Solar Sea Psychotherapy understands that trauma is not the event itself, but the lasting physiological, psychological, and behavioral impacts of a past experience that was either:

• Too fast, too soon,

• Too much for too long,

• Or not enough for too long

Acute trauma results from a single overwhelming event, such as an accident, sexual assault, physical attack, or natural disaster. The nervous system is flooded all at once, often leaving lasting imprints that can resurface as flashbacks, anxiety, hypervigilance, or heightened startle responses.

Attachment/developmental trauma (sometimes referred to as Complex trauma or Complex PTSD) develops through repeated or prolonged exposure to distressing experiences, such as childhood neglect, ongoing abuse, or chronic relational instability. Instead of one defining incident, it is the accumulation of many moments that overwhelms the body’s capacity to cope. This duration often shapes a person’s sense of self, their relationships, and their view of the world in deeply ingrained ways.

Both types of trauma can profoundly impact the nervous system, emotions, and behavior. Renegotiating trauma involves not only processing the effects of past events, but also restoring a felt sense of safety and agency in the present.

While attachment and developmental trauma is my speciality, my foundational training is in treating acute trauma. I continue to support clients with this experience.

While each person is multifaceted and will present in their own unique set of symptoms, there are some common patterns that can develop in response to attachment/developmental trauma, such as:

• Difficulty feeling safe, even when life is stable.

• Relying on others to feel safe or secure.
  Pulling away from others, or finding it hard to connect.

• Fear of being “too much,” “not enough,” or eventually abandoned.

• Difficulty trusting others, or expecting disappointment.

• Recurring patterns of emotionally unavailable or unsafe relationship dynamics.

• Trouble identifying feelings, needs, or preferences, especially in relationships.

• When under stress, may sometimes feel younger than one’s current age.

• Feeling disconnected from a sense of self, or “fragmented.”

• Difficulty with emotional regulation and self-soothing.

• Hypervigilance, including scanning for cues of danger in tone, facial expressions, or environment.

• Chronic shame, self-blame, or a harsh inner critic.

• A sense of helplessness or “stuckness”.

• Dissociation or “checking out”.

• Difficulty resting or sleeping.

• Difficulty receiving care, or asking for help.

• Difficulty experiencing pleasure or positive emotions.

• Strong body-based symptoms, especially in response to relational stress.

• Perfectionism, over-control, or relentless self-improvement.

• Persistent loneliness, even around others.

• Sensitivity to rejection, criticism, or conflict.

• Difficulty with boundaries, saying no, or asking for needs to be met.

• Feeling responsible for other people’s emotions.

• People-pleasing or over-functioning to maintain connection.

When the surge of survival energy needed by the body for self-defense is prevented from expressing itself during a distressing event, this energy “get’s stuck” in the body without a path to release.

Over time, muscles begin to tense and chronic bracing becomes the default state of the body. The sun's rays against your face may no longer feel joyful. The people around you may seem distant or untrustworthy. The beauty in the world becomes more difficult to see as your perception of threat sharpens and your thoughts about danger become more solidly entrenched.

Curiously, many of our animal friends will literally "shake off" a life-threatening encounter with a predator as a way of releasing this energy.

A body marked by trauma has difficulty relating to its current surroundings because it was unable or prevented from “shaking off” (or discharge) that energy needed to protect it self.

As a result, the nervous system becomes highly skilled at detecting threat, but less practiced at noticing signs of safety.

The process of relating to the body naturally brings us into connection with the present-moment instead of the past.

While psychotherapy may revisit past experiences, the somatic approach simultaneously orients the body to the present moment so that the body instinctively begins to recognize safety and feel a bone-deep sense of its own survival.

The approach Chance uses is not intended to fix, cure, or get rid of anything. It is intended to help you relate to your body and find gentle, creative, and natural ways of releasing “stuck” survival energy.

This is because a traumatized body isn’t broken; it’s highly specialized, active, and overworked. It also has the capacity to heal itself.