by Rebekah Brown | May 25, 2023 | Attachment Trauma, Complex PTSD Healing, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor, Healing Codependency, Healing from Toxic Shame, Self-Acceptance, Sexual Abuse
***TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses abuse. *** What is Enmeshment? Enmeshment describes a relationship pattern between two people or a group of people in which personal boundaries are unclear. It is a hallmark of dysfunctional families and affects...
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 Madelon Wise | Apr 12, 2023 | Addiction, Boundaries, CPTSD Survivor Stories, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor, Parental Alienation, Shame
I was here again in Colorado, staying in my stepsister’s depressing bedroom with the same intention as I had in 1968 when I returned to my parent’s home in an attempt to heal the never-ending rift between us. Dad worked as a pharmaceutical representative, and all of...
by Sylvie Rouhani | Mar 22, 2023 | CPTSD and PTSD, Emotional Wellness, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor
As a mother, there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing my daughter suffer. Last week, after spending a couple of days in my bed, not talking, not really moving either, she was curled up in a ball, sobbing her emotional pain out. I sat by her side, silent. I...
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 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...
