by Alice Segell | Aug 5, 2026 | ACEs, Borderline Personality Disorder, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD and Inner Child Work, Family Estrangement, Going No Contact, Healthy Relationships, Isolation
I once dated a man with borderline personality disorder. At one point, he told me that it broke his heart to see what I was not, what I hadn’t become, how small my life was, how I had squandered my brains and looks. This unsolicited mourning of a fantastical me (a...
by Wendy Hoke | Jul 29, 2026 | Boundaries, Family Estrangement
Summer is coming, and the county fair will be a highlight as always. As a child, I enjoyed the Ferris wheel, the smell of kettle corn, and cinnamon buns. The Fun Zone delivered excitement with barkers calling us to games rigged just enough to keep us hooked –...
by Alice Segell | Apr 1, 2026 | CPTSD, Dissociation and CPTSD, Emotional Wellness, Ethics, Family Estrangement, Gaslighting, Going No Contact, Narcissistic Abuse
Christmas, or other types of family reunions, can be tricky in the best of families. For survivors of childhood abuse, trekking home for the holidays is nothing short of a draining and re-traumatising return to the scene of the crime. It’s an exercise in appeasement...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Feb 24, 2026 | CPTSD, CPTSD and Parenting, Family Estrangement, Parental Alienation, Parenting With Trauma, Relationships, Trauma-Informed
In the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse, a painful pattern often emerges: survivors direct blame toward nonoffending mothers. It sounds unfair because it often is. It also has a biological and developmental logic that does not care about fairness. Understanding...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Jan 15, 2026 | CPTSD, Estrangement, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor, Mental Health Professional
The recent Oprah clip ricocheting across X demonstrates something most people prefer to pretend doesn’t exist. A woman sits across from Oprah and says she hasn’t spoken to her entire family for a year and a half. No calls. No texts. Nothing. Oprah repeats it back to...
by Danica Alison | Jun 30, 2025 | Attachment Trauma, Boundaries, Building Resilience in Healing, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD, CPTSD and Inner Child Work, Emotional Wellness, Family Estrangement, Grief, Guest Contributor, Healthy Relationships, Hope, Life Management Skills, Post Traumatic Growth, Recovery, Relationships, Self Care, Silent Bystander Parents
There comes a point on the healing journey when the question doesn’t whisper. It roars. Do I tell my parents?Do they deserve to know what happened to me?Would they believe me?Would they hold it with care, or would it break me all over again? If you’re here, standing...
