Are you someone who has experienced more than your fair share of shame in your life? Do you want to come out from underneath the cloud of this unpleasant emotion as soon as possible? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then this week’s offering is for you!
Read moreWhat is Trauma-Informed Care?
Have you heard the term ‘trauma-informed care,’ and wondered just what this involves? Do you have trauma and wonder if those who provide health or educational care about whether they are attentive to what’s going on with you? If so, then this blog post is a good one to read.
Read moreTrauma Dumping and 4 Ways to Cope With It
Do you ever notice getting strange or unusual reactions from your friends or family when you tell them about difficult experiences you’ve had? Do you find that you get triggered when listening to friends or family talk about their difficult experiences and not know how to handle it? If you answered yes to either of these two questions, then you may be engaging in trauma dumping or may be a victim of it without knowing it - - and please read on.
Read moreHow Vicarious Trauma Can Affect You
Do you ever wonder why you might be feeling some degree of mental distress, anxiety, and or depression because of your relationship to a partner or friend? Do you also experience some degree of social awkwardness, generalized stress, or social isolation as a result of your interactions with this or other persons in your social sphere? If so, you may be suffering from something known as vicarious trauma.
Read moreThe Long Shadow of Intergenerational Trauma
Do you sometimes wonder why you feel anxious despite not having anything to feel anxious about? Do you wonder how you could be struggling so much in your adult life despite having had a “normal“ childhood? If you answered yes to either of these questions you may suffer from what is known as intergenerational trauma, so please read on.
Read moreWhat is the Role of the Amygdala in PTSD?
Do you wonder what part of your brain gets triggered during trauma or PTSD? Do you feel like there’s some switch that gets flipped that causes you to react the way you do when you are traumatized? All evidence points to the amygdala, and being aware of the part it plays in trauma is of utmost importance.
Read moreThe Impact of Victim-Blaming on Sexual Assault Survivors
Do you find yourself blaming yourself if you’ve been a victim of sexual assault in the past? Did you ever experience blame from others for somehow experiencing a sexual assault? Do you walk around with a sense of shame and guilt for having gone through a sexual assault? If so, then you may suffer from victim-blaming and this week’s offering is for you.
Read moreWhat is the Connection Between Trauma and Anxiety?
Do you find yourself sometimes feeling anxious and worried for no apparent reason? Do you have a history of childhood trauma, abuse, and/or neglect? Maybe you just didn’t feel like you could go to your parents for emotional support much or all of your childhood. If you identified positively with any of the above then there is definitely a connection between anxiety and trauma for you.
Read moreThe Difficulty with Dissociation
Do you ever find yourself being “zoned out“ and then realize you weren’t paying attention to what was happening or what someone was saying at any given time? Do you ever find that you seem to be taken over by some part of you that you never consciously wanted to come out? if you answered yes to either of these questions, then you do experience some degree of dissociation, and this week’s blog post is for you.
Read more5 Things That Interfere with Feeling Grateful
Are you someone who’s sometimes had a thought “I should be grateful for that,“ but that never seems to help? Have you had to endure so much emotional strife that gratitude seems like a far-off concept? If you answered yes to either of these two questions, then this blog post is for you!
Read more5 Physical Activities That Can Help Heal Trauma
Do you struggle with trauma and find it difficult to motivate yourself to be physically active? Do you often find yourself sitting ruminating or dwelling on past abuse or neglect and wonder why you can’t break the cycle? The answer may lie in finding physical activities that can help you engage your body to help heal your mind.
Read moreThe Problem of Self-Loathing, and What To Do About It
Do you ever find yourself talking to yourself harshly or berating yourself? Do you wish that you could stop this and be able to treat yourself with more kindness? If you do, then, this week's blog is just for you, so read on.
Read moreThree Signs You’re Tied Up in a Trauma Bond
If you’ve ever been a victim of abuse by a loved one, you may feel unable to break away from this individual. You may even try to tell yourself that you’re not being abused, or that it’s not even that bad. Regardless, you would do well to read this week's blog on the topic.
Read moreWhat Hollywood Gets Wrong About Trauma
Have you ever watched a movie or TV show that has trauma in it, and wondered if it’s something that only happens to people who were in the military or have experienced sexual assault? The truth is that many other people suffer from trauma, and it most often goes undetected. I’ll explain why in the space below.
Read moreGabor Mate Debunks Normality
Have you tended to compare yourself negatively to others because of a traumatic childhood or other aspects of yourself you view negatively? Do you ever wonder who the ‘normal’ people are in the world you are supposed to be more like? I have some good news for you if you answered ‘yes’ to either of these questions and I also review Gabor Mate’s new book, The Myth of Normal below.
Read moreThe ADHD Trauma Connection
Do you have ADHD and wonder how you got it? Do you look at your family that you grew up with and wonder was there something that happened that could have contributed to you developing attention deficit issues? I will attempt to answer both these questions in this week's blog post, so read on.
Dealing with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future
Are the holidays a time you usually dread and look forward to ending as soon as possible? Do your memories of holidays in the past consist of ones that involve disappointment and heartache? Do you often feel a letdown when the holidays are over as well? If you answered yes to most or all of these questions, then do read on because this week’s post is for you!
Read moreThe Often Ignored Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Eating Disorders
Do you tend to eat in order to self-soothe? If you abstain from eating, does this tend to make you feel something positive you wouldn’t otherwise feel? Do you sometimes feel like you are becoming your parent(s) in terms of how you fit they’re pattern of eating, like you can see them eating in your mind’s eye when you are two? If you answered yes to any of these questions you may have childhood trauma impacting your eating habits.
Read moreHow Image Transformation Therapy Helps You Be Like the Superhero Deadpool
If you’re a fan of Marvel Comics superheroes and movies, you probably know who Deadpool is. What you probably didn’t know is that you can have a superpower he doesn’t possess: the ability to heal your emotional traumas in an easy and direct manner. Read on to find out how.
Read moreIdentifying and Coping with Birth Trauma
Are you a new mother or father and struggle with being haunted by thoughts about the delivery of your child? Are you bothered by negative emotions related to these thoughts and find yourself reliving this in vivid detail? Do you feel like you ‘should’ be happy following the birth of your new child and feel tremendous guilt about not feeling this way? If you answered ‘yes’ to most or all of these questions you may suffer from birth trauma.
Read more