First, i am so sorry you have gone through this. Although I am not an expert, but I would say that a counselor who deals in abuse would be best. You may be able to reach out to your local woman's shelter for recommendations. Wishing you much strength and encouragement.

Confused makes a very important point. Therapy rarely works to actually release and heal the abuse trauma UNLESS its with a QUALIFIED therapist. By QUALIFIED, I mean the therapist should have additional training, over and above whatever it took to get their degree and license.

That additional training should be at least one of the following (IMHO) trauma release, dynamics of abuse & DV, and healing from trauma & abuse. And, IMHO, it should NOT be a marriage counselor. In addition, I would ask the therapist what kind of ongoing: 1. personal therapy they do (i they aren't doing their own work, their issues could very well affect your ability to heal) and 2. education/training they are doing.

I did talk therapy & CBT for over 30 years. And, while it did help me to survive, it did NOT help to release or heal the trauma. No one EVER suggested that I was in an abusive environment - not one in over 30 years!!! And that includes several 'marriage' counselors who saw us both!!!

It was only after i moved out that my then therapist suggested I was still with an abuser. With her help and the help of another therapist (after she retired), in 6 short years, I am a very different person. Not totally healed, but a million percent better.

The main therapy that is responsible for that is heart centered hypnotherapy. It's nothing like you see on TV. And it has a healing component in each session. I was terrified of it because I thought it would take what little control I thought I had away. Instead, it gave me back my power. Or should I say, I was able to take back my power. :-) It also helped my PTSD tremendously. Flashbacks and triggers have lessened so much that when they do happen, I can usually handle them myself with all the tools I learned.

There were other modalities that my current therapist included like additional guided imagery, meditation, breath work, affirmations and daily gratitude.

Different things work for different people. I understand that some have good results with EMDR ( Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and EFT (Emotional Freedom Tapping). I've tried Tapping and while it was ok, I found the other modalities to be more helpful. But I know people who swear by EFT. As far as EMDR, I haven't tried that but I think there are some people here who have had good experiences with it.

In addition, some therapists combine CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) with other trauma release therapies.

~healing hugs~

Thank you both VERY MUCH for your responses. I am very grateful and will look into what may be available for me.

For me (I am 59) what finally seems to be healing is a combination of hypnotherapy guided imagery, art therapy, affirmations and Inner Child work. Working through the trauma caused in my abusive childhood home and reclaiming my inner child. (I feel a whole lot better) Not every one had an abusive childhood and like True colors said, we are all different.
I wish you good luck on your journey to the whole you.

Thanks everyone for posting on this as I was wondering about this too.

Personally for me coping comes from meditation, EFT, loooong hot baths in which I do the tapping and the gudied imagery meditation....with essential oils and salts ....

CBT helped me alot and psychotherapy made memuch worse but helped me to see the truth I needed to see

I am quite interested in that heart therapy you mention MTC and I appreciate your other pointers as I about to get into therapy once more...