Author Archives: Shay Seaborne, CPTSD
The Question Psychiatry Cannot Answer: If Depression Is a Chemical Imbalance, What Threw It Off?
Psychiatry long claimed there’s a “chemical imbalance,” in mental illness, but it never answers the obvious questions: if it’s chemical, what threw it off? Why now? Why not at birth? And why does it so often follow trauma, neglect, chronic … Continue reading
Posted in Psychiatry
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Not Feeling: A Survival Adaptation
Not feeling emotions can be a survival adaptation that develops when your nervous system has been overwhelmed by chronic stress or trauma. It’s a way of protecting yourself from feelings that once felt too intense or unbearable. Reconnecting with your … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged emotional blunting, emotions, feelings, numbness, recovery
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No Justice With the Midwife But What I Create
I keep talking about what happened to me because the lack of justice makes it impossible to “let it go,” as if that is even a thing. The forced FGM surgery didn’t just happen; it continues to resonate in my … Continue reading
Posted in Justice
Tagged abuse, accountability, art, institutional betrayal, justice, paintings, relationships, sharing, truth-telling, watercolors, witnessing
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What if Mental Health Care Actually Cared?
Mental health doesn’t come from a drug or cognitive behavioral therapy. Real mental health is built on what has always made humans whole: safety, connection, dignity, and the right to be felt and seen in the truth of our pain. … Continue reading
The Mental Illness Industry is Delusional
In a medical or psychological context, a delusion is a fixed, false belief that is not based on external reality and persists despite evidence to the contrary. This is often associated with delusional disorder or other mental health conditions. The … Continue reading
Systemic Blindness: The Ignored Story in My Health Chart
My weight data from the past few years is one of the most important indicators of my overall health. When I am in environments that support me, my weight moves toward a healthy range. When my environment is unsafe or … Continue reading
Posted in Well-being
Tagged body mass, data, healthcare, medical, obesity, PTSD, weight
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Learning to Feel and Trust Our Instincts
When early relationships repeatedly dismiss, override, or punish a person’s signals, the body learns that its own cues do not lead to safety or effective response. Over time, attention shifts away from internal sensations because registering them did not result … Continue reading
Posted in Well-being
Tagged body signals, felt sense, Interoception, IPNB, presence, relationships
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Listening to My Nervous System is Not Optional
Trauma recovery is not a belief system, moral stance, prescription, or a choice based on what feels convenient, politically aligned, or socially condoned. Recovery is about learning, often the hard way, what my nervous system actually needs in order to … Continue reading
Posted in Neurobiology
Tagged danger, IPNB, Nervous System, Relational Neuroscience, threat, trauma recovery
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Beyond the Mental Illness Industry: Healing Trauma with NARM and Interpersonal Neurobiology
After the psychiatric abuse of a “standard treatment” nearly killed me 8 years ago, I found the tools that made survival possible. This was at the intersection of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and Interpersonal Neurobiology. Unlike the mental illness … Continue reading
When Speaking the Truth Changes the Dynamic: Reclaiming Agency After Harm
For a few years I felt helpless about something awful that had happened to me. An abuser had sexually assaulted me, and for a long time it felt like the story ended there: harm done, no meaningful response from any … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse
Tagged abuse, accountability, neglect, speaking, speaking up, truth, truth-telling, voice
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