by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Apr 23, 2026 | CPTSD, Mental Health Professional
Parentification is usually described as a childhood role reversal. A child becomes the emotional caretaker, mediator, problem-solver, or stabilizer in a home where adults are inconsistent, overwhelmed, impaired, or absent. In clinical language, it is a distortion of...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Apr 15, 2026 | Building Resilience in Healing, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, Mental Health Professional
In my first mental health job in the early 1990s, I learned a rule that still holds under pressure. Never tell an upset client to “calm down.” It backfires. The person does not feel heard, seen, or validated. They feel managed. The phrase sounds helpful to the one...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Apr 7, 2026 | Brain Chemistry, Building Resilience in Healing, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, The Brain and CPTSD
People don’t become controlling because they enjoy it. They become controlling because trauma taught them that unpredictability is dangerous. When life blindsides you enough times, your nervous system starts operating like a private security detail—monitoring,...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Apr 2, 2026 | Brain Chemistry, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, Narcissistic Abuse
Families living with chronic instability often divide their children into roles that were never chosen. One child reacts loudly. Another reacts quietly. The loud one becomes the identified problem. The quiet one becomes the praised anomaly. The truth is less...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Mar 24, 2026 | Anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder, CPTSD
In clinical and forensic settings, I have observed evaluators confuse intensity with diagnosis. High emotional amplitude is persuasive. It pulls focus. It pressures the room. But intensity is not structure. Presentation is not etiology. If we fail to separate the...
