Tips for Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) Survivors on Social Media
It’s not a great habit. Every morning, I grab my phone and do a quick scan of social media. One of the first images I saw yesterday shook me to the core. A small girl, face redacted, is being exploited. She was about the same age as I was when things started happening...
I Feel so Empty in the Moment
I have spent years struggling in Schools, from elementary to middle school, high school, and finally, many, far too many years at two-year colleges. I have several degrees from those junior colleges, so I am not an ignoramus, nor am I an intellectual; yet I often sit...
When Dysregulation is not what First Appears: Differentiating BPD, CPTSD with Attachment Dysregulation, Trauma-Bonded Anxious Attachment, Chronic Pain Identity, and Long-Term Instability
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...
I Do… A Wedding Story: How I started my wedding day alone - and gained a new family.
Say “I do…” Three little letters, two little words. It’s the simplest part of the day. But there’s nothing simple about the things that will remain unsaid. I do means I do know I could be hurt. But I’m ready to be healed with you. It means I do want to try. Even...
The Journey of Recovery – Why Some Heal Faster: Uncovering the Factors Behind PTSD Recovery
Like many of you, dear readers, I have had certain experiences that led to CPTSD. At one point in my life, my CPTSD had become so overwhelming that I struggled to speak and eat normally, and there were times when I would stutter as a result. Before I got the right...
When A Voice Changes The Room: Trauma, Sound, and The Survival Skill No One Respects
Most people are taught to listen to words. Survivors listen to physics. They hear pitch, pace, volume, breath, the weight of a step in the hallway, the way a door closes, the length of a pause after their name. Those details are dismissed as “too sensitive” by people...
The Dance of Life
There she strolled, with a designed grace, one foot forward after the other, pushing, dispensing, oozing that life’s source, that vibrant something. Something spoken, wildly, emboldened to dare tell, to call out the imperative want and hunger that is human...
Speak Up or Be Misunderstood: How Communication Can Break Down Trauma Barriers
When was the last time you had a conversation with a real person, other than at work? Social skills help us to connect, communicate, and build stronger relationships with people. Face-to-face communication without smartphones happens less often than it should, as...