Trauma isn't always a single dramatic event. It can follow sexual, physical or emotional abuse, or be a sustained experience — childhood bullying that went unaddressed, something that happened repeatedly, or over a long period, often in childhood or early adulthood — sometimes called childhood trauma or complex PTSD. This includes emotional abuse and neglect, which can be harder to name but no less significant in their effects. Sometimes it's only years later, when life settles or something triggers a memory, that the full weight of it becomes apparent.
You might recognise some of this: feeling on edge without knowing why; reacting more strongly than a situation seems to warrant; difficulty trusting others; intrusive memories or images; flashbacks; dissociation or a sense of unreality; insomnia. These aren't signs of weakness — they're understandable responses to sexual, physical or emotional abuse, childhood bullying, or other experiences that were overwhelming at the time.
How psychoanalytic therapy approaches trauma
Unlike approaches that focus primarily on managing symptoms, psychoanalytic psychotherapy is interested in understanding how traumatic experiences became woven into your sense of self and your ways of relating. This includes exploring defences — the often unconscious strategies we develop to protect ourselves — and how they may now be limiting rather than protecting.
The work isn't about reliving trauma for its own sake. It's about creating enough safety to understand what happened, how it affected you, and to begin living less in its shadow.
Online trauma therapy across the UK
I work online with adults across the UK, and in person in South London. For many people, being in their own space during therapy sessions can feel safer than travelling to an unfamiliar room — particularly when working with difficult material.
Sessions are 50 minutes, held weekly, at £75 per session. A free 15-minute introductory call is available if you'd like to talk before committing to a first session.
Read more: How does psychoanalysis approach trauma differently? →