by Esme Johnson | Dec 6, 2019 | CPTSD Poetry, CPTSD Survivor Stories
For So Long…A Thank You, to the compassionate witnesses that caught me just in time. (trigger warning)thank you, t For so long, a tortuous lifetime no doubt, Trapped in a medieval pinball machine No rubber bumper obstacles to bounce between. Instead, an...
by Shirley Davis | Dec 4, 2019 | CPTSD Research, Family Estrangement
All families have their squabbles and days when one member might not speak to another. However, there is one type of painful situation where the communication between family members stops; this is family estrangement. Often, family estrangement occurs when an adult...
by Verity Wolfe | Dec 2, 2019 | Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Emotional Flashbacks, Healing from Toxic Shame
Throughout my EMDR therapy journey, I’ve come to realize that all of our incarnations and former selves still live on within us, and the way that we treat/think/talk about them still affects them. If it affects them, it also affects us. Today I worked on the...
by Shirley Davis | Nov 29, 2019 | CPTSD and PTSD
In the month of November, we have concentrated on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and how they are formed, plus how they impact the lives of those who are diagnosed with them. We’ve seen how both diagnoses differ, who is...
by Shirley Davis | Nov 25, 2019 | CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, CPTSD Research
Most people know that some Veterans returning home from overseas where they served under combat conditions are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, did you know that PTSD can also affect those who have never served in the military? This site...
by Hannah Leigh | Nov 22, 2019 | Attachment Trauma, Trauma-Informed
Often, those with CPTSD were raised in homes with some kind of abuse, neglect, or other form of trauma. Unfortunately, this makes us primed up to get into similarly abusive situations as adults. Our nervous systems are already wired to respond to the up-down cycle of...
by Charity Koltes | Nov 20, 2019 | CPTSD Survivor Stories
There is nothing like a little upheaval to make things “get real” quickly. A little stirring of the pot brings up some of the muck lurking on the bottom, and suddenly, what you thought was calm and clear becomes dark and a little scary. When all is calm, you’re...
by Shirley Davis | Nov 18, 2019 | CPTSD, CPTSD Research, Men's Mental Health
Almost from day one, boys born into modern society are bombarded with the idea that they are different from females. Not that females are not made to feel odd about themselves, but boys have it much harder in many ways. We give boys guns, cars, fire engines, and other...
by Lisa Romano | Nov 13, 2019 | CPTSD, Guest Contributor, Healing Codependency, Healing from Toxic Shame
There is no healing without recognition of that which needs to be healed. Someone who has clogged arteries cannot heal those clogged arteries if they are unaware they have clogged arteries. To heal mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, or cognitively first...
by Shirley Davis | Nov 11, 2019 | CPTSD and PTSD, CPTSD Research
Human brains are hardwired to react viscerally to traumatic events. They then store those emotions in our central nervous, so that when we feel and experience similar future events, we will be alerted to new potential dangers. Emotional flashbacks, experienced by...
