Resolve Therapeutic Services

10/09/2025

Hey all!
I’m excited for another upcoming talk/ CE event! This time I’m teaming up with Duffy’s to talk about the importance of involving the family system in treatment. Should be a great time and as always some delicious food!
Register via link:

https://www.evite.com/event/012AYNLXU3FOG4WGWEPQUOIUYLQTPA/

01/09/2024

I wrote this article ten years ago and it still generates the most traffic of all my articles.
There is certainly more knowledge about trauma since then but I still see a need for this information to get out there to not just the general public but professionals as well.

Re-Thinking Diagnosis When Trauma is Present

09/10/2023

Many recovery programs stress the importance of giving up self will and trusting in others and a power greater than yourself.
Consciously choosing self will can be helped by consciously choosing to surrender. But subconscious self will that stems from a defense response is much more difficult.
Those who have experienced childhood trauma, especially trauma at the hands of their caregivers, have a shattered sense of trust and the knowledge that seemingly good people can be harmful for their own benefit. At a young age the subconscious defense mechanisms engage a survival mechanism of self protection, or self will. This can be adaptive at first but if it becomes prolonged and rigid it can be maladaptive and make it quite conflicting to ask for help, be fully honest, take suggestions, and trust fully. Even those who truly want to surrender often find themselves still holding back or operating from a rigid sense of self will.
Thankfully, by resolving the trauma that drives this and other defense responses, one can experience more agency and control in their bodies defense responses.

08/25/2023

Often done at a subconscious level, but sometimes consciously, love bombing uses flattery and extravagant gestures to lower defenses and speed up the process of building a relationship. Time is of the essence before red flags are exposed so quick intense bonds are necessary.
Love bombing forms a facade of closeness and opens the door to trauma dumping. Trauma dumping serves the purpose to active empathy, sympathy, and compassion and encourages sharing similar vulnerabilities.
These vulnerabilities and empathy are then used for manipulation to keep the person hostage and use their insecurities to keep them on edge, doubting themselves, and prevent boundary setting.
Healthy relationships take time. Empathy is reciprocated (both ways). Vulnerability and insecurities are honored and protected. Power, control, and manipulation are not part of the equation. ❤️

08/21/2023

A regulated nervous system does not mean the absence of stress. But it does mean we have a greater ability to stay within our window of tolerating stress and if pushed beyond we are able to rebound quicker.
Building a regulated nervous system takes a balance of enough stress that it pushes us. Ideally external and internal resources then help us navigate said stress, and this leads to adaptation. Adaptation means we can then tolerate a little more stress than before.
Those suffering with unresolved trauma will struggle with this as they usually have experienced too much stress, little to no resources, and maladaptation.
Neuroplasticity allows this mechanism to be corrected though! The right type of mind/ body/ brain therapies can help teach the nervous system to be regulated.

08/09/2023

There are a variety of trauma bonds that can occur but a common one is when an abused person feels for their abuser.
This dynamic is often seen in survivors of childhood abuse where their early experiences with love, safety, and attachment are connected with abuse and neglect. Often followed by periods of professing love, guilt, and the desire to change. Only for the cycle to repeat.
Over time the brain not only learns to accept love and abuse can coexist but abuse is a part of love and love is a part of abuse.
These familiar patterns repeat in other relationships over the years and is often intertwined with traumatic reenactment.
Unfortunately these patterns can be quite harmful and destructive, even leading to death.
Fortunately, trauma bonding and traumatic reenactment are primarily symptoms of a deeper issue- unresolved trauma. And for that there is excellent help out there. Resolve Therapeutic Services clinicians are all trained in specific modalities that help quiet the trauma response, consolidate traumatic memories and sensations, and change negative thoughts and behaviors.
Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233

07/29/2023

Click on the link to read the article that was published in the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapist’s Magazine.
Meant for clinicians but broken down in a way anyone can follow. The article explores the interconnectedness of addiction, trauma, and attachment wounding.

Published in The Therapist: 2021 July/ August edition.

07/23/2023

Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs is a great model to understand the root of negative belief systems and where trauma originates.
It is important for each stage to feel like it’s been met in order to continue meeting the following needs; with the larger goal of becoming “self-actualized”- living life at our best potential and helping others. (Very similar to Step 12 in Alcoholics Anonymous)
The two primary needs we at Resolve see get disrupted the most are the Safety and Belonging and Love needs.
A disrupted sense of Safety we identify as Shock traumas. These are the more overt traumas.
A more common, but not as understood disruption, is the Belonging and Love needs. This is more covert, relational, not always outright identified as trauma, but just as impactful.
The Belonging is before Love because, even if we come from a loving family or have peers who care about us, if we don’t feel we belong we don’t fully internalize the love. This is attachment wounding.
Because both Safety and Attachment are critical needs for survival and Self Actualization the nervous system reacts similarly for both.
Many people come to us either unaware or minimizing their trauma despite stubborn negative belief systems, medication resistant anxiety and depression, and chronic medically unexplained somatic issues. Once we can uncover these layers and begin trauma therapy we start to see amazing results.

04/20/2023

Dr. Bruce Alexander led some groundbreaking research on this topic. In his research he found that when rats were placed in a cage alone with a bottle of regular water and a bottle of co***ne water, they drank the co***ne water to the point of illness and even death. When placed in a cage with the same water but toys and other rats, the majority avoided the co***ne water. Visit any 12 step meeting and you will also hear story after story of individuals growing up feeling out of place, misunderstood, different, and alone. Other research has backed up the biggest predictor of long term sobriety is finding a community where they feel seen and understood.

04/13/2023

When our caregiver is one of our abusers it creates an impossible paradox. “I need them to survive, but they’re the source of my pain.” This paradox engages defense responses in an attempt to mitigate the pain. Pathological accommodation is what happens when a child learns to survive abuse by accommodating and appeasing a frightening parent. Children who adapt this response are at a greater risk to end up in abusive relationships where others might instinctively leave, they instinctively accommodate.

03/30/2023

Whether discussing deaths associated with addiction, su***de, violence, or health- statistically they increase year to year; despite laws, education, awareness, and a desire for change.
The change must come from within on a personal and societal level or it will continue.

03/13/2023

Five facts about Core Negative Belief Systems…
1) Negative beliefs are often at the root of mental illness. They are the “software” that drives the “hardware.” The apps that tell the phone how to operate.

2) Fueled from perception of experiences, they are unrelated to reality. Meaning, regardless of the “truth,” they feel like the truth. Once they take hold, if people tell us we’re amazing, wonderful, loveable, or good enough, it may not feel fully true.

3) Core beliefs are held deep in the limbic system of our brain, shared with animals, where the amygdalae are. Our amygdala encode and store memories and emotions based on experiences- our most influential experiences being those during our formidable years when we internalize our experiences.

4) They override logic. Intelligence, positive affirmations, and even talk therapy can be limited in their ability to fully uproot these deeply held beliefs.

5) There is help! These belief systems can be helped with specific modalities and approaches that allow the brain to process and reorganize them to more appropriate and accurate ways of thinking. When we can change how our brains think from the bottom-up we change how we feel and act.