If you’ve repeatedly felt dismissed, blamed, confused, or like your reality was being questioned in a relationship, it may reflect a pattern of emotional or relational abuse.

These dynamics often show up when your feelings are minimized, accountability is avoided, and you’re left carrying responsibility for problems that aren’t yours alone to hold.

In healthy relationships, there is room for mutual respect, empathy, repair, and boundaries. When those elements are consistently absent—and efforts to address concerns are met with denial, deflection, or punishment—it can be a sign you’ve been in a harmful relational dynamic that’s eroded your sense of safety and trust.

A trauma bond is a strong emotional attachment that can develop in abusive or toxic relationships, often rooted in cycles of harm followed by intermittent kindness, affection, or reconciliation.

This pattern of inconsistent reinforcement can create confusion in the nervous system and make it difficult to recognize the relationship as harmful or to leave it, even when it is causing emotional distress. Trauma bonding is commonly associated with narcissistic abuse, emotional abuse, and other forms of relational trauma, where periods of connection are mixed with manipulation, criticism, or invalidation.

Survivors of narcissistic abuse often leave relationships feeling like they are the problem. When you’ve been in a dynamic marked by manipulation, gaslighting, or emotional invalidation, it’s common to second-guess your own perceptions and behavior long after the relationship ends.

If you’re questioning whether you might have narcissistic traits, that level of self-reflection is often a sign of insight, not narcissism. People with strong narcissistic patterns typically struggle to consistently recognize or take accountability for the impact of their behavior. In contrast, survivors of narcissistic abuse are often hyper-aware of their role in conflict and may over-correct by taking on excessive responsibility.

After emotional abuse or toxic relationship dynamics, it can be difficult to accurately assess your own empathy, boundaries, or contributions to conflict. Confusion is a normal response when your sense of reality has been repeatedly challenged or undermined.

The short answer is: no, narcissistic traits typically do not change quickly or easily. However, in some cases, meaningful change may be possible under specific and often rare conditions.

Lasting change usually requires a strong internal motivation to reflect and take responsibility, along with the capacity for genuine empathy and the ability to tolerate discomfort when considering how one’s behavior impacts others. It also involves being able to hold different perspectives without becoming defensive or dismissive, even when those perspectives challenge one’s self-image.

While growth and behavioral change can occur, it generally requires sustained self-awareness, accountability, and long-term therapeutic work focused on relational patterns and emotional regulation.

Trauma is less about the size of the event and more about how your nervous system responded in order to survive. When experiences overwhelm your ability to cope, your mind and body adapt through survival responses like anxiety, hypervigilance, people-pleasing, emotional shutdown, perfectionism, dissociation, or difficulty trusting yourself and others.

Many people minimize their pain because they believe they “didn’t have it bad enough.” But complex trauma often comes from repeated emotional wounds, ongoing criticism, instability, shame, or environments where you had to ignore your own needs to stay safe.

Your experiences do not have to fit a certain definition to deserve care and support. If your past still affects your relationships, emotions, self-worth, body, or sense of safety, trauma-informed therapy can help you heal, process those experiences, and reconnect with yourself in a healthier, more grounded way.

My fee is $150 for a 50-minute individual therapy session. I also offer sliding scale therapy spots for clients who may need additional financial flexibility. Sliding scale availability is limited and cannot always be guaranteed, but you’re welcome to ask about current openings during your consultation call.

I believe trauma therapy, LGBTQIA+ affirming therapy, and culturally responsive mental health care should feel accessible and supportive, especially for clients navigating systemic stress, identity-based trauma, sexual trauma, or complex PTSD.

I am currently an out-of-network therapist and do not directly bill insurance companies. However, I can provide a monthly superbill that you may submit to your insurance provider for possible reimbursement through your out-of-network mental health benefits. Many clients are able to receive partial reimbursement depending on their plan.

Working with an out-of-network trauma therapist can offer several benefits, including:

• More personalized, trauma-informed care tailored to your specific needs and goals

• Greater privacy and confidentiality without needing to share diagnoses or therapy notes with insurance companies

• Freedom from insurance-imposed limits on the number or length of therapy sessions

• More flexibility in treatment approaches, pacing, and ongoing support

• The ability to focus fully on your healing process—not just what insurance providers deem “medically necessary”

My goal is to provide a therapy space that feels collaborative, affirming, and centered around your long-term healing and emotional well-bein