I've been with 3 T. The first and third are specifically childhood trauma specialists, although they both told me that there wasn't a ton of training in that. They had to seek out meetings, colleagues, research, etc, on their own...I think that's changing, but certainly 20 years ago, not a lot of it. My second T didn't know anything about trauma. He was a nice guy, but I only stayed with him for 3 months.

In addition to understanding cPTSD, dissociation, etc...my belief is that a therapist who hasn't walked a similar path isn't helpful. I don't see how someone could help a childhood trauma survivor who hasn't experienced some of it themselves. Like we've talked about, how do you describe emptiness and profound dissociation to someone who's never experienced it?

I now have a list of 'interview' questions if I ever need a new T. I would ask them about their training, if they understand dissociation, fragmented personality, their own trauma history. They'll all say yes to all this, but after a while, you can see right away who gets it and who doesn't.