by Shirley Davis | Mar 13, 2023 | CPTSD and PTSD, Self Care, Self-Acceptance
In this series on core beliefs, we are discussing how these self-imposed and self-defining thought patterns can either help or hinder you and your life. Because of childhood maltreatment, many survivors are left struggling to find who they are and struggling with many...
by Sunny Lynn, OMC | Mar 10, 2023 | Abandonment and CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor
Surviving While Trying to Thrive: Life with CPTSD (as published in The Friday Edition of HeartBalm Healing at https://heartbalm.substack.com) “Surviving while f*cking trying to thrive” was the initial title for this piece but it is a better explicit beginning...
by Cyndi Bennett | Mar 9, 2023 | ADHD, Complex PTSD Healing, Occupational Mental Health & CPTSD, Post Traumatic Growth, Workplace Trauma
When I talk to trauma survivors about their experiences in the workplace, I often sense that they are more interested in changing their work environment than in changing themselves. This might seem like a bit of tough love, but changing your experiences in the...
by Sylvie Rouhani | Mar 8, 2023 | ACEs, Complex PTSD Healing, Guest Contributor, Sexual Abuse
The recent news of David Carrick’s arrest sheds light on why it is so difficult for victims and survivors of violence and rape to disclose abuse. We are encouraged to call the Police but, very often, we aren’t believed or heard, even worse: some of us...
by Shigeko Ito | Mar 7, 2023 | ACEs, Anxiety, Attachment Trauma, CPTSD, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Generational Trauma, Guest Contributor
Growing up in Japan with a workaholic surgeon father, an often-absent socialite mother, and two older brothers who were seldom around, I was mostly raised by a revolving door of caregivers. This unstable home environment likely made me a melancholic, anxious child...
by Elizabeth Woods | Mar 7, 2023 | CPTSD and PTSD, Emotional Wellness, Family Estrangement, Grief, Guest Contributor
My name is Elizabeth and I am a survivor of CSA and horrific trauma. Abuse and fear are all I can remember from my childhood. I was a sex toy, loaned out for the pleasure of my so-called father’s and his pedophile friends’ enjoyment from his sports club. I was...
by Shirley Davis | Mar 6, 2023 | CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Emotional Wellness
All of us have core beliefs that we hold about ourselves. These beliefs shape who we fundamentally are and how we behave. This article, the first in this series, will focus on negative core beliefs, what they are, and how they affect our lives. What are Core Beliefs?...
by Madelon Wise | Mar 3, 2023 | ACEs, CPTSD, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Family Estrangement, Grief, Guest Contributor
Mom died in July 1960 at the age of 42 when I was 9 years old. My father remarried a year later. They said that it was a heart attack. Later in life, my oldest brother, Mike, and I would speculate for hours on end over glasses of wine about whether she had taken her...
by Cyndi Bennett | Mar 2, 2023 | Building Resilience in Healing, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Emotional Flashbacks, Guest Contributor, Life Management Skills, Occupational Mental Health & CPTSD, Symptoms of CPTSD, Trauma, Triggers, Workplace Trauma
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash One of the defining characteristics of CPTSD is severe and persistent problems in affect regulation. In my first article, I wrote, “Affect regulation, sometimes called emotional dysregulation, relates to having strongly felt...
by Elizabeth Woods | Mar 1, 2023 | CPTSD and Inner Child Work, CPTSD and PTSD, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor
A child that has suffered trauma and abuse in one form or other has had to adapt to the stressors and hurt. It doesn’t matter if the abuse was emotional, physical, or sexual, that child has been damaged in his or her development. In an abusive environment, a...
