CPTSD and Pride Month
Repeated exposures to traumatic events. Events that overwhelm one’s sense of identity, capacity to comprehend what’s occurring, and force the body into a state of constant hypervigilance. Intrusive, repetitive, re-experiencing (memories, flashbacks,...
Befriending the Ache of Awakening From Survival
Taking the Edge Off Sadness There can be a sadness that emerges when we begin to truly see, when we wake up to the realization that we have lived much of our lives in survival stress. It is the grief of recognizing that our choices, our relationships, our very sense...
My Best Friend in the Psych Ward
TRIGGER WARNING: Writer’s Note: This post contains references to suicidal ideation, sexual assault, and psychiatric ward experiences. Names have been changed. Five words got me tied up on a stretcher in the back of this ambulance. Five words, starting with “I want”...
An Open Heart Doesn’t Always Mean a Broken Heart
Vulnerability and Trust Can Be the Hardest Work We’ll Ever Do My therapist recently had the audacity to applaud my progress, reminding me that I’m “the one doing all the work.” A part of me internally screamed about how much I hated it when she said that. For the...