Trauma Effects, PTSD

For survivors of childhood abuse, there are both internal and external barriers to getting help (therapy, bodywork, medical care, etc.) with their healing process. Neglect and abuse cause invisible losses, skills and experiences that simply did not happen. For example, a bodily sense of safety from being tended and held with gentle hands. A deep… Read More

A heavy reluctance to get up in the morning. A weight presses down all day, makes it hard to move, squeezes the joy out of everything. Voices inside say, “Worthless. Shameful. Failure.” Tears, sadness, grief, despair. Emptiness. Hopelessness. A common narrative says that depression is caused by a malfunction of the body and brain, leading… Read More

Some anniversaries are neutral. “Oh, that happened five years ago.” Some feel like an accomplishment. “Wow, I’ve had this job for three years already.” And then there are the ones that feel terrible. Trauma anniversaries might bring more abundant flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms. Anniversaries of loss might bring a resurgence of grief. We might… Read More

The ACE Study looks at the correlation between ACEs, or Adverse Childhood Experiences, and health. Between 1995 and 1997, 17,000 middle-income, college-educated adults with access to good health care in the US joined the study. They had a standardized physical exam and filled out a confidential survey with questions about childhood maltreatment and family dysfunction,… Read More

Infants are born with survival drives to learn about the world, and to bond with their carers. They absorb information with their whole bodies, gathering sensory impressions and learning basic skills of responsiveness and movement. Physical and relational lessons learned in infancy inform every moment of our lives. Infant nervous systems are not yet fully… Read More

A scent wafts by, or someone speaks certain words in a certain tone, or that time of year comes around again. Suddenly we are defiantly thirteen, or playfully four, or speechlessly afraid in situations where we would prefer to be competent adults. With awareness, we might be able to take back adult control, or we… Read More

Disturbed sleep is a major symptom of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Traumatized people struggle with the transitions into and out of sleep, as well as nightmares that can be traumatic in themselves. Lack of sleep further destabilizes the nervous system, making it harder to cope with and heal from other effects of trauma. Trying to… Read More

Emergencies are loud, intense, exciting, chaotic. They demand our full, focused attention. When survival is at stake, there is no time for rest, repair, or pause for thought. The body goes into debt for energy, sleep, and nutrients, planning to make it up after the emergency is over. Ongoing emergency The essence of Post-Traumatic Stress… Read More

Content Note: brief child rape example. Have you held a small child recently? Supported by trusted arms, small children rest with their whole weight, warmly present and relaxed. Over time, many of us lose the ability to relax into support, some gradually, some violently. During assault When a rapist commands, “Relax!” the assaulted child understands… Read More

Reading about sexual assault can be painful for survivors. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or dissociated, give yourself kind permission to take a break and do something you enjoy. This article describes effects of sexual assault, not assaults themselves. Responses to sexual assault range from severe trauma to shrugging it off. If you have… Read More