by Rebekah Brown | Dec 16, 2024 | Anxiety, CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Holidays, Pain, Surviving the Holidays
***TRIGGER WARNING – The following article discusses suicidal ideation and could be triggering. *** I opened the top of my prescription bottle and looked inside. There were only three little, round pills left. Xanax was more valuable to me than gold. I was...
by Rebekah Brown | Dec 11, 2024 | CPTSD, Guest Contributor, Holiday Stress, Holidays
~Stepping Out of the Hopelessness Wait a minute, weren’t Thanksgiving and Christmas just last week? Here they come again. Celebration doesn’t mix well with trauma. Everyone talks about the busyness of the season as a source of stress, but for survivors of childhood...
by Kechi Mourer | Dec 6, 2024 | CPTSD, Family Estrangement, Guest Contributor, Holidays
The holidays are an intense time of reflection for me. I used to have a big family—a big, loud, Hispanic family—we would gather for birthdays, holidays, and random Sunday dinners. My grandmother held the group together with love and community. Those days are long...
by Robyn Brickel | Feb 20, 2024 | CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Healthy Relationships, Holidays
2023 was the first year in over two decades that I haven’t sent holiday cards to colleagues from the office. It’s been a busy one; the office has transitioned to a new electronic health records system, I had COVID-19, and I’ve been without an assistant for months — so...
by Shirley Davis | Jan 2, 2024 | CPTSD, Holidays
Every year around this time, we all contemplate what our lives will be like in the new year. We set our expectations for ourselves with resolutions that may or may not be kept and hope for the best for ourselves and our families. What resolution have you set for...
by Shirley Davis | Dec 25, 2023 | Complex PTSD Healing, Emotional Wellness, Holiday Stress, Holidays
Christmas and other holidays are upon us. However, with all the holiday cheer and purchasing of presents, there also comes, for many people, a sense of dread. Some people have families of origin that are toxic, and others have no one at all. This article focuses on...