Question 1

What is complex trauma?

Accepted Answer

Complex trauma isn't a single traumatic event that happened once. It's what occurs when you've lived through ongoing, inescapable harm—often starting in childhood or within relationships that were supposed to be safe. Sometimes this harm comes from systems that were meant to protect you: families, schools, churches, or other institutions. When safety, trust, and connection are consistently absent, it changes how your brain and body work. It affects how you see yourself, your sense of who you are, how you manage emotions, connect with others, focus, remember things, and make sense of your world.

Question 2

What is the difference between PTSD and Complex PTSD?

Accepted Answer

In ICD-11, Complex PTSD is characterized as a variant of PTSD with additional and more severe symptoms. PTSD includes three core symptom clusters: re-experiencing the trauma in the present, avoidance of trauma reminders, and a heightened sense of current threat. Complex PTSD includes all the PTSD symptoms plus three additional Disturbances in Self-Organization: emotional dysregulation, negative self-concept with persistent feelings of worthlessness or shame, and interpersonal difficulties with trust and maintaining relationships. CPTSD is commonly associated with greater exposure to multiple interpersonal traumas earlier in life and exhibits higher functional impairment compared to PTSD.

Question 3

What does complex trauma look like?

Accepted Answer

Complex trauma can affect nearly every aspect of life including emotional and mood-related symptoms like extreme mood shifts or chronic low self-esteem; relational patterns such as social isolation or fear of intimacy; behavioral responses including addictions or self-injury; sense of self issues like dissociation or feelings of hopelessness; cognitive difficulties with attention and focus; physical health problems including chronic pain; and impacts on meaning and belief systems including alienation from spirituality.

Question 4

What insurance do you accept?

Accepted Answer

I accept the following Oregon Health Plan (OHP) Coordinated Care Organizations: Yamhill CCO, Trillium Community Health Plan, and Eastern Oregon CCO.

Question 5

What is dissociation?

Accepted Answer

Dissociation is a disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment. It's a survival response where your mind creates distance from overwhelming experiences, emotions, or physical sensations. Dissociation might feel like being disconnected from your body or watching yourself from outside, losing time or having gaps in memory, feeling unreal or foggy, parts of yourself that feel separate or in conflict, numbness or feeling emotionally flat, or difficulty integrating memories and experiences into a coherent sense of who you are.

Question 6

How long are therapy sessions?

Accepted Answer

Sessions are typically 45-60 minutes via phone or video through an electronic health record platform.