by Heidi Fischer | Mar 15, 2023 | CPTSD, Guest Contributor, Trauma-Informed, Triggers
***Trigger warning*** This guest post discusses specific, explicit, aspects of a personal trauma story. Please be kind to yourself as you read. A letter to the doctor who almost killed me: There I sat, in a small room, and in walked you, the doctor. I’d shown up to...
by Madelon Wise | Mar 14, 2023 | CPTSD Survivor Stories, Grief, Guest Contributor, Relationships, Toxic Relationships
We were newlyweds living in Missoula, Montana. I loved the funky town. But the best part of being there was that it was 1,300 miles away from Waterloo, Iowa, where Tom’s parents lived, and 862 miles from Greeley, Colorado, where mine lived. I didn’t know much, but I...
by Sunny Lynn, OMC | Mar 10, 2023 | Abandonment and CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor
Surviving While Trying to Thrive: Life with CPTSD (as published in The Friday Edition of HeartBalm Healing at https://heartbalm.substack.com) “Surviving while f*cking trying to thrive” was the initial title for this piece but it is a better explicit beginning...
by Sylvie Rouhani | Mar 8, 2023 | ACEs, Complex PTSD Healing, Guest Contributor, Sexual Abuse
The recent news of David Carrick’s arrest sheds light on why it is so difficult for victims and survivors of violence and rape to disclose abuse. We are encouraged to call the Police but, very often, we aren’t believed or heard, even worse: some of us...
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 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...
