Self-Directed Complex PTSD Exercises for Women

Regulate your emotions, find safety in relationships, and live the fullest version of your life—with self-guided practices for any woman living with complex PTSD.

Your trauma is not your fault. But managing its symptoms is something within your control. Complex PTSD (cPTSD) refers to the aftermath of ongoing or repeated trauma—often relational—that impacts a person’s life. Since women are more likely to experience chronic and interpersonal trauma, they are far more likely to accrue these symptoms that make it feel like people, their body—even everyday interactions—are unsafe.

Self-Directed Complex PTSD Exercises for Women is a compassionate, self-guided workbook that offers trauma-informed tools for being able to safely inhabit your body, reengage in relationships, and step into a full-color version of your life. Drawing from psychological training, holistic research, and direct clinical experience, it includes practices for nervous system regulation, mind-body integration, and self-understanding. Written by and for women, it is for those seeking peace, connection, and trust from the inside out. Here, you’ll find:

• 50+ self-led exercises inspired by proven trauma-informed modalities—somatic practices, EMDR, IFS, DBT, attachment-based, and narrative therapy—to help you reconnect with your body, emotions, and inner wisdom.
• Fast-working tools to move beyond fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown—helping you find stability, safety, and joy in everyday life.
• A practical road map to identify your values, nurture self-compassion, and align with the truest version of yourself.
• Compassionate guidance from holistic psychologist Debbie Missud, LMHC-D, who specializes in complex PTSD support for women, bridging the gap between clinical knowledge and everyday healing.

Feeling better—grounded, whole, and free—is possible. And the fact you are here means it is within reach.Debbie Missud, LMHC-D, is a licensed psychotherapist and founder of The Manhattan Psychotherapy Collective, a group practice in New York City specializing in trauma-informed care for women. She works primarily with clients navigating complex trauma, anxiety, and attachment wounds, and is certified in EMDR with advanced training in integrative modalities including IFS, DBT, and somatic therapies.

In addition to her therapy practice, Debbie provides clinical supervision and consultation for mental health professionals. Beyond the therapy room, she’s a mental health educator on social media, known as @therapydebbie, where she blends expertise with humor and humanity to make healing concepts relatable and accessible. She’s passionate about bridging the gap between clinical knowledge and everyday life, helping people better understand themselves and their relationships.