by Shirley Davis | Jun 5, 2023 | CPTSD, self trust, Self-Acceptance
Who are you? Do you know? Or does your past color your perception of who you are? Becoming more self-aware can aid you in learning to trust and love yourself. Sounds difficult? It is somewhat tricky, but it is necessary for living a healthy life. Those of us living...
by Caroline Rena | Jun 2, 2023 | CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Emotional Wellness, Guest Contributor, Highly Sensitive
What Have I Learned? I have been on my healing journey for over 30 years. Trauma and Complex PTSD have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have known for a long time that I am a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), with 26 out of the 27 traits listed on...
by Sunny Lynn, OMC | Jun 1, 2023 | Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, Guest Contributor
The Superpowers of Complex Trauma (as published in The Friday Edition of HeartBalm Healing at https://heartbalm.substack.com) Living with trauma has many facets and differing ways in which it forms and plays out in our lives. It can be a tightrope walk between trying...
by Destiny Mowadeng | May 31, 2023 | CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Living with Disabilities
“A half-truth is even more dangerous than a lie. A lie, you can detect at some stage, but half a truth is sure to mislead you”. I am infuriated with the pure ignorance of people, their unwillingness to learn or realize what they are believing and claim to know about...
by Elizabeth Woods | May 30, 2023 | Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Guest Contributor, Sexual Abuse, The Brain and CPTSD
TRIGGER WARNING – THIS POST DISCUSSES SEXUAL ABUSE My name is Elizabeth and I am a survivor of sexual abuse. I suffered the worst abuse during my first years if you can call any sexual abuse worse than any other. I think the fact that I was so young made the...
by Shirley Davis | May 29, 2023 | CPTSD, Rejection, Trauma-Informed
It hurts to be rejected. Whether it is a friend, a coworker, or someone you just met, we hate to be rejected. When the people rejecting us are one or both parents, we, as humans, react badly, forming mental health issues within our undeveloped brains. Rejection in...
by Sylvie Rouhani | May 26, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Brain Chemistry, CPTSD, CPTSD and Parenting, Guest Contributor, Mental Health Advocacy, Trauma-Informed
The impact of the environment a person grew up in and the environment they are living in now, as adults, is often discarded. The environment has a major impact on how a child’s brain will develop and on the behaviour they will display as grown-ups. This omission...
by Rebekah Brown | May 25, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor, Healing Codependency, Healing from Toxic Shame, Self-Acceptance, Sexual Abuse
***TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses abuse. *** What is Enmeshment? Enmeshment describes a relationship pattern between two people or a group of people in which personal boundaries are unclear. It is a hallmark of dysfunctional families and affects...
by LWK | May 24, 2023 | Anxiety, Brain Chemistry, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor
High-functioning anxiety can be a royal pain in the posterior. You experience the usual symptoms: Excessive worrying Sense of impending doom Exhaustion Insomnia Social withdrawal Loss of appetite Impatience, irritability, and angry outbursts A horrendous fear of...
by Terry Baranski | May 23, 2023 | CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Mindfulness, Pain, Uncategorized
The CPTSD foundation’s website succinctly defines CPTSD as a term that “describes the results of ongoing, inescapable, relational trauma.” In this post I’ll delve into trauma, using a wider lens than is typical. I’ll differentiate between...
