Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and Complex PTSD (replacing cancelled 25.2.23)

Person-centred therapists - like all therapists - benefit from understanding some of the issues facing Survivors of childhood trauma. Jan Hawkins is a Person-Centred therapist, supervisor and trainer, with a passion for experiential, ongoing learning opportunities for practitioners. Complex PTSD shares the symptomatology of PTSD but results from chronic trauma, often from childhood. It affects many Survivors of childhood trauma long into their adult lives. Survivors may have lived continuously with nightmares, sleep disturbances, hypervigilance, hyperarousal, self-harming, dissociation, self-esteem and self-concept issues and a variety of other difficulties. Others who have lived with chronic trauma in relationships of domestic violence, and other chronic trauma experiences, develop the same painful symptoms of CPTSD. This study day will focus on the effects of this for daily living and consider ways of supporting clients in their understanding and overcoming of this painful and distressing (sometimes paralysing) experience. We will also explore the related ‘Alice in Wonderland Syndrome’ symptoms which help to understand some of the dissociative experiences people who have CPTSD live with.