One of the tricky problems with complex trauma is that our healthy separation between inside reality and outside reality is under-developed. We struggle with both sudden overwhelm from outside events and a tendency to take our inner experience as a literal reflection of outside reality. Separating ourselves from outside events You might know […]
mindfulness
Alternative versions of body scans
A body scan is a mindfulness exercise in which we are instructed to become aware of different body parts in a set order. It is a standard exercise in PTSD treatment because it helps many people to feel more grounded in the present and it increases stability and the ability to self-regulate. People with cPTSD […]
Grounding Meditations (advanced)
I have recently switched out the mindfulness app on my phone. I used to use Smiling Mind, which is a mental health focussed app meant for people who want to reduce stress and stress-related symptoms. It offers very clear instructions with the purpose of stabilization and grounding and it is ideal for beginners and […]
Emotion surfing for cPTSD
One of the more trendy tools for emotional regulation right now is called emotion surfing. We can imagine emotions like waves. They start, build up intensity, reach a peak and then they go down again. Maybe we experience only one wave, maybe there will be more. But they will all go down again and the […]
Exercises with a singing bowl
Not that long ago someone handed us a singing bowl to experiment with for a weekend. We have a deep dislike for mixing therapy and new age concepts and will gladly spare you from chakra massages and the esoteric meaning of different frequencies. Instead we want to look at small exercises that can support mindfulness, […]
Dual Awareness
Dual awareness is an important mental skill that is needed for regulation and trauma processing. For dual awareness we need to be able to pay attention to our inner reality and our senses, that tell us about the outside reality at the same time. That way we can stay oriented and grounded in triggering situations. […]
The Space In Between – an alternative approach to mindfulness
Here is a collection of exercises that all focus on the space in between instead of the thing itself. It is easier to understand once you try it, so let’s jump right in. The space between subject and object Take a deep breath and let it out. Then look around and pick […]
Open and focused attention exercises
Our attention is one of the most basic tools we use in therapy and it is also an area of struggle for many. Sometimes we narrow our attention too much. It limits our awareness to that one area of experience that is painful or problematic. That way we are unable to notice all the other […]
The Awareness Continuum for Trauma Therapy
With early childhood trauma we rarely get a chance to develop well in every aspect of our being, that includes mental processes. We usually struggle to separate inside and outside reality and to tell the difference between: our sensations and reality, what we perceive seems to be all there is our thoughts and reality, believing […]
Getting out of chronic dissociation Part 2
With exercises for getting out of chronic dissociation the way the exercise is done is vastly more important than the action in itself. We will first look at the position of the Engaged Explorer, explain how to do titration and revisit the trinity of regulation for a solid foundation. Only then can we approach the […]
Getting out of chronic dissociation Part 1
Complex PTSD is sometimes accompanied by chronic dissociation. It means being in a permanent state of disconnection from our body, our emotions, our needs and sensations and the people around us. We are still functioning in everyday life, but certain areas of our awareness are offline. That’s why this is also called functional shutdown. This […]
Impulse and Control
Trauma usually comes with problems in self-regulation and self-control but people differ in the way it shows. Under-control (UC) like chronically unmanageable emotions or intense, often destructive, impulses are usually diagnosed as BPD, sometimes it shows in impulsive eating disorders like binge eating or bulimia. We think that under-control is addressed well in DBT, so […]