Self-Blame
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), 1 in 4 children living in the United States experience some type of maltreatment. Without a supportive adult to talk to, these children are doomed to grow into adults who blame themselves for what happened to them. This article...
Betrayal Trauma
Betrayal trauma describes what happens when someone, your parents, an institution, or a lover acts treacherously towards us. Betrayal is an excellent word to describe how most survivors feel when they discover they have dissociative identity disorder (DID), especially when they learn the cause. Betrayal trauma describes the...
Body Memories
There are many symptoms that childhood trauma survivors experience, but none are more disturbing than that of body memories. During a body memory, you may see, hear, or otherwise feel body sensations connected to trauma. This piece shall explore body memories and ways you can help yourself when...
Shame
We’ve all experienced shame at some time in our lifetime. When we do something wrong and feel that twang of guilt when we are punished, we are experiencing shame. This article will focus on shame and how it can be detrimental to our mental health. What is...
The World Must Become Trauma-Informed
Many people are ill-informed or know nothing about mental health disorders, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) and how it affects those around them. There are hundreds if not thousands of mental health challenges, and unfortunately, lots of stigma surrounds them. This article will explore trauma and how...
Trauma
What is it and how is it related to DID We’ve all heard the words trauma and traumatized used in pop culture plus newspapers and journals, but what is it? What makes trauma the heart of so many mental health diagnoses, and how can we combat it? Dissociative identity...
Trauma and Dissociative Identity Disorder
Healing from dissociative identity disorder requires understanding what it is and how one forms it, and many other aspects of the disorder. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is believed to be caused by trauma. This article will explore the relationship between trauma and DID. What is Trauma? Trauma is...
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: the Similarities and Differences
There is some confusion about the differences and similarities between PTSD and CPTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) sound alike but although they have some similar symptoms, they are completely different disorders. In this article, we shall examine together the differences and similarities of...
Trauma-Informed Care
Many of you, like me, have survived one or more traumatic events in childhood know how our lives have become changed in negative ways. By traumatic events I offer the following definition I found on the Healthline website: “A traumatic event is an incident that causes physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological harm. The...
Pulling it all together: Trauma-Informed Care
This month we have spent time exploring the basics of becoming trauma-informed. We’ve examined how mindfulness, neuroplasticity, and resiliency help form the tripod on which we begin to understand and defeat the consequences of surviving trauma. In this article, we are going to explore together how all the writings...
Female Predators of Sexual Abuse; The Silent Crisis
One of the hardest realities our society faces, the fact that women sexually molest children, makes us shudder....
Red Alert: Addiction to the Chaos of Dysfunctional Self-Pity Will Keep You Stuck!
There is a syndrome that I’ve become aware of in the past decade of my journey along the road less taken. This condition seems to be something that everyone who enters therapy to conquer the effects of childhood trauma that can slow down progress and stop it in...