Some people arrive at Summit with years of insight, effort, and previous treatment behind them.
They may understand their patterns. They may have language for their trauma. They may have tried tools, coping skills, medication, or traditional talk therapy — and still feel that something deeper remains untouched.
This does not mean therapy cannot help. It may mean the approach has not fully met the complexity of what your system has been carrying.
Dr. Jeanne Layne brings deep clinical experience with trauma, crisis, intense emotional experiences, and people whose previous care has not provided meaningful progress.
The work is relational, depth-oriented, trauma-focused, and somatic. It does not rely on a single protocol or assume that one method will fit every person. Instead, therapy begins with careful listening, containment, and a non-pathologizing understanding of survival.
The phrase treatment-resistant can make it sound like the person is the problem.
Summit thinks of that differently.
Resistance is often the language of protection. A part of the system may be guarding against overwhelm, exposure, grief, fear, or a pace that feels unsafe.
There is no single therapy that works for everyone. When nothing else has helped, therapy often needs to become more individualized, trauma-informed, somatic, relational, and depth-oriented.
Treatment-resistant usually means symptoms have not improved enough through standard approaches. At Summit, this is not seen as failure. It may indicate that deeper patterns need deeper, specialized care.
Therapy may not work when it focuses only on insight, moves too quickly, or does not account for the body’s protective responses. Trauma often needs safety, pacing, and containment.
Complex PTSD is rooted in prolonged or repeated trauma. Treatment-resistant depression refers to depression that has not responded to standard treatment. For some people, unresolved trauma can contribute to persistent depression.
You may consider changing therapists if you consistently feel misunderstood, rushed, pathologized, or if the work has stopped reaching the depth of what you are carrying.
Look for a clinician with experience in trauma, high-acuity emotional work, somatic responses, dissociation, complex PTSD, and treatment-resistant patterns. Clinical depth matters.
Therapy not working does not always mean therapy cannot help. Sometimes it means the method, pace, relationship, or level of specialization has not been the right fit.
Yes, unresolved trauma can contribute to depression that feels persistent or difficult to treat. For some people, depression is connected to protective shutdown, grief, fear, or nervous system collapse.
Share what you have already tried, what helped, what felt unhelpful, and what still feels unresolved. You do not need to have a perfect explanation before beginning again.
The best treatment for complex PTSD is one that addresses both the emotional and physiological impact of trauma while providing enough safety, depth, and attunement for meaningful change.