Therapy for Complex PTSD In Person In San Antonio & Online Throughout Texas
Complex PTSD (CPTSD) develops from ongoing emotional neglect, inconsistency, or relational trauma.
Learn how CPTSD impacts your nervous system, relationships, and sense of self—and what healing can look like.
CPTSD: Understanding The Imapct of Relational Trauma
What is CPTSD?
CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) develops from chronic, repeated trauma, often in situations where a person has limited ability to escape or change their circumstances. While it frequently stems from childhood experiences—when we are fully dependent on caregivers—CPTSD can also result from ongoing relational trauma in adulthood, such as abusive relationships, systemic oppression, or high-control environments.
When emotional needs are consistently ignored, dismissed, or met unpredictably, the nervous system adapts by staying in a heightened state of vigilance or emotional shutdown. Over time, this can lead to difficulty regulating emotions, persistent self-doubt, relationship struggles, and an underlying fear of abandonment or rejection. Studies show that 70% of individuals who experienced childhood emotional neglect struggle with emotional regulation later in life, making it difficult to trust others, manage emotions, and feel secure in relationships.
The Generational Impact of Attachment Trauma
Trauma doesn’t just affect one person—it can be passed down through generations. Research shows that parents with insecure attachment have a 40-60% likelihood of passing similar struggles to their children. This happens not only through learned behaviors but also through biological changes, as chronic stress and trauma impact brain development and the body's stress response. If left unaddressed, these patterns can continue, shaping how future generations experience emotions, connection, and self-worth.
Breaking the Cycle and Healing CPTSD
While trauma can be deeply ingrained, it is not permanent. Healing CPTSD involves working with both the body and mind to rewire old patterns and develop emotional security. Studies on epigenetics show that trauma can alter gene expression, but therapy, somatic work, and mindful relationships can reverse its effects.
CPTSD may have shaped your past, but it does not have to define your future. Healing is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone.
Women are 2-3 times more likely to experience CPTSD than men.
A Legacy of Love is Possible
Breaking the Cycle: You Don’t Have to Pass Down the Pain
Many of us grew up in homes where our emotional needs were dismissed, ignored, or met with criticism. If you had emotionally immature parents, love may have felt conditional—only given when you behaved a certain way or met unspoken expectations. Maybe you learned that expressing feelings led to rejection or punishment, or that being vulnerable made you weak. For some, this meant growing up with caregivers who were emotionally unavailable, controlling, unpredictable, or even neglectful. You learned to walk on eggshells, internalize your pain, and do whatever it took to feel “good enough.”
This is what complex PTSD (CPTSD) looks like—it’s not just about a single traumatic event, but the chronic, ongoing stress of growing up in an environment where emotional safety didn’t exist. The effects of this don’t just stay in the past. They show up in the way you navigate relationships, regulate emotions, handle stress, and even how you see yourself.
If you had to earn love, you may find yourself over-functioning in relationships, over-explaining, or feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions.
If your emotions were dismissed, you may struggle to ask for help, minimize your own needs, or feel guilty for taking up space.
If you grew up in survival mode, you may feel like you’re always waiting for something to go wrong, unable to fully relax even in safe situations.
These patterns don’t just affect you—they shape the way you show up in parenting, partnerships, and everyday life. Many people with CPTSD find themselves repeating cycles they swore they’d leave behind: snapping when overwhelmed, people-pleasing to avoid conflict, or shutting down emotionally to protect themselves.
Healing CPTSD: Rewriting the Patterns That Keep You Stuck
CPTSD isn’t just in your thoughts—it’s stored in your nervous system. That’s why healing requires more than just willpower. It takes a mind-body approach that helps you process trauma on a deeper level.
Somatic therapy helps you release the trauma that’s stored in your body, calming your nervous system so you don’t stay stuck in survival mode.
Attachment-based therapy helps you recognize and shift the unconscious patterns that make relationships feel exhausting or unsafe.
Inner child work & reparenting allow you to rebuild self-trust, self-worth, and emotional security from the inside out.
When you heal from CPTSD, you don’t just break free from the past—you change the future. You stop repeating patterns that no longer serve you, build relationships based on true connection instead of fear, and finally feel safe, loved, and at peace in your own life.
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Feeling overwhelmed by emotions, going from calm to angry or shut down quickly, or struggling to soothe yourself when triggered.
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Always on edge, expecting something to go wrong, or feeling like you have to control everything to keep your family safe
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Constantly feeling like you’re not doing enough as a mom, replaying mistakes in your head, or believing your emotions are a burden to others.
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Struggling to set boundaries, saying yes when you want to say no, and taking on more than you can handle to avoid conflict or rejection.
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Checking out mentally during stressful situations, feeling disconnected from yourself or your kids, or having trouble feeling joy even in happy moments.
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Feeling panicked when your partner is distant, overanalyzing texts or tone of voice, or fearing that if you’re not perfect, people will leave.
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Chronic fatigue, headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension, or unexplained body aches that seem to flare up during stress, as your body holds onto past trauma.
Symptoms of Generational Trauma
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Hey, I’m Cate
CPTSD isn’t just about what happened to you—it’s how those experiences still shape your thoughts, emotions, and relationships. I know this firsthand. I grew up where love felt conditional, emotions weren’t safe, and I learned to shrink myself to keep the peace. Those survival patterns followed me into adulthood, leaving me exhausted from trying to be “enough.”
Through my own healing, I studied trauma, attachment, and nervous system regulation. Now, as a therapist, I help women break free from these cycles using somatic therapy, attachment-based work, and cognitive approaches to rewire deep-rooted patterns. Together, we’ll calm your nervous system, process past wounds, and create the safety and connection you deserve.
You don’t have to live in survival mode. Healing is possible.