I know it's hard to find therapists and even harder to find someone who 'clicks' with you. I use Grow Therapy (just google that) because you can narrow your provider search by state, and by insurance type. Then, you can read through personal bios with pictures to find someone who resonates with you. It's easy to book online too for virtual visits.

Trauma‑Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF‑CBT)

TF‑CBT is an evidence‑based therapy designed for people who have experienced trauma, including abuse. It combines cognitive‑behavioral techniques with trauma‑sensitive practices to help reframe harmful beliefs, reduce emotional distress, and manage trauma triggers. Please note that talk therapy is wonderful, but it may not result in releasing trauma that is stored in the body. That requires other work like Somatic Experiencing, Trauma Yoga, and guided meditation.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR helps both children and adults process traumatic memories using bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements). This reduces the emotional intensity of traumatic experiences and is especially helpful for PTSD, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks rooted in childhood abuse.

Group Therapy & Peer Support

Group therapy connects survivors with others who have similar experiences. It reduces isolation, provides validation, and promotes healing through shared understanding. Many child advocacy and community centers offer age‑specific trauma recovery groups. Please note that talk therapy is wonderful, but it may not result in releasing trauma that is stored in the body. That requires other work like Somatic Experiencing, Trauma Yoga, and guided meditation.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps survivors understand how trauma has shaped their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. It teaches coping skills to manage anxiety, depression, and distorted beliefs formed by emotional abuse. Many trauma‑informed therapists use CBT as a foundation. Please note that talk therapy is wonderful, but it may not result in releasing trauma that is stored in the body. That requires other work like Somatic Experiencing, Trauma Yoga, and guided meditation.

Somatic Therapies (e.g., Somatic Experiencing)

These therapies focus on how trauma is stored in the body. Through grounding, body awareness, and nervous‑system regulation, somatic therapy helps reduce hypervigilance, anxiety, and trauma‑related physical symptoms. Frequently recommended for survivors who experience bodily responses to emotional abuse. Here's an example I found for you.

The 'container' exercise.

This is a brief meditation (less than 6 minutes) to help you create a mental 'container' to process difficult memories, emotions, and experiences. Here's a video to walk you through it.

Neural Desensitization and Integration Training (NDIT)

NDIT is a neuroscience-informed, trauma-focused approach developed by clinical psychologist and neuroscientist Dr. Jennifer Sweeton. NDIT integrates techniques from established approaches such as EMDR, prolonged exposure, Internal Family Systems (IFS), cognitive therapies, and somatic interventions. Rather than focusing only on talking about traumatic experiences, NDIT works with the brain, body, nervous system, and traumatic memories to help people build a greater sense of safety, regulate their stress response, reconnect with their bodies, strengthen cognitive and emotional functioning, and gradually process traumatic experiences. Its flexible, step-by-step approach is designed to help people process trauma without overwhelming the nervous system.

Tapping therapy, or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

EFT is a mind‑body therapeutic approach that combines elements of cognitive or exposure therapy with gentle tapping on acupressure points on the face and upper body. It is based on the idea that stimulating specific “meridian points” can help regulate the body’s stress response while you bring attention to a painful memory, emotion, or physical sensation. Usually you speak through a script while tapping these points. Not all therapists are certified in this type of therapy, but it is powerful.

Here are some sample tapping scripts. Make sure to watch a video on how it works. Here's one I found for you.

Meditation

Meditation is not a therapy, per se, but a method of self-healing. You can find guided meditations on YouTube specifically for nervous system reset, ridding yourself of negative thoughts, healing from abuse, and more. It requires a place where you can be alone without distractions for a specific period of time. Learning how to meditate can take a little time, but it is something very worthwhile to consider. Here are some videos I found for you.

Short guided meditation for trauma release (16:51)

Slightly longer version (29:28)

Nervous system healing journey (16:19)

Trauma Yoga

Trauma yoga, or trauma-informed/sensitive yoga, is a specialized, gentle mind-body practice that is focused on safety, choice, and body reconnection. It helps regulate the nervous system and reduces PTSD symptoms without hands-on adjustments or rigid body rules.

Example 1: BrettLarkingYoga- Yoga for trauma release and emotional distress

Example 2: Satvic Yoga- Yoga to release trapped emotions

Example 3: Breathe and Flow- A gentle practice for when your body doesn't feel safe

Reparenting

Reparenting yourself can take many forms. It might just be making conscious decisions now that align with what you would have wanted from your own parents. It could be using guided meditations that you can find on YouTube for 'reparenting your inner child'. It could be done through hypnosis. There's a book on it and here's a website resource that can guide you. You can join the self-healers circle and they have content on it as well.

Self-validation in writing

There's actual scientific research that backs this up! Look up Dr. James Pennebaker. He's the one behind this simple, yet effective form of self-therapy. Here's his book. Here's a podcast about it by the Good Life Project.

Pennebaker's 'extensive writing protocol' includes this:

1. Write for 15-20 minutes a day for 4 consecutive days.
2. Focus on a conflict, stressor, or traumatic experience. Tie the event to your childhood, your relationships, your career, or who you want to be in the future.
3. Keep writing non stop for the entire 20 minutes. Focus on how you felt when it was happening. Include as many details as possible. If you don't know what else to write, repeat what you just wrote.

4. Write this only for yourself. You can keep it, or delete/destroy it if you want to.

Note: if you begin writing and the memory is just too painful and you're starting to feel overwhelmed with it, just stop. Don't force yourself into the memory. Try again another time.

Apps

Self-healers circle

This is also available on the web, which is how I prefer to use it. It requires a subscription, but I cannot tell you how amazing this site is. There are constantly available workshops that promote all types of healing work. I'm taking a course about how the fascia stores trauma (chronic tight muscles/tendons).

SomaShare

Offers trauma-informed daily somatic exercises, polyvagal-based nervous system regulation tools, and community support led by specialized practitioners.

Neurofit

Features an interactive nervous system-balancing tracker that measures heart rate variability (HRV) via smartphone and assigns customized 10-minute somatic exercises.

iChill

Built by the Trauma Resource Institute, this free app teaches body-based wellness skills from the Community Resiliency Model to help process traumatic stress and return the nervous system to a balanced state.

Insight Timer

This is a general meditation app, but it has a bunch of free "Yoga Nidra" (a guided meditation practice that induces profound relaxation while maintaining conscious awareness, often described as a state between wakefulness and sleep) and Trauma-Informed Mindfulness tracks that are worth checking out, especially for people who are not experienced with meditation techniques.

PTSD Coach

This is a very popular trauma app that offers self-assessments, tools for managing issues in the moment and educational resources.

The Simplest Self

This site is focused on somatic (body-based) therapy and yoga-informed trauma recovery. It helps you learn how to feel safe in your body. There's a website and an app.

Wysa

This is an AI-driven app that is sort of like a 'pocket coach' that uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help process emotions in real-time.

Sanvello

This app helps track moods and identifies patterns in your moods. It includes community support and a 'coaching' feature to help keep you motivated.

MyNARA

This app is specifically for people recovering from narcissistic abuse. It offers tracking tools and recovery guides

Books

Make sure and look for these on used book sites, like Thrift Books. You can also see if there are used versions on Amazon.

"Breaking the habit of being yourself" by Joe Dispenza

If you pick one book out of this entire list, I suggest that it's this one. He has other books that are just as good, but this one is particularly useful.

"The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma" by Bessel van der Kolk

I highly recommend this book for people like me who have lasting physical issues that doctors cannot explain.

“Adult Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers: Quiet the Critical Voice in Your Head, Heal Self-Doubt, and Live the Life You Deserve” by Stephanie Kreisberg

"Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents" by Lindsay C. Gibson

"Truth and Repair: How trauma survivors envision justice" by Judith L. Herman

"The Four Agreements: A practical guide to personal freedom" by Don Miguel Ruiz & Janet Mills

"The Mastery of Love: A practical guide to the art of relationship" by Don Miguel Ruiz & Janet Mills

"The Voice of Knowledge: A practical guide to inner peace" by Don Miguel Ruiz & Janet Mills

"In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness" by Peter A. Levine

"Walking the tiger: Healing trauma" by Peter A. Levine with Ann Frederick

"Adult children of alcoholics" by Janet Woititz

"Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving" by Pete Walker

"Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse, Gaslighting, Codependency and Complex PTSD. Workbook and Guide to Overcoming Trauma, Toxic Relationships, Anxiety, and Improve Mental Health" by Linda Hill

"Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" by Robert Sapolsky

"I Didn't Choose to Be Born: How to Recover from Being Raised by Emotionally Distant, Neglectful, Unsupportive or Narcissistic Parents and Reclaim Your Sense of Self-Worth and Inner Peace" by Lineo Ratia

"Adult Daughters of Immature Mothers: How to Recover From Maternal Rejection, Emotional Neglect, and Parental Narcissism" by Peg Biggie

"The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad You Did)" by Philippa Perry

"Emotional Healing" by Karen Paine-Gernee and Terry Hunt

"Secrets to Tell, Secrets to Keep" by Terry Hunt and Karen Paine-Gernee

"Mother Hunger" by Kelly McDaniel

"Cycle Breakers: Free Yourself from Emotionally Immature Parents and Be the Parent You Wish You'd Had" by Harriet Shearsmith

"The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse" by Ellen Bass & Laura Davis

"How to be the LOVE you seek" by Nicole LePera

"Reparenting the Inner Child" by Nicole LePera

"It Didn't Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle" by Mark Wolynn

"Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents" by Lindsay C. Gibson

"Difficult Mothers: Understanding and Overcoming Their Power" by Terri Apter

“Forgiving What You Can't Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That’s Beautiful Again” by Lysa Terkeurst.

This book has an accompanying journal.

“The Wolf in Your Bed: How to use writing to recover from emotional abuse” by Jill Harris

“Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy” by Francine Shapiro

Websites

Somatic Experiencing International

The official website for Peter Levine’s work offers extensive educational articles, a directory to find certified practitioners, and a robust Somatic Library

https://traumahealing.org/

Trauma Research Foundation

Provides a specialized online Somatic Library featuring body-based resources, webinars, and educational lectures centered on embodiment and nervous system balance.

https://traumaresearchfoundation.org/

Exhale to Inhale

Offers live online public classes in English and Spanish designed to support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault through empowering, trauma-informed movement.

https://www.exhaletoinhale.org/

Sound therapy
Sound therapy is another way to reach trauma stored in the body through listening to specific sounds, and even sounds at different frequency levels.

Healing frequency guide from PS It's Counseling: https://www.ps-itscounseling.com/blog/best-healing-frequencies-a-complete-guide/

Sound therapy in practice: https://www.sermo.com/resources/sound-therapy-in-practice/

Solfeggio Healing Music on

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3EDDd9b558m0Pf1edjCYQ7

BME Lifestyle on sound therapy: https://www.bmelifestyle.com/health-tips/sound-healing-for-emotional-trauma-a-safe-way-to-release-what-words-cannot

TCTSY: The official site for the Center for Trauma and Embodiment, offering resources, introductory courses, and a directory of certified facilitators trained in this evidence-based clinical intervention.

https://www.traumasensitiveyoga.com/classes

OG Yoga

Provides free on-demand, trauma-informed yoga videos designed to help practitioners reconnect with their bodies on their own terms.

https://www.ogyoga.org/videos

CPTSD Foundation

Features specialized online trauma-informed yoga programming tailored for complex trauma recovery. Fun fact, I'm a guest writer for them. You will see some of my articles on their website :) They even have a section on trauma-informed yoga.

https://cptsdfoundation.org/

AACAP – Child Abuse Resource Center

A comprehensive resource hub from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, offering guides, FAQs, and treatment information related to all forms of child abuse, including emotional abuse.
🔗 https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Centers/Child_Abuse_Resource_Center/Home.aspx

EndCAN – National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect

Provides extensive educational resources on childhood abuse, ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), bullying, emotional abuse, child rights, and family support.
🔗 https://endcan.org/resources/ [endcan.org]

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline

Offers 24/7 live chat, phone, and text support for survivors of child abuse, including guidance on healing from emotional abuse. A confidential, survivor‑centered resource.
🔗 https://www.childhelphotline.org/

Dr. Jonice Webb – Resources for Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN)

Dr. Jonice Webb specializes in childhood emotional neglect and provides articles, explanations, and recovery tools for adults who grew up with emotional invisibility or invalidation.
🔗 https://drjonicewebb.com/9-resources-to-help-and-support-your-recovery-from-childhood-emotional-neglect/

All For Kids / Children’s Bureau – Healing from Emotional Abuse as a Child

Educational articles explaining emotional abuse, its signs, and actionable healing steps for children and families.
🔗 https://www.allforkids.org/news/blog/how-to-heal-from-emotional-abuse-as-a-child/ [allforkids.org]

The MEND Project

Emotional Abuse Support & Training

Focused specifically on identifying, understanding, and healing from emotional abuse (including covert forms). Offers free webinars, quizzes, articles, and survivor stories.
🔗 https://themendproject.com/

Child sexual abuse resources

This site is connected to a sexual abuse law office in Washington, but the link provides a wonderful list of resources for child sexual abuse.

https://www.oslundlegal.com/child-sexual-abuse-resources/

If you live in Washington and need sexual abuse representation, consider Oslund Legal.

Other
methods
to
consider

The items in this section are simply suggestions for things that might seem a little 'woo woo' to some, but have helped others on their journeys. Again, I get nothing for including any links or products. If you have a suggestion, please send me an email.

Reiki/energy work

I am actually a Reiki master. It's something most people don't know about me. Energy healing changed my husband in one, 2-hour visit. I think that's atypical, just so you know, but was such a blessing to experience. The link in the title takes you to a database to search for a practitioner near you. Here's another one. At this site, look for the "P" designation.

Myofacial release

It looks like massage, but it's a little bit different. Some researchers have discovered that trauma is stored in your fascial tissue, which groups many muscles together in your body. This release is focused on connective tissue that are tight, that lack blood flow, that need some more pliability.

Vibration plates

When exposed to vibration, your muscles consistently contract and relax. Physical and mental health are deeply connected. This can help chronic pain as well.

Vagus Nerve Therapy

The vagus nerve is the primary driver of your parasympathetic nervous system (the "rest and digest" network). Chronic stress and trauma can cause this system to malfunction, leaving the body constantly trapped in fight, flight, or freeze states. VNS uses targeted electrical pulses to counterbalance these survival responses, lower inflammation, and enhance the brain's ability to consolidate new, non-fearful memories during trauma therapy. While many studies included devices implanted under the skin, you can purchase an at-home vagus nerve stimulator. Google that and you'll find some.

Bi-lateral stimulation therapy

This is similar to EMDR, but it's in a tool from a company called Wevana. They are little hand-held tabs that alternatively activate the left and right sides of the brain through rhythmic cues.

Breathwork therapy

There are different types of breathwork therapy to help with trauma. The article helps. You can also look up some videos on YouTube that can guide you through breathwork.

Calminity (product)

Listening to certain sound frequencies can possibly help with a variety of issues. I link a list of them above. You can also try it out by using an online tone generator: https://onlinetonegenerator.com/

The Havening Technique

This technique aims to reduce emotional strain and increase calm. The technique claims to help quickly shift emotional states. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5yO-P3sQC0

Manifestation

Manifestation is the ability to use our minds and the quantum field to bring about change in our lives. It could be anything from having more money, getting a job promotion, finding the ideal partner, getting pregnant, healing a medical issue, etc. Dr. Joe Dispenza speaks about this topic and has several books on the topic.

What is Quantum Manifestation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ujs5NSnnVE

Here's a video with Dr. Dispenza: How Oxytocin Shuts Off Fear & Resets Your Past Trauma

The neuroscience of manifestation with Dr. James Doty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEoHR3p9Qzc

Qigong

Qigong is an ancient Chinese health practice that combines gentle movements, deep breathing, and focused meditation to optimize vital energy. Its core components involve regulating the body, breath, and mind to improve physical fitness and mental calmness. Qigong helps release trauma by combining slow movements, deep breathing, and focused attention to calm the nervous system and release muscle tension. Clinical reviews suggest that mind-body practices like Qigong and Tai Chi are low-risk tools that can reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and hyperarousal.

Video: Beginner Qigong: Feel better in 10 minutes

Articles

Recovering From Childhood Emotional Abuse (Psychology Today, Dec 2025)
Key Focus: A breakdown of how emotional abuse creates a "false self" to survive. It covers specific behaviors like character assassination, treating the child as a burden, and managing children through intense guilt.
Childhood Verbal Abuse: The Impact on Adult Mental Health (EurekAlert! / BMJ Open, Aug 2025)
Key Focus: Discusses a major study showing that verbal abuse (yelling, belittling) has an impact on adult mental health just as severe, and sometimes more protracted, than physical abuse.
Recognizing the Warning Signs of Emotional Abuse (Virtual Lab School, 2025)
Key Focus: Provides a clear list of indicators, such as a child being "overly compliant" or "passive," and parents who describe their child in purely negative terms (e.g., "evil" or "worthless").
Why So Many People Are Going “No Contact” With Their Parents (The New Yorker, 2024)

Note: This article sparked a lot of conversation online. It explores the cultural shift toward "estrangement" as a tool for mental health rather than a sign of failure.
Emotional Abuse: What It Is and Signs to Watch For (Healthline)

Key Focus: A straightforward checklist of behaviors (like "character assassination" and "public embarrassment") that constitute emotional abuse.
The Invisible Wounds of Growing Up with the Narcissistic Parent (Ondina Wellness)

Key Focus: Uses the metaphor of "invisible crutches" to describe how adult children often feel they are struggling with things that seem easy for others.
How Narcissistic Parents Create Emotional Voids in Adulthood (Psychology Today, 2025)
Key Focus: Explains how being used as a "tool" for a parent's ego leads to a sense of emptiness and "gaps" in your own identity as an adult.
The Narcissistic Family’s Scapegoat: Survival and Recovery (J. Reid Therapy)

Key Focus: A deep dive into why one child is often singled out for blame and how that person can reclaim their sense of reality.
8 Common, Long-Lasting Effects of Narcissistic Parenting (Psychology Today)

Key Focus: Introduces the concept of "Echoism"—where a child learns to have no needs of their own to survive the parent's outbursts.
How to Heal From Narcissistic Parents (Talkspace, 2024)

Key Focus: A practical guide on setting boundaries, resisting gaslighting, and building a "chosen family" when the biological one isn't safe.

Important
Research and Trauma Experts

Children are developing, not simply experiencing. When a child repeatedly experiences humiliation, rejection, fear, hostility, unpredictability, emotional abandonment, or the absence of safe and responsive caregiving, the child has to adapt to that environment.

Those adaptations can influence how the child learns to regulate emotion, perceive danger, understand themselves, trust other people, respond to stress, and build relationships.

Some of those childhood survival strategies can persist into adulthood even after the environment has changed. Research does not tell us that childhood trauma permanently ruins a person; instead, it tells us that childhood experiences can meaningfully shape development and therefore understanding what happened can help make previously confusing adult patterns understandable.

Foundational research on childhood emotional abuse and trauma (document)
The most influential people and ideas on childhood trauma (document)
What the body of research collectively tells us (document) - Coming soon

Resources

This is a curated list of resources for people on a healing journey. I do not get paid anything by suggesting these apps or links. If you have difficulty accessing any of these documents, email me directly: stillihealproject@gmail.com

Angela's Guides

Types of therapy

Apps

Books

Websites

Other methods to consider

Articles

Important Research and Trauma Experts

Angela's
Guides

Other
methods
to
consider

Important
Research and Trauma Experts