by Rebekah Brown | May 3, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Boundaries, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Family Estrangement, Gaslighting, Guest Contributor, Relationships, Trauma
This is the sixth and last installment in a series of blogs on relationship patterns found in dysfunctional families. We have seen how abusive families put members in roles and the way abusers dodge responsibility by blaming others and forcing children to become...
by Rebekah Brown | Mar 29, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Boundaries, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, Generational Trauma, Guest Contributor, Healing from Toxic Shame, Living with Disabilities, Parental Alienation, Toxic Relationships, Trauma
When you look at patterns within dysfunctional family systems, without fail, you will find the hallmark of a false narrative. The engine of the family system runs on untruths, half-truths, and constructed reality. And it doesn’t start where your story begins....
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 Heidi Fischer | Feb 10, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Complex PTSD Healing, Emotional Wellness, Guest Contributor, Triggers
“Matilda the Musical” has burst onto the Netflix scene, and you my friend decided to give it a go. I don’t blame you! I put it on too because as a child of the 80’s I loved the book and the 1996 movie version! Perhaps you also remember it from way back then or just...
by Sunny Lynn, OMC | Feb 7, 2023 | Abandonment and CPTSD, Attachment Trauma, Dissociation and CPTSD, Emotional Flashbacks
Lost in the Woods: An Inside Look at the Fractured Experience of Trauma (as published in The Friday Edition of HeartBalm Healing at https://heartbalm.substack.com) INTRODUCTION: In the previous Friday Editon, I wrote about The Downward Spiral of Flashbacks &...
by Madelon Wise | Jan 25, 2023 | ACEs, Attachment Trauma, Guest Contributor
The long, low white 4-bedroom house crouched in wait on a big corner lot shaded by silver maple trees. I can still see the kitchen, the dining room, my bedroom, and the patio outside where I spent so much time. I can picture the television and its rabbit ears in the...