Complex PTSD can develop when trauma is repeated, relational, and inescapable, especially during childhood, shaping how a person understands themselves, relationships, and safety. Its effects can show up as shame, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, difficulty trusting, unstable relationships, or a persistent sense of being unworthy or unsafe. Healing is possible, and understanding these patterns as adaptations that once helped you survive can be an important first step toward moving from surviving to truly thriving.

Neurodiversity-affirming therapy moves beyond the idea that neurodivergence needs to be fixed, instead honoring differences in how people think, feel, communicate, and experience the world. It creates a therapeutic space where clients can explore identity, unmask, heal from invalidation and trauma, and develop ways of living that feel more authentic. At its heart, this approach is not about changing who someone is—it is about creating the conditions where they can genuinely thrive.

Relational psychodynamic therapy looks beneath the surface to understand the patterns and adaptations that quietly shape how we relate, cope, and make decisions.
Rather than treating those patterns as flaws, therapy explores where they came from and whether they still serve you today.
Through the therapeutic relationship itself, old patterns can become visible, understood, and ultimately changed.

Melissa Strickland is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Georgia offering telehealth therapy statewide and in person therapy in Newnan, GA for adults and adolescents dealing with complex trauma, neurodivergence, and identity development. Her work at Crafting Self Psychotherapy is depth-oriented, relational, and built for people who are ready to go beneath the surface.