Author Archives: Shay Seaborne, CPTSD
Nothing Left to Lose: How I Became Free Enough to Tell the Truth
I became an activist and artist because I was stripped of almost everything: health, stability, belonging, and safety. I had nothing left to lose. I had worked so hard to do well in this toxic culture. I tried to go … Continue reading
Posted in Activism
Tagged accountability, CPTSD, justice, medical abuse, psychiatric abuse, PTSD, Trauma, trauma recovery
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The DSM Misses the Mark: IPNB Offers a Humane and Scientific Understanding of Mental Health
Some trauma experts have said that if the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) acknowledged trauma, it would be a very thin volume because virtually everything else would fall beneath it. But from an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health, Psychiatry
Tagged Behavioral Health, DSM, illness, IPNB, Mental Health, mental illness industry, Nervous System, pathologizing, psychiatry, Psychology, recovery, Trauma, wellbeing
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When Your Partner Cannot or Refuses to Understand Trauma
One of the most destabilizing dynamics for a trauma-impacted nervous system is not the original harm. It is ongoing misattunement inside an intimate relationship. When a partner cannot or refuses to understand trauma, the problem is not a lack of … Continue reading
The Egregious Falsehood of “Post-Traumatic Growth”
People sometimes tell me I am experiencing “post-traumatic growth.” They say it like it’s a compliment, and I should feel encouraged. As if this is the gold at the end of seven years of fighting for my life. That’s a … Continue reading
Why I Am Skeptical of EMDR For Trauma Recovery
From an Interpersonal Neurobiology perspective, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) isn’t about eye movements or “reprogramming.” It’s a relational, neurophysiological process that uses bilateral stimulation as a way to engage both hemispheres of the brain while the person accesses … Continue reading
Trauma and the Anti-Human System: Why Psychiatric ‘Care’ Fails
A pain specialist referred me to the Johns Hopkins Hospital Pain Treatment Program (PTP) because it is supposed to be one of the top hospitals in the country for pain. When you’re living inside a body that’s been pushed past … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Psychiatry
Tagged abuse, Hopkins, Johns Hopkins, lions, medications, pain, pain treatment, psych medications, psychiatric hospital, psychiatry
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The Gilded Age Values of the Modern Mental Illness Industry
The dominant culture continues to enforce many of the values of the Gilded Age, especially those related to economic inequality, individual responsibility, and the criminalization of marginalized groups. While there have been some advances in social justice, the structures of … Continue reading
Posted in IPNB of Hierarchy, Mental Health
Tagged Behavioral Health, Guilded Age, hirarchy, industrialists, Mental Health, mental illness, status quo
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The Madness I Lived, the Meaning I Made: A Cohesive Narrative For an Extreme Life
Creating a cohesive narrative of one’s life is one of the most powerful ways to make sense of what we’ve been through. It allows us to see patterns, understand our survival strategies, and reclaim a sense of agency in a … Continue reading
Posted in PTSD
Tagged abuse, clarity, cohesive narrative, narrative, PTSD, resistance, story
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When Healthcare Feels Dangerous: How Practitioners Shape Our Capacity to Heal
When I tell a practitioner that I’m not doing well, and they dismiss or minimize what I say–what I share of my lived experience–it makes everything worse. It increases my sense of unsafety. It pushes me even further onto Red … Continue reading
Posted in Healthcare
Tagged attune, attunement, compassion, doctors, healthcare, healthcare practitioners, IPNB, relationship, witnessing
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An Open Letter to ChristianaCare Patient and Family Relations
To Denise, Charlie, Kellie, Manasi, and Jennifer of ChristianaCare Patient and Family Relations: Since ChristianaCare banned me from contacting any of its employees because I won’t stop talking about the gynecologist who performed medicalized Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on me, … Continue reading