LAST UPDATED: APRIL 2026
Future self journaling has become a go-to tool in personal growth, but it can feel impossible or triggering for women healing from relational trauma. This article unpacks why traditional visualization often misses the mark for trauma survivors and offers a trauma-informed approach that starts with safety, uses the recent past, and builds capacity for imagining the future gently and securely.
Last reviewed: June 2026 by Annie Wright, LMFT
- When Tomorrow Feels Like a Void: A Scene From the Edge
- What Is Future Self Journaling? Beyond the Buzzword
- Inside the Brain: Why Trauma Disrupts Future Imagination
- How Future Self Journaling Shows Up for Driven Women After Trauma
- Both/And: Visualization Can Heal AND the Standard Instructions Aren’t Built for Your Nervous System
- The Systemic Lens: When the Wellness Industry Assumes a Regulated Nervous System
- A Trauma-Informed Path Forward: Modifications That Make Visualization Safe
- Practical Exercises for Safe Future Self Journaling
- Resources and Next Steps with Annie Wright
When Tomorrow Feels Like a Void: A Scene From the Edge
It’s 6:23 a.m. on a Wednesday when Marisol sits at her bedroom desk, a leather-bound journal open but untouched. Outside, the sky is a pale wash of early morning light, birds warming up with their tentative songs. Marisol’s fingers hover over the blank page, a pen poised but unmoving. She’s tried this exercise before, future self journaling, as her therapist suggested. Nicole LePera, PhD, calls it a powerful tool for healing and transformation. Marisol wants it to work. She wants to see her future self calm, centered, successful. But instead, her chest tightens, her throat constricts, and a wave of nameless anxiety curls in her belly. Her mind blanks.
If your nervous system learned the safest way to exist was to manage everyone else's world, my self-paced course Enough Without the Effort is the recovery map.
The usual prompts,“Imagine yourself five years from now, thriving and fulfilled”,feel like a cruel joke. The future doesn’t shimmer with possibility. It yawns wide, an empty cavern she can’t enter. The words she writes are mechanical, disconnected from feeling. Sometimes, she finds herself drifting off mid-sentence, dissociating into numbness rather than hope. Other times, the exercise triggers an invisible alarm: a surge of panic rising in her body, sharp and disorienting, with no clear reason.
Marisol’s not alone. In my work with driven women who’ve experienced relational trauma, this scene is all too familiar. The standard future self journaling exercises, celebrated in wellness circles and popular psychology, can unintentionally alienate or overwhelm a nervous system still learning what safety feels like. This isn’t due to a lack of imagination or motivation. Instead, it’s rooted in the neurobiology of trauma itself.
This article exists because I see so many driven women like Marisol, eager for growth but stuck in the paradox of wanting a better future while their bodies scream “danger” when they try to visualize it. I’ll start by defining what future self journaling is and why it’s so widely embraced, including Nicole LePera’s influential work. Then I’ll explain, drawing on the research of Bessel van der Kolk, MD, psychiatrist and trauma researcher and author of The Body Keeps the Score, why trauma survivors often find these exercises inaccessible or triggering. Finally, I’ll share trauma-informed modifications that help create a safe container for future self journaling, starting with safety, honoring the recent past, working within the window of tolerance, and building capacity gradually.
If you’re ready to explore a path forward that honors your nervous system’s needs while nurturing your capacity to imagine and claim your future, you’re in the right place. For more on how trauma rewires our sense of safety and how I work with clients to repair those foundations, see my article on Fixing the Foundations™. If you want to know more about my approach to therapy and coaching for driven women healing relational trauma, visit Therapy with Annie and Executive Coaching.
What Is Future Self Journaling? Beyond the Buzzword
Future self journaling has become a popular tool in the personal growth arena. At its core, it invites you to write a letter or narrative from the perspective of your future self, often imagined as calm, confident, and successful, offering guidance, encouragement, or reflection. This practice is designed to bridge the gap between who you are now and who you want to become, creating a vivid sense of possibility and motivation for change.
A therapeutic and self-reflective writing technique that involves imagining and writing from the perspective of one’s future self to foster insight, motivation, and psychological integration. Nicole LePera, PhD, psychologist and author of How to Do the Work, popularized this approach within holistic psychology as a means to enhance self-awareness and intentional transformation.
In plain terms: Future self journaling asks you to picture yourself at a later point, maybe next year or five years from now, and write as if you’re already that person. It helps you connect with your hopes, build confidence, and map out the kind of life you want.
Nicole LePera’s approach works for many people because it taps into the brain’s natural capacity for mental time travel, the ability to imagine ourselves in different moments beyond the present. This can strengthen the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for planning, self-regulation, and envisioning future possibilities, as outlined by Daniel Siegel, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Through future self journaling, you may develop a clearer sense of direction, greater self-compassion, and a stronger internal narrative that supports growth. It’s an empowering practice when your nervous system is regulated enough to hold the experience without becoming overwhelmed.
But for women healing relational trauma, this practice often doesn’t land as intended. The invitation to project into the future can trigger disconnection, anxiety, or blankness. That’s not a failure on your part, it’s a reflection of how trauma changes the brain and body’s ability to safely imagine what’s ahead.
If you’re curious about how trauma affects your nervous system’s capacity for future projection and what makes a trauma-informed approach different, keep reading. For a deeper look at nervous system regulation and trauma-sensitive mindfulness, see my newsletter and my article on connecting with your nervous system.
Inside the Brain: Why Trauma Disrupts Future Imagination
Imagine trying to picture a future self when your brain’s default mode network, the network that supports self-referential thinking and mental time travel, is scrambled. This is the reality for many trauma survivors. Bessel van der Kolk, MD, psychiatrist and trauma researcher, explains in Chapter 6 of The Body Keeps the Score that trauma impairs the brain’s ability to imagine the future because it disrupts the default mode network’s time-projection function.
A brain network active during self-referential thought, daydreaming, and imagining past or future events. Daniel Siegel, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA, describes it as essential for mental time travel and narrative self-continuity. Trauma disrupts DMN connectivity, impairing the capacity to envision the future or integrate experiences into a coherent story.
In plain terms: The default mode network helps you imagine yourself at other times, what you did last week or what you might do next year. Trauma can scramble this system, so thinking about the future feels impossible or scary instead of hopeful.
This disruption means that the invitation to future self journaling can feel like an impossible ask. The brain is wired to keep you safe, and if the future feels unpredictable or threatening, the nervous system may respond by shutting down, dissociating, or flooding with anxiety, states outside the window of tolerance described by Daniel Siegel, MD.
Peter Levine, PhD, psychologist and developer of Somatic Experiencing, highlights that trauma leaves frozen energy in the body, unfinished defensive actions that the nervous system tries to keep at bay. When you try to imagine a future self, your body might unconsciously interpret this as a threat to safety, reactivating that frozen residue.
This is why simply telling yourself to picture a calm, confident future may backfire. Without careful pacing and safety cues, your nervous system can’t engage the prefrontal cortex’s executive functions needed to hold the vision. Instead, it activates subcortical survival circuits, fight, flight, or freeze.
In this context, the future feels like a void, a danger zone, or a blank screen. That’s why many trauma survivors experience the “speechless terror” Bessel van der Kolk describes, where the Broca’s area (speech center) goes offline during trauma recall, except here, it’s the future, not the past, that feels inaccessible.
Understanding this neurobiology is key to adapting future self journaling so it’s accessible, safe, and healing for you. It’s not about pushing harder; it’s about working smarter with your nervous system’s signals. For more on nervous system regulation and trauma-sensitive mindfulness, you can explore my article on therapy with me and my executive coaching offerings at executive coaching.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
Peer-reviewed findings that inform this clinical framework:
- 6% greater reduction in PTSD symptoms with journaling vs controls (intervention pre-post difference −0.06, 95% CI −0.09 to −0.03) (PMID: 35304431)
- Large effect on PTSD symptoms post-treatment with narrative exposure therapy (g = 1.18, 95% CI 0.87-1.50) (PMID: 31007868)
- Expressive writing reduced PTSD symptoms vs waiting list (SMD −0.43, 95% CI −0.65 to −0.21) (PMID: 33634766)
- Psychological treatments reduced negative trauma-related appraisals in child PTSD (g = −0.67, 95% CI −0.86 to −0.48) (PMID: 39213739)
- Culturally adapted interventions reduced PTSD symptoms (SMD −0.67, 95% CI −1.06 to −0.25; 7 RCTs, n=213) (Benjamin et al)
How Future Self Journaling Shows Up for Driven Women After Trauma
It’s 9:15 p.m. and Angela is on a video call with me after a long day leading a demanding nonprofit board meeting. She’s a 42-year-old driven woman with a reputation for calm leadership and razor-sharp strategic thinking. Yet tonight, as we talk about her home practice, she says something that stops me: “I tried future self journaling like you suggested. I got to the part where I’m supposed to picture myself content and grounded, but all I felt was this weird numbness. Like I was there but not really there. Or sometimes my chest would tighten like I was about to cry but I didn’t know why. I ended up just closing the journal and staring at the wall.”
Angela’s experience is a perfect example of how future self journaling unfolds for women who carry relational trauma in their nervous systems. The invitation to imagine a future self can trigger dissociation, a protective disconnection from overwhelming feelings, or it can spark a vague but intense anxiety that feels like an unnameable threat. Neither of these states is a reflection of failure or resistance; they are the nervous system’s way of signaling that the future feels unsafe.
For driven women like Angela, whose identities are wrapped up in competence and control, this can be frustrating and isolating. You want to move forward, to envision growth, but your body pushes back. The result is often a cycle of trying and shutting down, of shame and self-judgment layered on top of trauma’s original wounds.
What I see consistently is that future self journaling as it’s typically taught assumes a nervous system already calibrated to safety. Yet many women I work with live with a baseline of sympathetic activation or dorsal vagal shutdown as described by Deb Dana, LCSW, clinician and author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. When the default autonomic state isn’t ventral vagal (safe, socially engaged), the tools of mainstream wellness can feel like swimming upstream.
This is why I emphasize starting with the present moment’s safety rather than leaping into the future. Sometimes that means anchoring in yesterday’s moment of groundedness before tentatively shifting toward tomorrow. It’s about noticing the window of tolerance and pendulating, oscillating between future vision and present safety anchors, to build capacity rather than overwhelm.
For more about how relational trauma shapes the nervous system and practical ways to build safety, see my article on Fixing the Foundations and join my newsletter for ongoing support and resources.
Both/And: Visualization Can Heal AND the Standard Instructions Aren’t Built for Your Nervous System
It’s 7:42 a.m. on a Thursday when Ana sits cross-legged on the floor of her sunlit apartment. Her journal lies open on her lap, pen in hand. The prompt from last night’s therapy session echoes in her mind: “Write a letter from your future self, five years from now, thriving and at peace.” Ana tries. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, attempting to conjure that future version of herself. But instead of calm or clarity, a wave of numbness washes over her. Her chest tightens. The pen hovers, then drops. The page remains blank.
Ana’s experience is common among driven women healing relational trauma. The invitation to visualize a future self often triggers a cascade of complex neurobiological responses. It’s not a lack of imagination or willpower. It’s trauma’s imprint on the brain’s architecture, especially on the default mode network (DMN), which Bessel van der Kolk, MD, psychiatrist and trauma researcher, describes as essential for mental time travel and narrative continuity. When trauma disrupts the DMN, envisioning the future becomes an uncanny, sometimes painful exercise.
Daniel Siegel, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, explains that the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s executive hub responsible for planning and regulating emotion, needs a stable window of tolerance to engage in future-oriented visualization. Without that regulation, the nervous system shifts into survival mode, activating sympathetic or dorsal vagal circuits described by Stephen Porges, PhD, neuroscientist and creator of polyvagal theory. The body perceives the future as a threat, triggering fight, flight, or freeze responses rather than curiosity or creativity.
Peter Levine, PhD, psychologist and developer of Somatic Experiencing, teaches that trauma leaves behind “frozen residue”,incomplete defensive responses that the nervous system keeps on alert. When Ana tries to imagine a peaceful future self, her body may interpret this as an unfinished threat, stirring implicit memories lodged in the viscera. This somatic activation can cause dissociation, anxiety, or shutdown, making the exercise feel impossible or unsafe.
The paradox here is that visualization can be profoundly healing, when done within a regulated nervous system. But the standard instructions for future self journaling, often designed for wellness audiences without trauma histories, don’t account for how relational trauma rewires the nervous system. They typically leap straight into imagining a distant future self without first establishing safety or pacing the experience.
In my clinical work, I’ve seen that when the nervous system is dysregulated, pushing too hard to “see the future self” can backfire, reinforcing feelings of disconnection or reinforcing the trauma’s grip. It’s like asking someone to swim to an island without ensuring they can float or swim safely in the water first.
The trauma-informed approach recalibrates this process. It starts with present-moment safety cues, anchoring in sensations, breath, or recent memories of groundedness. It uses pendulation, a concept Peter Levine, PhD, highlights as oscillating between activation and resource, to help the nervous system process without flooding. It invites small steps, perhaps imagining tomorrow’s self rather than five years ahead, gradually expanding the window of tolerance.
This layered approach honors the reality of trauma’s impact on the brain and body. It doesn’t reject visualization’s power but reframes it as a skill to develop over time, not a quick fix. For more on how to build nervous system capacity and trauma-sensitive mindfulness, see my newsletter and article on Fixing the Foundations.
Both/And: Visualization Can Heal AND the Standard Instructions Aren’t Built for Your Nervous System
At 8:18 p.m., Rina sits at her kitchen table, journal open and a soft lamplight casting shadows around her. She’s just finished a stressful day leading a critical presentation at work. Her therapist suggested future self journaling to help her reconnect with her aspirations and calm her anxious mind. Rina starts writing, imagining herself a year from now, with more balance, less overwhelm. But the words feel distant, like a script she’s reciting rather than a felt reality. Suddenly, a tight knot forms in her stomach, spreading warmth and fear. She blinks back a surge of tears and closes the journal.
Rina’s struggle embodies the tension between the promise of visualization and the lived reality of trauma-affected nervous systems. There’s no denying that visualization can be a transformative tool. When the nervous system can engage with the prefrontal cortex’s executive functions, as Daniel Siegel, MD, describes, it supports creativity, resilience, and self-regulation. But for many trauma survivors, like Rina, the standard future self journaling instructions skip critical steps needed for safety and integration.
Nicole LePera, PhD, psychologist and author of How to Do the Work, has brought future self journaling into mainstream wellness with tremendous success. Her approach resonates with many because it empowers self-awareness and intentional transformation. Yet, as I’ve observed clinically, the unmodified practice can inadvertently re-traumatize or overwhelm for those with relational trauma histories.
What happens neurobiologically is that trauma fragments the self, as Janina Fisher, PhD, author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, explains. The parts of the nervous system responsible for safety and social engagement (ventral vagal) may be overshadowed by fight-flight or shutdown states. In this context, imagining a future self isn’t just an imaginative exercise, it’s an activation of survival systems primed to protect from perceived threats.
The solution is a both/and approach. Visualization can heal and support growth, but it must be trauma-informed. That means:
, Starting with present-moment safety, using grounding techniques like breath, body scan, or recalling recent moments of calm.
, Using the recent past, yesterday’s moments of safety or small wins, as a bridge to future imagining.
, Monitoring the window of tolerance, noticing when anxiety or numbness arises, and using pendulation to move between activation and regulation.
, Scaling the time frame from tomorrow or next week before moving to years ahead.
For Rina, this might look like first anchoring in a recent moment of connection with her partner or a walk in nature. From that safe base, she can tentatively imagine what a balanced day tomorrow might look like. Over time, as her nervous system learns to tolerate these experiences, the future self becomes less a void and more an inviting horizon.
If you want practical guidance on trauma-sensitive visualization and tools to build your nervous system’s capacity, see my articles on Fixing the Foundations and therapy with me.
The Systemic Lens: When the Wellness Industry Assumes a Regulated Nervous System
The wellness industry often packages practices like future self journaling as universally accessible tools for transformation. But this assumption, that everyone’s nervous system starts from a place of regulation and safety, excludes a significant population of women whose bodies and brains carry the imprint of relational trauma.
This systemic oversight isn’t about blame; it’s about recognizing how culture and wellness narratives reflect dominant norms. Many wellness frameworks emerge from spaces where trauma histories are invisible or minimized. They promote ideals like “visualize your best self” or “manifest your dreams” without accounting for the complex neurobiology of trauma, which can make these directives feel impossible or unsafe.
Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP, author of My Grandmother’s Hands, reminds us that “Our bodies exist in the present. To your thinking brain, there is past, present, and future, but to a traumatized body, there is only now.” When the body is stuck in survival mode, as many trauma survivors’ are, the promise of future-oriented visualization can feel like a cruel mismatch.
This disconnect contributes to shame and self-blame. Women may internalize the message that they’re “doing it wrong” or “not trying hard enough,” which compounds the original trauma wounds. Beverly Engel, LMFT, author of It Wasn’t Your Fault, emphasizes that shame is often the worst effect of abuse or neglect, and self-compassion is the primary antidote.
The systemic problem extends beyond individual practice, it’s a call for a trauma-informed wellness culture that acknowledges neurodiversity and the spectrum of regulation. This means offering modifications, pacing, and alternatives for women living with nervous systems sensitized by relational trauma. It means clinicians, coaches, and wellness leaders learning the neurobiology of trauma and adapting their tools accordingly.
In this context, trauma-informed future self journaling becomes not a niche exception but a model for inclusive, accessible healing. It centers safety, respects pacing, and integrates somatic awareness, recognizing that healing unfolds in relationship, as Judith Herman, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance and author of Trauma and Recovery, reminds us.
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How to Heal / The Path Forward
Healing the capacity to imagine and claim a future self after relational trauma isn’t about quick fixes or forcing visualization. It requires a phased, trauma-informed approach grounded in nervous system regulation, relational safety, and clinical precision.
Judith Herman, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance and author of Trauma and Recovery, outlines a three-stage model of trauma healing: establishing safety; remembrance and mourning; and reconnection with ordinary life. Future self journaling fits predominantly in the third stage, but only once safety is established and the nervous system can tolerate the exercise.
Here’s how I guide driven women through this healing arc:
1. Establish Present-Moment Safety
The first and non-negotiable step is cultivating a felt sense of safety in the present. This can include somatic grounding techniques like slow, diaphragmatic breathing; orienting to five senses; or progressive muscle relaxation. Drawing on Deb Dana, LCSW’s Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, the goal is to engage the ventral vagal system, your nervous system’s social engagement network, to shift out of fight-flight or shutdown.
Start your journaling sessions here, noticing body sensations and creating a “safe container” before any future visualization.
2. Use the Recent Past as a Bridge
Instead of leaping into a distant future, begin with the recent past, yesterday’s moments of groundedness, successes, or connection. Write from the perspective of a self who has just experienced these moments. This honors the nervous system’s capacity for integration and builds confidence in your ability to hold positive experiences.
Peter Levine, PhD, highlights pendulation, oscillating between activation and resource, as a healing mechanism. Move gently between recalling recent safe moments and tentative future imagining.
3. Scale Your Future Timeline Gradually
Start small. Rather than imagining yourself five years from now, picture yourself tomorrow or next week. Notice what feels accessible and what triggers anxiety or numbness. Use these cues as information, not failure.
Daniel Siegel, MD, explains that the prefrontal cortex requires regulation to hold future-oriented thought. Respect your window of tolerance by pacing visualization accordingly.
4. Incorporate Somatic and Sensorimotor Awareness
Write about physical sensations, body posture, or breath alongside the future self narrative. This anchors the experience in the present body, counteracting dissociation. Pat Ogden, PhD, founder of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, underscores the importance of working with the body to complete defensive responses and integrate fragmented states.
5. Practice Pendulation and Co-Regulation
Allow yourself to move back and forth between future self writing and present safety anchors. If possible, practice journaling alongside a trusted therapist, coach, or support person who can help regulate your nervous system through co-regulation.
Deb Dana, LCSW, describes co-regulation as the nervous system’s capacity to borrow safety from another calm nervous system.
6. Be Compassionate and Patient
Recovery is not linear; it spirals. You may revisit earlier stages or experience setbacks. Beverly Engel, LMFT, reminds us that self-compassion is the antidote to shame, which often arises in this process.
Celebrate small wins and honor your nervous system’s pace.
If you’re ready to deepen this work, my signature course Fixing the Foundations offers a structured, accessible path to rebuilding your nervous system’s capacity for safety and integration. For individualized support, explore therapy with me or my executive coaching tailored for driven women recovering from relational trauma.
Remember, healing your capacity to imagine a future self is a profound act of reclaiming agency and hope. It’s possible. And it’s worth the care, patience, and precision it takes.
Whenever you sit down to future self journal, invite curiosity about what your nervous system is telling you. Notice where it feels spacious and where it tightens. Use those signals as a guide, not a verdict. You’re learning new neural pathways for safety and possibility, one small step at a time.
Your future self is waiting, not as a distant, unreachable ideal, but as a presence you can begin to meet through safety, attuned attention, and compassionate pacing today.
If you’re interested in ongoing guidance, consider joining my newsletter where I share regular insights and practical tools for nervous system healing and relational trauma recovery.
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Q: Why does future self journaling feel impossible or triggering after trauma?
A: Trauma disrupts the brain’s default mode network, impairing mental time travel, the ability to imagine yourself in the future. This neurobiological change means future self journaling can activate survival responses like anxiety or dissociation. It’s not a failure of imagination but a nervous system signal that the exercise needs to be paced and modified for safety.
Q: How can I make future self journaling safer if I have trauma?
A: Start with grounding in the present moment and recent past safety moments. Scale your future time frame gradually, beginning with tomorrow or next week. Use somatic awareness and pendulate between future imagining and present safety. Consider working with a trauma-informed therapist or coach who can support nervous system regulation.
Q: Is future self journaling the same as visualization?
A: They are related but distinct. Visualization often involves mental imagery, while future self journaling is a writing practice that invites you to embody and reflect from your future self’s perspective. Both require nervous system regulation to be effective and safe after trauma.
Q: Can future self journaling replace therapy?
A: Future self journaling is a valuable self-reflective tool but is not a substitute for trauma-informed therapy. Working with a clinician can provide the safety, pacing, and support needed to navigate complex trauma responses and build sustainable healing.
Q: How long does it take to feel safe visualizing my future self?
A: Healing timelines vary widely. Building nervous system capacity and safety for future visualization is a gradual process that may take weeks, months, or longer. Patience, self-compassion, and trauma-informed support accelerate this healing arc.
Related Reading
- van der Kolk, Bessel A., The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. New York: Viking, 2014.
- Herman, Judith Lewis, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence, from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books, 1997.
- Porges, Stephen W., The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011.
- Fisher, Janina, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation. New York: Routledge, 2017.
References
Peer-Reviewed Research (Vancouver)
- van der Kolk BA, Wang JB, Yehuda R, Bedrosian L, Coker AR, Harrison C, et al. Effects of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD on self-experience. PLoS One. 2024;19(1):e0295926. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0295926. PMID: 38198456.
- Cloitre M, Stolbach BC, Herman JL, van der Kolk B, Pynoos R, Wang J, et al. A developmental approach to complex PTSD: childhood and adult cumulative trauma as predictors of symptom complexity. J Trauma Stress. 2009;22(5):399-408. doi:10.1002/jts.20444. PMID: 19795402.
- Payne P, Levine PA, Crane-Godreau MA. Somatic experiencing: using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy. Front Psychol. 2015;6:93. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00093. PMID: 25699005.
- Porges SW. Polyvagal Theory: Current Status, Clinical Applications, and Future Directions. Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2025;22(3):169-184. doi:10.36131/cnfioritieditore20250301. PMID: 40735382.
- Reisz S, Duschinsky R, Siegel DJ. fearful-avoidant attachment and defense: exploring John Bowlby's unpublished reflections. Attach Hum Dev. 2018;20(2):107-134. doi:10.1080/14616734.2017.1380055. PMID: 28952412.
- Ogden P, Pain C, Fisher J. A sensorimotor approach to the treatment of trauma and dissociation. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2006;29(1):263-79, xi-xii. PMID: 16530597.
Books & Cultural Sources (Chicago Author-Date)
- Fisher, Janina. Healing the fragmented selves of trauma survivors. Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
- Menakem, Resmaa. My grandmother's hands. Penguin Books, Limited, 2017.
- Dana, Deb. The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., 2018.
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Annie Wright, LMFT
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Annie Wright is a licensed psychotherapist (LMFT #95719) and trauma-informed executive coach with over 25,000 clinical hours. She works with driven women. Including Silicon Valley leaders, physicians, and entrepreneurs. In repairing the psychological foundations beneath their impressive lives. Annie is the founder and former CEO of Evergreen Counseling, a multimillion-dollar trauma-informed therapy center she built, scaled, and successfully exited. A regular contributor to Psychology Today, her expert commentary has appeared in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc., NBC, and The Information. She is currently writing her first book with W.W. Norton.
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