A brief overview of therapies that are different to CBT and EMDR, for working with Trauma, PTSD & CPTSD.

When most people think of trauma treatment, a short list comes to mind: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), maybe exposure therapy. These approaches are well-researched and widely used for good reason. But they aren't the only options — and for some people, they aren't the ones that click.

Trauma doesn't just live in a person's thoughts. It shows up in the body, in fragmented memories, in relationships, and in a nervous system stuck in survival mode. Over the past few decades, therapists and researchers have developed a much wider range of approaches to address these different layers. Here are thirteen worth knowing about, listed alphabetically.

1. Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

Developed by Diana Fosha, AEDP draws on attachment theory and affective neuroscience, with the therapist taking an actively warm, emotionally engaged stance rather than a neutral one. The idea is that healing happens through real-time, felt experiences of safety and connection with the therapist, which allow previously unbearable emotions tied to trauma to be processed rather than avoided. It places heavy emphasis on tracking the client's moment-to-moment emotional and bodily state throughout the session, and is heavily focused on the relationship between client and therapist.

2. Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

ART borrows some of EMDR's use of rapid eye movements but adds a distinctive twist: clients are guided to voluntarily replace disturbing mental images with more neutral or positive ones, a technique called "image rescripting." Sessions are often shorter and fewer in number than traditional trauma therapies, which has made it appealing for time-limited settings, though the evidence base is still smaller than for EMDR.

3. Brainspotting

Developed by David Grand (originally an EMDR practitioner), Brainspotting is based on the idea that where a person looks can affect how they feel. The therapist helps the client find a "brainspot" — an eye position associated with activation of traumatic material — and holds attention there while the client processes what arises, often with little verbal guidance. It's popular among some clinicians for working with trauma that feels too overwhelming or "stuck" for language-heavy therapies.

4. Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM)

CRM, developed by Lisa Schwarz, combines elements of neuroscience, attachment theory, and shamanic-influenced practices like connecting with "resource states" (imagined sources of strength or safety) before approaching traumatic material. It's designed for complex, chronic, or developmental trauma, and is typically practiced by therapists with specialized training rather than being part of mainstream clinical education.

5. Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)

A newer approach developed by Dr. Frank Corrigan, DBR focuses on very early, pre-emotional physical responses to threat — subtle movements in the neck, brainstem area, and shoulders that Corrigan theorizes occur in the split-second before emotion and thought form. Therapists guide clients to slow down and notice these micro-sensations at the moment a traumatic memory is touched, with the aim of resolving trauma at a more foundational physiological level than talk-based methods reach. It's still an emerging modality with a limited but growing research base, and comes from years of Dr. Frank Corrigans studies.

6. Ego State Therapy

Rooted in the work of John and Helen Watkins and building on earlier hypnotherapy traditions, Ego State Therapy views the personality as made up of distinct "ego states" — semi-autonomous patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that form in response to different life experiences, including trauma. Often using light hypnosis, the therapist helps clients identify, communicate with, and resolve conflicts between these states, particularly ones frozen in a traumatic moment or carrying intense emotion the rest of the personality has walled off. It shares conceptual DNA with Internal Family Systems but predates it and draws more directly from clinical hypnosis.

7. Eye Movement Integration (EMI) Therapy

Developed by Danie Beaulieu and Steve Andreas, EMI shares surface similarities with EMDR — both use guided eye movements — but works differently, drawing on neurolinguistic programming concepts. The therapist guides the client's eyes across specific patterns while the client holds different sensory aspects of a traumatic memory in mind (images, sounds, feelings), with the goal of helping the brain integrate the fragmented pieces of the memory into a less distressing whole.

8. Internal Family Systems (IFS)

IFS, developed by Richard Schwartz, treats the mind as made up of different "parts" — for example, a protective part that keeps people busy to avoid pain, or a wounded younger part still holding onto fear or shame. Trauma therapy through this lens involves building a relationship with these parts from a calm, compassionate "Self," rather than trying to eliminate or override them. IFS has gained mainstream visibility in recent years but remains far less commonly used than CBT or EMDR in clinical practice.

9. Lifespan Integration

This approach uses a "timeline" of memories from birth to the present, which the therapist repeats aloud while the client holds a specific traumatic memory in mind. The repetition is thought to help the nervous system recognize that time has passed and the danger is over — useful for trauma where a person feels emotionally "stuck" at the age the trauma occurred.

10. Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET)

Originally developed for survivors of war, torture, and mass violence in low-resource settings, NET has people construct a detailed autobiographical narrative — a "lifeline" — that weaves together both traumatic and positive life events in chronological order. Unlike single-incident trauma therapies, it's particularly suited to people who've experienced multiple or repeated traumas, and it has a solid evidence base in refugee and conflict-affected populations.

11. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Created by Pat Ogden, this approach blends body-based awareness with more traditional psychotherapy and attachment theory. Clients learn to notice posture, movement, and physical impulses as a way of accessing and processing traumatic material, often without needing to verbally relive it. It's frequently used for developmental or relational trauma, where the trauma occurred too early or too often for a clear narrative to have formed.

12. Somatic Experiencing (SE)

Developed by Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing is built on the idea that trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind. Rather than asking clients to recount the traumatic event in detail, SE therapists guide clients to notice physical sensations — tightness, trembling, temperature changes — and let the nervous system slowly "discharge" the fight-flight-freeze energy that never got completed. Sessions can look almost meditative, with long pauses to track bodily sensation. It's often used with people who feel emotionally overwhelmed by talk-based approaches.

13. Written Exposure Therapy (WET)

WET is a brief, structured therapy in which clients write about their traumatic experience for about 30 minutes across just five sessions, with minimal therapist discussion in between. It was designed to be a lower-burden alternative to longer exposure-based treatments, and research suggests it can produce comparable results with a fraction of the time and therapist involvement.

A Few Things Worth Keeping in Mind

Evidence quality varies a lot across this list. Somatic Experiencing, IFS, AEDP, and Narrative Exposure Therapy have a growing body of research support; others, like DBR and EMI, are newer or thinner on rigorous studies, and Ego State Therapy's evidence base is largely built on case studies and clinical tradition rather than large controlled trials. "Lesser-known" doesn't automatically mean "less effective" — but it does mean it's worth asking a prospective therapist about their training, the evidence behind the approach, and how they'll know if it's working for you.

If you're looking into any of these for yourself, a good first step getting an appointment with a trauma therapist about how to approach things — or if combination of approaches — fits your history and how you process experience, since what works well for one person's trauma may not fit another's. It can take a few therapy sessions to get into the flow of therapy and for the experienced therapist to get a sense of things that will help. Your therapist cannot possibly everything about you, your symptoms and history in your 1st appointment.

This is a sensitive topic. If you're personally navigating trauma and finding it difficult, it's worth reaching out to a trauma-therapist who can help you find the right support.