Dr. Christine Courtois on Trauma

PsychAlive, hosted by Dr. Lisa Firestone, posted this collection of short video clips featuring trauma and PTSD expert Dr. Christine Courtois discussing various aspects of trauma and recovery. All eight video segments are embedded here (I wish we could see the full interview in one piece).

Among her many books are Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders (Adults): An Evidence-Based Guide (2009), and Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (Second Edition) (Norton Professional Books) (2010).

There is a very good introductory essay on complex PTSD (what has traditional been known as Borderline Personality Disorder) at the Gift From Within site, Understanding Complex Trauma, Complex Reactions, and Treatment Approaches.

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Christine A. Courtois, Ph.D., ABPP, is the principal and founder of this practice. She is a graduate of the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Maryland and a licensed psychologist in DC and MD. Dr. Courtois has received international recognition for her work on the effects of incest, child sexual abuse, complex traumatic stress disorders and other types of trauma and has received awards from numerous professional organizations. She is a psychotherapist (with broad experience in outpatient and inpatient treatment), workshop leader, and consultant specializing in posttraumatic and dissociative conditions and disorders. Her approach is integrative, relational, and trauma-referenced, based upon respect for the client and his/her life experience.

Dr. Courtois has authored the just published the second edition of Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (W. W. Norton), co-edited (with Dr. Julian Ford) the book Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders: An Evidence-based Guide (2009, Guilford Press) and authored Recollections of Sexual Abuse: Treatment Principles and Guidelines (1999, W. W. Norton), Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse: A Workshop Model (1993, Families International), and Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy (1988, W. W. Norton). She has also co-edited a special section on complex trauma with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk in the Journal of Traumatic Stress (2005). Dr. Courtois is past Associate Editor of the new journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, & Policy http://www.apa.org/journals/tra/).