Why Traditional Talk Therapy Falls Short for Trauma Survivors: Finding a Deeper Path to Healing

Image by Jacob Loafman

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