Therapy for Complex Trauma, Childhood Trauma and PTSD in Chicago

Trauma doesn't always look like what people expect. Sometimes it's a single frightening event that won't stop replaying. Sometimes it built up slowly, over years, until it started showing up in your body, your relationships, or your ability to feel safe in ordinary moments. And sometimes it's something you never called trauma at all. All of these are real, and all of them can be worked with.

When it doesn't feel "bad enough" to count

Many people who come to us worry that what they went through isn't bad enough to qualify as trauma. They come in for anxiety, depression, numbness or feeling stuck, and describe a childhood that was "fine". Often, as we work together, something underneath becomes clear: a parent who wasn't emotionally available, needs that were never noticed, a home where you learned early to manage on your own.

You don't need a dramatic event, a diagnosis or a certain level of suffering to deserve trauma therapy. If something from your past is still shaping how you feel, react or relate to people, that's enough reason to look at it. If your history sounds more like what was missing than what happened, our page on childhood emotional neglect goes into that in more depth.

Living in survival mode

Some people reach out after a specific event: a breakup, a loss, a conflict, a big life change. Others reach out because the ways of coping that got them through for years have stopped working. They're tired of living on high alert, getting through each day without really being in it. Wanting more than survival is a good reason to start.

Is it trauma, or just stress?

Stress is a response to pressure in the present, and it usually eases when the pressure does. Trauma is what can happen when an experience overwhelms your ability to cope at the time, and the effects carry on afterward, sometimes long after the danger has passed. One practical sign: your body and emotions react as if something is happening now, even when you know you're safe.

Types of trauma

• Acute trauma comes from a single event, such as an accident, an assault or a sudden loss.

• Chronic trauma builds from repeated or ongoing exposure to threat, and often settles into patterns of being on edge, avoiding things, intrusive memories, and shifts in mood or how you see yourself.

• Complex trauma comes from repeated harm within relationships that were supposed to be safe, often starting in childhood. It tends to affect not only memory and mood, but how you relate to yourself and other people.

• Childhood trauma includes abuse, neglect and growing up around violence, addiction or serious instability. The CDC counts neglect among adverse childhood experiences, alongside abuse and household difficulties.

PTSD and complex PTSD

When trauma symptoms last longer than a month and meet specific criteria, they may be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Complex PTSD describes the effects of prolonged, repeated trauma, with added difficulties in managing emotions, how you see yourself, and relationships. Complex PTSD is recognized in the World Health Organization's ICD-11, though it isn't a separate diagnosis in the American DSM-5 (VA National Center for PTSD). You don't need either label to start therapy.

Treating acute stress early

Strong reactions in the weeks right after a frightening event are called acute stress. They don't always fade on their own, and waiting to see if they pass isn't the only option. Working with acute stress early can help keep it from settling into longer-term patterns.

Signs it might be trauma

• flashbacks, nightmares or intrusive memories

• avoiding people, places or situations that remind you of what happened

• feeling on edge, easily startled or always scanning for danger

• numbness, or feeling disconnected from yourself or people you're close to

• strong reactions you understand but can't seem to change

• trouble sleeping, concentrating or trusting your own judgment

• physical tension, exhaustion or a body that won't settle

None of these on their own confirm anything. If several sound familiar and haven't eased with time, that's usually reason enough to talk to someone.

How trauma shows up in everyday life

• In relationships: pulling away when people get close, fear of being judged, difficulty accepting support, or the same conflict on repeat. Our couples therapy page looks at how this plays out between partners.

• At work: perfectionism, overworking, difficulty concentrating, or freezing under pressure.

• Day to day: overthinking everything, feeling exhausted without knowing why, or reactions that seem bigger than the moment.

How we work with trauma

Trauma is the center of our work at Mind's Eye, not an add-on to it. We don't ask you to relive everything in detail before we can help. Good trauma therapy involves preparation, stabilization and pacing, and careful attention to what you can manage. We start with what you're able to bring and build from there.

Depending on what you're carrying and what feels right, that may include:

• EMDR therapy, which helps the brain process distressing memories and doesn't require a detailed verbal account of each one

• The Safe and Sound Protocol, a listening program that helps a nervous system stuck on alert begin to settle

• Internal Family Systems (IFS), which works with the protective parts of you that developed to keep you safe

• PSIP, a somatic and relational approach for attachment wounds and dissociation

• Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, for when talk therapy has stalled, with a trauma therapist in the room the whole time

• individual therapy, and couples or group work when trauma is affecting a relationship

If you've already done years of therapy and understand your history well but still feel stuck, read when talk therapy isn't working.

Who you'd work with

• Sharon Steckler, MSW, LCSW: complex trauma, 35 years of experience, adoption and inter-racial families

• Agi Corona Semrad, M.Ed., LPC: complex trauma and attachment wounds, bilingual English and Spanish

• Alex White, MSW, LCSW: PTSD and traumatic stress in adults and veterans, and trauma in children and teens

We see clients in Lakeview and Highland Park, and by telehealth anywhere in Illinois.

Questions about trauma therapy