Author Archives: Shay Seaborne, CPTSD
The Cost of “Positive Vibes Only”: How Denying Reality Shuts Down the Human System
The Cultural Demand to Stay Positive Harms Us Every day we’re told to “think happy thoughts,” to “focus on the good,” to keep our “vibration high.” It’s the cultural chant of a society terrified of pain and truth, and addicted … Continue reading
Posted in Neurobiology
Tagged adaptation, awe, congruence, culture, Empathy, numbness, positive vibes only, survival adaptations
Leave a comment
Control Sold as Awakening: An Interpersonal Neurobiology Look at Byron Katie’s “The Work”
Byron Katie’s teachings are built around four questions that invite people to challenge their thoughts, with “Is it true?” being the most famous. On the surface, these questions can sound compassionate and insightful. And sometimes, they can be helpful. A … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability
Tagged "The Work", Byron Katie, connection, disembodiment, dissociation, functional freeze, IPNB, safety, shame
Leave a comment
Truth-Telling is Refusing to Let the Story End the Way They Wrote It
Trauma recovery doesn’t come from “getting over it.” It emerges from changing your relationship with what happened. There are many ways to do this: through story, compassionate witnessing, individual work, and collective work. But a key way to reclaim your … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability
Tagged abuse, ChristianaCare, painting, recovery, Rockford Center for Behavioral Health, speaking, survival, systemic abuse, truth, writing
Leave a comment
Dependency is Okay When it’s a Prescription
The mental illness industry is obsessed with telling people not to become dependent on anything: don’t rely on substances, don’t lean on coping tools too much, don’t build habits that might create “addiction.” But then, the very same industry hands … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged anti-depressants, anxiety, Behavioral Health, Cymbalta, dependency, discontinuation syndrome, interpersonal neurobiology, IPNB, Lexapro, medical marijuana, Mental Health, MMJ, polypharmacy, psych meds, psychiatry, Psychology, psychotropic medications, withdrawal
4 Comments
Clinical Harm: An IPNB Perspective on the Therapist’s Agenda
When a therapist repeatedly interrupts, dismisses a client’s distressing experiences, or imposes their own agenda, it can have significant negative effects on the client’s nervous system, often triggering a state of dysregulation. Here’s what happens from an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged agenda, dysregulation, Efforting, fight, flight, freeze, relationships, shame, therapist, therapy, Trauma, trust
Leave a comment
A Collective Roar: The Public Demand For the Epstein Files
The demand to expose the Epstein files has turned into a collective roar. People across political lines, class lines, and belief systems want the truth. That shows how deep this runs. Sexualized violence against children hits something primal in us. … Continue reading
Latching Onto Safety: Why Dogma is Such a Big Bone
Stressed people, feeling unsafe, threatened, or disconnected, will gravitate toward anything that offers even a small sense of relief or belonging, even if it’s harmful or misleading; it’s better than nothing. From an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) view, this is an … Continue reading
When Fear Calls Itself Freedom: How HSLDA Hurts Homeschoolers
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has spent decades promoting itself as the protector of homeschooling families, but its version of “protection” comes at a cost. Their style of leadership is rooted in fear, hierarchy, and control, and it … Continue reading
Posted in Community
Tagged Community, connection, fear, Homeschool Legal Defense Association, homeschoolers, homeschooling, HSLDA, IPNB, Prince WIlliam County, safety, Victory, Virginia
Leave a comment
The Brilliance of Being Free: What the DuPonts Can Teach Us About Inequality
I recently took a tour of the Nemours Estate, and from the very first room, the docents kept repeating the same line: “The DuPonts were brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.” The first time they said it, they were talking about AI DuPont … Continue reading
Posted in IPNB of Hierarchy
Tagged brilliance, brilliant, DuPont, environment, estate, genius, Inequality, mansion, Nemours, privilege, wealth
Leave a comment
The DSM is Bunk: 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