by Alice Kenny | Jan 13, 2021 | Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor
Once when I was in my early twenties, I confronted my mother. I matter-of-factly said, “You know, Mom, you beat me. You beat me a lot.” She replied, “I don’t remember that.” “Well, you did,” I pressed. “Maybe I slapped you once or twice.” So, that was her concession....
by Rebekah Brown | Jan 6, 2021 | Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD and Inner Child Work, CPTSD and Narcissistic Abuse, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Emotional Wellness
I had looked forward all week to the Mary Kay Cosmetics party my mother was hosting. Too little to wear make-up, I certainly wasn’t too small to be interested. I had looked at every picture in the Mary Kay catalog and dreamed of the day when I could get my hands on...
by J Bradley O | Dec 30, 2020 | ACEs, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Depression, Emotional Wellness, Feeling Good Enough, Men's Mental Health, Mindfulness
Though I don’t like to think about it, I sometimes wonder how I went from enthusiastically running a service business that doubled every year from word of mouth alone to homeless, struggling not so proudly just to get by. It was a long, slow decline. Overall, it took...
by Alice Kenny | Dec 4, 2020 | ACEs, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Eating Disorders and CPTSD, Guest Contributor, The Brain and CPTSD
(The article below is an excerpt from my book, Crazy Was All I Ever Knew: The Impact of Maternal Mental Illness on Kids. I have used a pseudonym to protect the privacy of family members.) Research shows that many children who experience adversity are amazingly...
by Alice Kenny | Nov 27, 2020 | ACEs, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Eating Disorders and CPTSD, Guest Contributor
Most kids of parents with a mental illness experience childhood differently and less innocently than other children as they deal with their often chaotic home lives and navigate their worlds. If you are the son or daughter of a parent with a mental illness, and you...
by Jess | Nov 4, 2020 | CPTSD, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Guest Contributor, Hypervigilance
I have to admit, I’ve been having a rough time in one regard lately. Which is hard to believe considering all the ways this Complex Trauma journey complicates my mental and external worlds. I’m not feeling emotionally-off balance or down and out… but I am feeling...