Most people are familiar with PTSD flashbacks — the kind we associate with combat veterans who are haunted by a war memory. With Chronic PTSD (CPTSD), we may have “emotional flashbacks” — mood states from childhood that are disconnected from present day events, though we don’t always know it. If you’d like to learn …
Even though the abuse and neglect we endured in childhood is long over, the lingering effects can leave us depressed, anxious, negative and disempowered — sometimes there’s not even a reason! For many of us, talking to someone about it doesn’t help (even if you have someone who listens). But there are simple things you …
How to FEEL HAPPIER When Childhood PTSD is Holding You Down Read More »
Official diagnosis with Complex PTSD is a “hypothetical and experimental diagnosis” that for now, is lumped in with standard PTSD. But what’s the difference? And (as many of you have asked) why do I keep referring to the effects of abuse and neglect in childhood as “Childhood PTSD?” Is that real? In this I explain …
CPTSD, PTSD, Childhood PTSD and ACEs: What’s the Difference? Read More »
For me, one of the biggest burdens of my past was in my relationship to anger. When I was a kid, the adults in my life went WAY out of control with their anger. I grew up watching my dad rage at my mom, and my mom berate my dad. The two of them would …
Childhood PTSD and ANGER: Is it Ever a GOOD Thing? Read More »
Abuse and neglect in childhood can leave a lifelong residue of guilt for things that were never our fault. This same fuzzy thinking can ALSO make us numb to the awareness that we HAVE actually hurt someone. This can make it painful to decide whether to stay connected — or cut off contact — with …
Childhood PTSD and The Guilty Feeling: When Is It Real? Read More »
For a lot of people with Childhood PTSD, the work we do to HEAL traumatic memories can become so consuming that we come to think of ourselves — to the exclusion of other parts of our identity — as traumatized people. This can be depressing and limiting, and it doesn’t have to be this way. …
For a lot of people with Childhood PTSD, talking about traumatic memories can make symptoms worse — worse than if we were to do nothing at all. Yet talking about the past is the default mode of therapy for virtually everyone who is depressed, anxious or troubled about the past. It’s true that talking can …
To Heal Childhood Abuse and Neglect: Talk Less. Write More. Read More »
To heal from Childhood PTSD, it’s crucial to understand the role of dysregulation, which is the underlying problem that most conventional treatments have never really repaired or understood. Why I say Childhood PTSD, I mean the physical, neurological, emotional and behavioral effects on adults who had trauma as a child — abuse, neglect, exposure to …
Last year was the best year of my life. For one thing, I finally lost the extra weight I’d been carrying — about 40 pounds. I was (and am) thrilled to be back in a right-sized body. I’m happy about how I look when I try on clothes, and about how I feel when I …
Does Growing Up With Trauma in the House Make You Overweight? Read More »
OK, I have to start with a story. When I was nine years old my mom remarried and we moved 900 miles away from my hometown, Berkeley — away from my friends, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and (heartbreakingly) my father, who loved the hell out of me and my younger sister. He had fought my …
Is Trauma From Your Childhood ACTUALLY Making You Sick? Read More »
