Trauma-Informed Blog
New content weekly! Survivor Stories, Research Articles, Poetry, and more written by clinicians, coaches, survivors, and mental health professionals.
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The Human Autonomic Nervous System and Emotional Flashbacks
Emotional flashbacks are troubling and often disabling events that cause a person to experience alarming and crippling bursts of strong emotions. Emotional flashbacks are experienced without the...
Death of an Abusive Parent
Before you gather up unsent letters, just consider how quickly life can change. How little you might understand the person who has scarred you. How little they probably understand themselves.
The Email My Ex-Therapist Never Sent.
To those who have ever been harmed in therapy, I am sorry. To those who continue to ruminate over what happened and are unable to move past it, I can relate. We may never receive the answer we...
To Forgive or Not to Forgive.
Once when I was in my early twenties, I confronted my mother. I matter-of-factly said, “You know, Mom, you beat me. You beat me a lot.” She replied, “I don’t remember that.” “Well, you did,” I...
Override the System
I sat with several other children in the dark, dank little basement of the church where my father was pastor. Karen Wray, my Sunday School teacher, pointed to the classic drawing of Jesus...
Managing Emotional Flashbacks
In our first piece, we discussed the definition of emotional flashbacks and how they change survivors by interrupting their daily lives. This article will attempt to explore what it is like to...
Break the Cycle of Negative Beliefs without Strife, Struggle, or Stress.
Easily one of the greatest impediments to recovery is nagging, negative beliefs. Even the most optimistic struggle on occasion. However, I’ve discovered three ways to break the grip of negative...
How I Found “Home” within Myself.
Though I wish we could, we don’t get to pick the families we are born into. We do, though, one day get to pick those who raise us. My life may not be typical, but it’s beautiful. I haven’t been...
Hiding In Plain Sight
I had looked forward all week to the Mary Kay Cosmetics party my mother was hosting. Too little to wear make-up, I certainly wasn’t too small to be interested. I had looked at every picture in...
Non-judgmental Self-Acceptance as a Shame-Shifter. Rivka A. Edery, Psy.D. (Candidate), M.S.W., L.C.S.W.
Based on the extensive research and data available, psychologists consider that shame cultivates the need for approval from others. Shame can result when a person senses, or experiences, that someone disapproves of them or something about them. Shame also can result when a person actually did something shameful, like doing harm or damage to a person, their property, or to animals. A person can also experience shame as an adult when something happens that they have little or no control over (Ungvarsky, 2019).
Emotional Flashbacks
You walk into your living room after getting out of bed in the morning feeling apprehensive and afraid, but there is nothing to be afraid of that you can observe. An overwhelming sense that...
Dear Sensitive One: Your Sensitivity is not a Curse.
Good evening. I see you’re crying again. Don’t worry about the sheets. I’ll wash them tomorrow. What do you need? Can I hold your hand? You don’t want to be touched? It’s okay. I understand. You...
What is Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
“Complex PTSD comes in response to chronic traumatization over the course of months or, more often, years. This can include emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuses, domestic violence, living in a war zone, being held captive, human trafficking, and other organized rings of abuse, and more. While there are exceptional circumstances where adults develop C-PTSD, it is most often seen in those whose trauma occurred in childhood”.
