Treating Adult Children of Relational Trauma: 85 Experiential Interventions to Heal the Inner Child and Create Authentic Connection in the Present

“Psychodrama is one of the most effective treatments of PTSD and developmental trauma that I am familiar with, and Tian Dayton has written a terrific manual to serve as our guide.” —Bessel van der Kolk, MD, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Body Keeps the Score

“In this treatment guide, Tian Dayton has provided us with an unparalleled approach for treating relational trauma. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is treating the pain of unhealed attachment wounds.” —Peter Levine, PhD, developer of Somatic Experiencing® and best-selling author of Waking the Tiger

Help clients respond to stress as the adults they are today, not the wounded children they once were.

Because early attachment ruptures undermine trust and fuel disconnection, adult children of relational trauma often resist the very vehicles that would help them heal—feeling, naming, and sharing the contents of their inner world with another human being.

In Treating Adult Children of Relational Trauma, world-renowned psychologist, author, and psychodramatist Dr. Tian Dayton expertly weaves together the very best of what works in psychodrama, sociometrics, and addictions treatment to create her unique, experiential approach to treating the ever-nuanced impact of early relational trauma. Grounded in the principles of interpersonal neurobiology, polyvagal theory, and somatic experiencing, this treatment guide includes 85 structured interventions that innately “warm up” the limbic system and allow space for healing in real time. Using Dr. Dayton’s easy-to-follow, step-by-step approach, clinicians can help clients:

• Repair, rather than reenact, painful relational trauma dynamics in their lives
• Experience the safety of healing through connection, movement, and engagement with others
• Feel empowered to become active shareholders in their own recovery