers are and work to deal with all the feelings that come up.

But sometimes, I'll pull away from you and when I do, it doesn't mean I've stopped loving you. What's really happening is that I can't cope with what's going on in my mind and body and how I'm feeling.

Instead of backing away from me because you think I don't love you, I need you to be brave and ask me what I'm going through and how you can help. I don't need you to fix me. I don't need you to make my feelings or problems go away. I just need you to be patient and compassionate.

Sometimes, I'll have a crisis where I am so triggered that I get stuck in a spiral of self-destructive talk, self-harm, or shame. Maybe I will experience an emotional or physical flashback where I'm remembering the abuse or feeling overwhelmed to the point where I can't talk, and I retreat into my own mind or leave my body entirely. If it's that intense, I'm in crisis.

When I'm in crisis, I need you to have so much patience and understand that the part of my brain that is usually able to talk, reason, and deal with feelings has shut down and I have stress hormones pumping through my body. 

I need you to know that I can't control what I'm going through. If things get bad, you'll need to call my therapist or the crisis line, or emergency services. Yes, it might happen that you'll be the person who makes the tough calls. I know it's hard. Remember that I appreciate your bravery, your strength, and most of all your love.

If during our time together, you feel like it's all too much and you can't support me, please let me know. I can understand that you need time to take care of yourself. DO take care of yourself. If you need to see a therapist, I will support you as much as I can.

Have boundaries with me. Don't hesitate. We need to keep things healthy between us. It helps me heal.

After all of this, you might still wonder how you can be a good partner. Show me you're trustworthy, reliable, and compassionate. I can't say this enough: understand that you don't need to fix me or stop me from having my very messy, sometimes confusing feelings. Instead, I need you to practice detached compassion which means that you allow me space to have my feelings without reacting to them.

I also need you to remember that I'm responsible for my feelings, what I say, and what I do just as you are responsible for what you feel, say, and do. If I hurt you, don't make excuses for me. If you hurt me, I need you to be responsible too.

If you are serious about wanting to stick around and be in my life, I need you to know where I'm at with therapy -if I invite you. But if I can't, I'm not trying to keep you in the dark. It most likely means that it's hard for me to deal with my own stuff right now and I just can't share; I need to figure it out on my own.

I need you to know that it will take time for me to heal. And while I'm healing, I am taking my mind apart from its very foundations and working my way up. I will change. I will grow. Sometimes you may not recognize me, but if I'm still here, know that I love you and I'm profoundly grateful for your love and support.

How to Accept Love as a Trauma Survivor

Navigating the process of healing attachment wounds is a significant aspect of embracing love as a CPTSD survivor.

Neglect, inconsistency, or other traumas from PTSD vs CPTSD, can cause attachment wounds that impact how we form secure connections with others.
 

Steps to Support the Healing of Attachment Wounds:

Understanding one's attachment style—whether it's anxious, avoidant, disorganized, or secure—provides valuable insight into relational behaviors and responses. By recognizing the patterns that shape attachment styles, individuals can consciously work towards fostering a more secure attachment framework. 

🔹Creating Secure Internal Dialogue

Developing a nurturing and supportive internal dialogue is pivotal in healing attachment wounds. Practicing self-soothing, self-compassion, and affirming one's worth can help challenge and make shifts in negative self-talk caused by attachment wounds. 

🔹Mindful Self-Exploration

Doing some heady self-exploration can help you to unravel the roots of your attachment wounds. By understanding how early experiences affected attachment, you can develop self-compassion and change how you engage in relationships.

🔹Building Trust Through Consistency

Consistent and reliable interactions with trusted individuals can gradually rebuild a sense of trust and safety. Creating consistent support and care can build a strong foundation for close relationships and a feeling of stability.

🔹Engaging in Relational Repair

When facing challenges in relationships, openly addressing concerns and practicing healthy communication can aid in repairing relational wounds. Engaging in constructive dialogue and working collaboratively towards resolution can strengthen trust and diminish attachment insecurities.

🔹Exploring Attachment-Focused Therapy

Seeking childhood trauma therapy that specifically addresses attachment wounds can support your recovery from Complex PTSD. Therapies like attachment-focused therapy, EMDR therapy, and somatic therapy can help heal attachment trauma and build secure connections.

🔹Practicing Emotional Regulation

Developing skills for emotional regulation is integral in managing triggers related to attachment wounds. Engaging in grounding exercises, practicing deep breathing, and utilizing healthy coping strategies can help navigate emotional turbulence and promote stability in relationships.

🔹Fostering Secure Relationships

Cultivating relationships with individuals who embody secure attachment qualities can be profoundly beneficial. Observing and internalizing healthy attachment dynamics can create a template for navigating secure connections in one's own life.

🔹Embracing Vulnerability

Practicing vulnerability in safe and supportive relationships fosters emotional intimacy and reinforces the gradual healing of attachment wounds. Embracing vulnerability allows for authentic connection and strengthens the foundation of secure attachments.
 

Healing attachment wounds takes time and may have setbacks, but every step toward secure connection, with yourself and others, is healing and is brave.

By leaning into self-compassion, mindfulness, and intentional communication, you can begin to heal even the most wounded parts of yourself in your recovery from childhood trauma. 

Identifying triggers can help create strong connections and feel safe in relationships. Finding people you can be open about feelings can also contribute to this.

Recovering from CPTSD and learning to accept love is a continuous and individual journey.

It involves understanding that healing attachment wounds takes time. Room for exploration, setbacks, and of course successes along the way.

Each step taken towards healing reflects a commitment to owning your inherent worth as a human in the world. Because you are, and always have been, deserving of love and acceptance, just as you are.

 sarahherstichlcsw.com/a-cptsd-therapist-shares-tips-to-accept-love-as-a-complex-ptsd-survivor

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