Author Archives: Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

About Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Former tall ship sailor turned trauma awareness activist-artist Shay Seaborne, CPTSD has studied the neurobiology of fear / trauma /PTSD since 2015. She writes, speaks, teaches, and makes art to convey her experiences as well as her understanding of the neurobiology of fear, trauma theory, and principles of trauma recovery. A native of Northern Virginia, Shay settled in Delaware to sail KALMAR NYCKEL, the state’s tall ship. She wishes everyone could recognize PTSD is not a mental health problem, but a neurophysiological condition rooted in dysregulation, our mainstream culture is neuro-negative, and we need to understand we can heal ourselves and each other through awareness, understanding, and safe connection.

Why Internet Doctors Push Habits Instead of Recognizing Conditions

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Doctors on the Internet stay at the level of individual behavior because their authority holds and the solutions stay marketable. Medical social media influencers focus largely on self-management: Scroll less, eat better, try harder, and regulate yourself under conditions that … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged doctors, healthcare, Internet doctors, IPNB, pills, procedures, product promotion, protocols, Relational Neuroscience, self-management, selling, showmanship | Leave a comment

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for chronic pain?

Posted on May 13, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Chronic pain is not maintained by faulty thoughts or unwillingness to accept experience. It is the result of a nervous system living under ongoing threat, overload, and unmet needs. When pain is chronic, the body is already doing everything it … Continue reading →

Posted in pain | Tagged ACT, CBT, cognitive therapy, pain | Leave a comment

Profiteers of Human Misery: the Corporate Greed Behind Unchecked Psychiatric Abuse

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

In 2016, BuzzFeed published an investigative report that exposed widespread abuse within the psychiatric industry, specifically revealing Universal Health Services (UHS), one of the largest operators of behavioral health facilities in the U.S. The report uncovered disturbing practices, particularly the … Continue reading →

Posted in Mental Health | Tagged Behavioral Health, BuzzFeed, DOJ, fraudulent billing, interpersonal neurobiology, IPNB, Mental Health, patient abuse, psychiatric abuse, psychiatry, psyciatric hospital, UHS, Universal Health Services | Leave a comment

The 17-Gun Salute That Shattered Me

Posted on May 8, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Five years ago, during a year near death, one of the most intense stressors wasn’t the medical neglect or the endless fight for even minimal care. It was sound. The moment that shattered me was the 17–gun salute at my … Continue reading →

Posted in Neurobiology, Trauma | Tagged audio-somatic Synesthesia, auditory issues, funeral, guns, hearing, hearing sensitivity, hyperacusis, safety, sound, sound sensitivity | Leave a comment

IPNB: Bucking the Culture That Keeps Us in Survival Mode

Posted on May 6, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Standard treatments do not address ongoing conditions. They try to change thoughts while the body is still organized around threat. From a Relational Neuroscience perspective, that is a mismatch. The system is responding accurately to the conditions under which it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged IPNB, Relational Neuroscience, structures, systems | Leave a comment

When the Body Sets the Pace: Trauma Integration Through Agency and Relationship

Posted on May 4, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

I had a remarkably powerful experience with my craniosacral practitioner after I had realized that my Moro Reflex flashbacks were also connected to the suffocation torture. It was the same posture–prone face up, arms wide, head back–and inability to breathe. … Continue reading →

Posted in Relationships, Trauma | Tagged craniosacral, craniosacral practitioner, holding space, implicit memory, recovery, safety, torture, trauma recovery, witnessing | Leave a comment

Why the Treatment Doesn’t Hold: The Truth About SGB for Complex PTSD

Posted on May 1, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

I’ve had 28 Stellate Ganglion Blocks (SGBs) for Complex PTSD, hypervigilance, quadrilateral Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, and other sympathetically driven conditions. These are symptoms of extreme central sensitization from a lifetime of environments adverse to my well-being, especially repeated sexualized … Continue reading →

Posted in SGB for PTSD | Tagged Nerve Block, Nervous System, SGB, SGB4PTSD, Stellate Ganglion Block, tools | Leave a comment

What Happened to Empathy in Medicine?

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Empathy in healthcare is strongly shaped by the conditions practitioners work under and the training culture that forms their habits of attention. Most medical education emphasizes hierarchy, speed, and diagnostic authority. Students learn early that their role is to control … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Leave a comment

Seeing the Pattern Changes Your Options: Contempt, Power, and the Environment

Posted on April 27, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Contempt is not just a tone or a facial expression. It is a way of organizing a relationship around power. It places one person above and the other below, and it does it in a way that shuts down curiosity, … Continue reading →

Posted in Mental Health | Leave a comment

Complex PTSD as Sensitization to Cues of Danger

Posted on April 24, 2026 by Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

People sometimes wonder why I react so easily. Why a tone shift, pause, or subtle power move can instantly affect my body. They want to know why I notice things others miss and why my system seems to live so … Continue reading →