Trauma-Informed Blog
New content weekly! Survivor Stories, Research Articles, Poetry, and more written by clinicians, coaches, survivors, and mental health professionals.
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The Elephant in the Room
The first thing to understand when loving someone with dissociative identity disorder is that you will do things very wrong. I learned this lesson yet again. What I did was something that came from...
You Are More Than What Happened To You
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Becky Perkins, thank to my friend Mike Valente at Zero Abuse Project, and I was immediately impressed by the heart and dedication she brings to her...
How Do You Ask for PTSD Workplace Accommodations Without Disclosing Your Diagnosis
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD) can affect an employee’s concentration, ability to manage stress and response to certain workplace environments. Unexpected changes or...
When Survival Becomes Your Normal
The quiet ways CPTSD can change the way you live Your nervous system is designed to respond to changing circumstances. Ongoing emotional, physiological, and sometimes trauma-related demands can...
They Cut Your Workload, and You Still Feel Like This. Here Is Why.
A reduced workload makes a depressive episode more survivable while it continues. That is worth having and it is not treatment, and confusing the two costs people years.
Love Has the Power to Heal, Inspire, and Change the World
“Love has the power to heal, the power to inspire, and the power to change the world.” — By Melody Beattie. I came across this sentence by Melanie Beattie, who was an American self-help...
Shattering the Silence: The Courage to Let Go and Live Forward
I recently had the great joy of connecting with Darlene Lekowski this past February, and I was immediately struck by her warmth, courage, and big-hearted presence. Darlene is an Amazon #1...
Fight, Flight, or Fight Harder
My wife came home from her therapist one day, frustrated and angry. She was looking for answers, and her therapist told her, “Some people are just unlucky.” Unlucky. What an interesting way to...
My Journey Through Dissociation and Repressed Memories
For decades, my mind protected me from the unimaginable. Through severe dissociation, it locked away the full scope of childhood trauma, leaving me completely unaware of my own history. But while my...
Breaking the Silence Around Abuse Within the Church
Trigger Warning: This post discusses sexual abuse and misconduct within the church, including experiences of abuse, trauma, and the misuse of religious authority. Some content may be distressing or...
Meds and Emotional Abuse Don’t Mix
A few years ago, I broke up with my third psychiatrist. You know when a romantic relationship has finally run its course and it’s time to move on? This was kind of like that. I spent over 10...
Quiet Inscape
Of you and others of you… The persistence that runs deep within you is often not able to be seen by those who surround you, and by now there probably aren’t many who do surround you. The quiet...
What is Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
“Complex PTSD comes in response to chronic traumatization over the course of months or, more often, years. This can include emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuses, domestic violence, living in a war zone, being held captive, human trafficking, and other organized rings of abuse, and more. While there are exceptional circumstances where adults develop C-PTSD, it is most often seen in those whose trauma occurred in childhood”.