At Pittsburgh Center for Integrative Therapy, our therapists are trained in modalities that do not just focus on what you know about your experience but how you can feel differently about what you might already know. You might know you are safe now, but do you feel safe? We want to help you process what might be held in your system, unresolved, so that your mind and body can reintegrate. Whether that is after a shock trauma, chronic childhood trauma, or from surviving the difficulties of life, trauma therapy can be helpful for a wide range of people, regardless of a diagnosis like PTSD.

Attachment styles may be another term you see on social media or hear in conversation. What does it mean, and why does it matter? Our experience of security in relationships with other people in the world helps us feel like we are not on our own to survive. This can enable security in ourselves that can foster empathic and supportive relationships with others. When someone has experienced attachment trauma (such as abuse or neglect from caregivers in childhood) or attachment wounding (caregivers unable to meet the emotional needs of a child), they can continue to live out of these survival patterns into adulthood. The mechanisms a child intuitively learns to survive when they are dependent on unsafe adults for care can sometimes inhibit resilience and healthy connection in relationships in adulthood. 

The relationship with the therapist itself becomes an arena for a trusting and safe relationship to unfold. Not only are we focused on a safe therapeutic alliance, but we also want to identify parts of clients that may have helped them survive attachment trauma and wounding in childhood or at other times in life. Experiencing the fullness of relationships and connection does not come from parts of us that helped us survive deprivation. We use methods and modalities that can help clients heal and begin to rewire attachment networks in order to feel safe and fulfilled in themselves and their relationships.