by Gemma Jones | Dec 22, 2022 | CPTSD and PTSD, Generational Trauma, Guest Contributor, Holidays
As we approach Christmas and another new year, it dawns on me that it will be another year without my family. Even though I do not want them to be around me it still hurts. We are told to love our families no matter what, that ‘blood is thicker than water’ but that is...
by Elizabeth Woods | Dec 22, 2022 | CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Recovery
As survivors of abusive childhoods, we have all at some point suffered from survivor’s guilt. Some of us even feel a strong bond with our abusers, for others, those bonds are complicated and fragile. For weeks, months, or even years, we suffered under the hands...
by Rebekah Brown | Dec 21, 2022 | Guest Contributor, Holiday Stress, Holidays, Hope
“Peace on earth, goodwill to men” I have been a seeker of peace all my life. Not the kind that has to do with war, or being a peacemaker in desperate places. I have been a seeker of peace of heart. As a trauma survivor, peace of heart has been as elusive as...
by Elizabeth Marando | Dec 21, 2022 | Attachment Trauma, Boundaries, Codependency, Guest Contributor, Healing Self-Shame
Children are often raised to be emotional jesters or even emotional objects, but my upbringing represents an unconsidered scenario: being raised as a human stuffed animal. I never realized how harmful my upbringing was until I was nineteen years old and diagnosed with...
by Heidi Fischer | Dec 20, 2022 | CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Guest Contributor, Post Traumatic Growth, Self-Acceptance, Trauma
This article was originally published on The Mighty. Photos of Heidi and her friend Rachel from over the years, used with permission. Way back in the olden days of the early 2000s, I sat a friend down and let her know I needed to speak with her about something...
by Milena "Mila" Stankovic | Dec 20, 2022 | Guest Contributor, Pain, Parental Alienation, Toxic Relationships
Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is a term that was coined twenty years ago by Richard A. Gardner, the MD an American psychiatrist. Working with families primarily involved in custody struggles, he noticed a sort of brainwashing occurring at the hands of one...
by Rebekah Brown | Dec 19, 2022 | Healthy Relationships, Holiday Stress, Holidays, Surviving the Holidays
The Mother of all re-gifting stories I recently regifted a present. It was a journal someone had given me that I could not use. Another friend enjoyed journals, so instead of sending it to Goodwill, I regifted it. As I sat across from my friend, the gift bag...
by Shirley Davis | Dec 19, 2022 | CPTSD, Trauma
The word trauma has become a buzzword in today’s culture, with many choosing to use it to describe everything from a mildly bad experience with a possible significant other to a hung nail. Trauma describes life-altering events, and this article will discover with you...
by Milena "Mila" Stankovic | Dec 16, 2022 | Parental Alienation, Relationships
What Is TAR? Toxic Abusive Relationship (TAR) is one that makes you feel unsupported, misunderstood, demeaned, belittled, and makes you lose your own sense of identity. On a basic level, any relationship that makes you feel worse rather than better can become toxic....
by Jeff Spiteri | Dec 15, 2022 | Boundaries, Depression, Emotional Wellness, Feeling Good Enough, Guest Contributor, Hope, Post Traumatic Growth, PTSD, Recovery, Self Care, Suicide Prevention
My Friend Steve: I met my friend Steve in a park on the west side of Chicago in a rougher neighborhood at a homeless feeding. I was on the street at the time and passing through the city riding freight trains to the west coast of the United States. Steve was 17 and...
