Childhood abuse and betrayal trauma set in motion the development of complicated attachment styles, disrupted sense of Self, intense self-loathing, and paralysing shame. Clients present with a range of psycho-physiological symptoms and from an outsider’s perspective, seemingly self-sabotaging behaviours. A client may meet criteria for several diagnosis, including complex PTSD, personality disorders, eating disorders, dissociative disorders, substance abuse disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal ideation.
The Snow White metaphor reframes the medical ‘disordered’ perspective and approaches symptoms and behaviours as functional adaptations or accommodations to trauma, rooted in self-protection and survival, “the problem is not the problem but a solution to another problem.” (Ross and Halpern, 2009). The approach can be applied to each tier of structural dissociation, Primary (PTSD), Secondary (C-PTSD, OSDD, BPD) and Tertiary (DID). A non-pathologising approach, the Snow White metaphor provides a comprehensive framework to assist clients in healing early attachment and trauma-based wounds. Using video, case examples and exercises, Naomi assists therapists to identify what works for whom, and when.