Tag Archives: attunement
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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Survivors in the Lurch: How Doctors Disregard Their Role in Resolving Medical Trauma
Recently, I heard the same line I’ve been hearing for years. A prominent pain specialist told me that doctors don’t have the time to help me recover from medical PTSD. The conversation always drops straight into the same rut: “Are … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Healthcare
Tagged attunement, Doctor, doctor-patient relationship, doctors, Empathy, IPNB, Medical PTSD, MPTSD, pain, pain specialist, relationship, therapy
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Connection Is the Cure: Meet My Nervous System’s Needs
My nervous system is desperate for the kind of connection that feels safe. Because all my life, I’ve been chronically and acutely deprived of that safety. Sometimes it’s been extreme, other times less so, but never enough. When I had … Continue reading
Posted in Healthcare
Tagged attunement, connection, disconnection, health, healthcare, interpersonal neurobiology, IPNB, Medicine, Mental Health, Nervous System, safety
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The Therapist’s Mirror: How Lack of Self-Awareness Can Dysregulate Clients
A therapist who lacks the capacity for self-awareness and attunement may, at best, provide surface-level support, but they’re also likely to cause harm, especially to trauma survivors. Without the ability to co-regulate and deeply connect with their clients’ internal states, … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged attunement, Behavioral Health, co-regulation, dysregulation, healing, IPNB, Mental Health, Regulation, therapy, Trauma, trust
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Rupture and Repair: How Breaks in Trust Can Be a Doorway to Something Better
Recently, I had a rupture repair session with one of my most trusted healthcare practitioners. About ten days before, we had a misattunement rupture when he dismissed what I said about my lived experience. I told him I was struggling, … Continue reading
Posted in Relationships
Tagged attunement, connection, Doctor, IPNB, practitioners, relationship, rupture, safety
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Stop Skipping the Most Important Part: Being With Me In My Struggle Is Medicine for Us Both
Doctors often want to look at the bright side. They point to progress, milestones, changes in tone or function. They want to give hope. But in doing so, they often skip past the truth that I’m still struggling every day. … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged attunement, healing, health, holding space, interpersonal neurobiology, IPNB, presence
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When Your Therapist Janks You Up Worse
An experience I had with a therapist years ago continues to haunt me. It serves as a reminder of how devastating it can be when a therapist not only misses the mark but adds to the trauma they’re supposed to … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged attunement, connection, harm, Interpesonal Neurobiology, IPNB, mental illness industry, misattunement, Psychology, safety, therapist, therapy
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When the Practitioner Cannot Attune: A Barrier to Healing
When a healthcare practitioner struggles to attune to a patient, the relational dynamic becomes strained. The practitioner may fail to notice or respond to the patient’s emotional, physiological, and relational cues, leading to a sense of disconnection and misattunement. For … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health, Uncategorized
Tagged attunement, Behavioral Health, connection, Mental Health, psychiatry, Psychology, therapy
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